I am always so tired, I could sleep forever...

[delsina363]

Hi guys: My depression and anxiety manifests itself in the form of over sleeping and overeating. I have never heard of someone quite like me, that they sleep more the more depressed they get. When I am really stressed, I become so exhausted. I have two school age kids and a full time job, but I find it hard to stay awake. When I am really bad, if left alone, I can sleep 18 hours straight. It is funny because I have a hard time falling asleep at night, and take medication for that, but all through the day I feel an urgent need to sleep. It is so welcoming to just lay down, and have your troubles slip away into dreamland. Then I wake up, and I realize nothing has changed. I just wish I had a better way to deal with this sleepiness. Sometimes when I am very anxious or upset, if I do not lay down right away, I become physically sick to my stomach. Is it just me, or are there others out there that wish to sleep all the time.

[lilgost]

I have a similar problem as well. All I want to do lately is sleep. I have had a hard time sleeping at night for most of my adult life, but lately I could sleep all day as well as all night and still feel tired.

[Glad2bme]

It takes a lot of energy to work and parent children. Even non-depressed people can get tired and if left alone, sleep for hours.

The other thing is that the quality of sleep matters. I've done well taking Zoloft at night to sleep and then am more awake the next day.

If you are depressed and taking sleeping meds that aren't designed for depression, you might be overwhelming your system and still not getting good enough sleep. Like drinking alcohol seems to help someone relax, but it's a depressant so it makes the overall depression worse.

You might ask your doctor. Specifiy that you want to be more awake in the day and sleeping at night. It's more common than you might think.

Good luck.

Glad

[CitM]

If you under a lot of stress, you will feel more tired doing things that don't make other people feel as tired because your body is working harder just dealing with the stress.

Some people need more sleep than others at different times in your life. There are other issues that could be causing your symptoms too.

1. Yeast infections
2. Viruses
3. Sleep disorders (which can affect appetite and mood)
4. Thyroid issues
5. Diabetes
etc.

I would check back with your doctor and eliminate some of these other causes because too often in mental health patients, doctors do not consider that the 'mental health' issues could be symptomatic of OTHER physical issues and have nothing to do with mental health at all.

Other things to also be aware of is that some people with mental health issues don't have mental health issues at all, but are dealing with a 'phantom' symptomology caused by a loved one. Believe it or not, this can happen.

One medically documented phenomena is men who have sympathetic morning sickness and pregnancy symptoms. Now they are obviously not pregnant, however their symptoms are very real. The doctors do have a name for symptoms without physical cause and here is what they have called it in my case, "Phantom pain." This phenomena is more connected in the public culture with amputees, however, it is also real for other issues and is not just all in your head. So check to see if you have a relative that is having issues and then talk with your doctor and see if that helps.