[Switch]

So this is something I've strugled with a lot before this but now it's getting to the point where I just want to be able to wake up in the morning. If you don't want to read the long explanation just answer this question please: What are some ways that you manage to get out of bed?

When I'm depressed and a lot of the time when I'm not I start falling asleep places. I've even fallen asleep standing up at work.

When night comes and it's time to go to bed, I rarely want to. I have better things to do than go to sleep!

But when I do go to bed, I fall asleep instantly and enter a world of vivid and intense dreams. They're always fun, and I love dreaming. It's like I live another life, more colorful, purposeful, and interesting than reality. And I dip in and out from this. For instance, I'll wake up and then go back to sleep and pick up the dream right from where I left off.

I have to set 4 or 5 alarms and even then I still don't wake up. I'll turn them all off in my sleep, even if they're across the room, and next thing I know it's 3 in the afternoon and I was suppose to be up at 10.

I'm getting really annoyed by this. I want to do something with my day, and I want to be able to get up and go places. I want to be able to go to a restaurant for breakfast, or be able to take early morning shifts. I'm worried this is going to start really impacting school, which it already has but not irreversibly so.

I don't know how to wake up. I'm starting to sleep 12 to 14 hours a night now, even though I'm trying to only get 8. And as I am right now, I don't "Feel" depressed. I'm not manic by any standard, but I'm not "depressed". Usualy I will wake up feeling over tired and groggy from too much sleep, but lately I have been awake and peppy and feel better than usual. Actualy, I do feel better than usual: I don't hurt from too much sleep as I usualy do! I can think clearly and don't have headaches, again usualy from too much sleep.

They've gotten me on Seraquel now, but I take it at 7 and I don't get to sleep until 1am or later. It's been keeping me awake even though it's suppose to put you right out.

My system's messed up but mostly I want to know What are some ways that you manage to get out of bed? Anything that you do to convince yourself to wake up, or that you find works to get yourself awake?

[doglover5]

I have hypersomnia and the only thing that gets me conscious in the morning is the persistent licking of my face by my dog! I've trained him to do this at the sound of a certain alarm tone, which I also perpetually turn off in my sleep. So far, this is the only thing that works for me!

[Perna]

I would talk to my doctor and either get a bit more Seroquel or take it earlier in the evening (5:00), then go to bed at 11:00.

On the other end, I would find a morning routine I loved (I get up, get coffee and come here to my computer; checking my email and go to my two or three interactive sites like here and looking forward to what I'll read/do, etc. is enjoyable enough to drag me out of bed (my doctor is testing me in 3 months for other problems; I'm having trouble getting up too and I'm retired so it's "okay" for me to sleep, much harder to find a reason to get up). But if you make your morning a good part of your day (maybe you like a nice shower? being clean and refreshed? they have caffeine soap now you know http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/accessories/5a65/ :-)

Figure out something to be curious about? I use to have a bowl with a hundred "tasks", some fun, some that just needed doing but which I normally put off and each morning I would pick a slip from the bowl and that was that day's task (or a quotation in a small Ziploc bag with vitamins for the day) and not knowing what I was going to get that day was fun. If you like/can afford scratch off lottery tickets, get 5-7 dollar ones at once and do one a day for awhile? Get all of you involved in getting out of bed, not just your body. Start recording your dreams and finding how interesting, helpful and fun that can be. I get disappointed if I have a good dream and then forget it because I got back to sleep instead of waking enough to recording it. Put special things by your bedside that you are only allowed/able to use when you are awake. Since it is dark when you go to bed, open curtains so the light in the morning helps wake you.

[Switch]

It's not so much the meds as it is I just have sleep issues. I sleep all the time to the point I might have narcolepsy but REFUSE to go get a diagnosis on it because I don't want to lose my drivers license.

I like some of your ideas! I'm going to try them, although I've been doing variations on them a lot lately. I really like the scratch tickets. that sounds fun! And I need to start keeping a dream diary anyway, so maybe that will work too.

I think I'm really worried that I'm wasting my day. I don't like getting up in the afternoon and then not doing anything... Thank you for the support!

[yellowted]

sleep meds kept me awake too so now i do not take them and my routine has just about returned to normal.
I totally understand the 'wasting my day' feeling as I rely on paid support to get up and dressed, so they are in no hurry though I wish i could be downstairs befor lunch time!