<p>Get thee to a pulmonologist NOW! Seriously. If you are sleep deprived, you can fall asleep while driving and kill someone. You can fall asleep while stuff is cooking on the stove and burn the house down. You need some serious help ASAP. </p>
<p>My son staggered through the last winter term. He thought he had “mono” but the tests came back negative. He wondered if he was depressed. He just could NOT stay awake during class. Fortunately a friend heard him snoring and gasping one day and asked if he might have sleep apnea. </p>
<p>We really had to work hard to get him into a specialist. This is no time to be shy or timid. I really ramped up the descriptions of the problems when I was speaking to the scheduling secretaries because I knew (by then) he’d been having problems for months. </p>
<p>The overnight sleep study was incredible. They collect a ton of information and it was very clear that my kid was getting absolutely no REM sleep. No wonder he was exhausted.
He soon had a CPAP machine and just two nights of using the CPAP machine made a world of difference. It was like he had his life back. </p>
<p>I can’t stress how important it is to figure out what is going on with you. You are not “normal” – and you need to know why before your life disentegrates. Sure, teens can be groggy in the morning – but most manage and it sounds like you are really struggling. </p>
<p>They TORTURE people with sleep deprivation. Adequate sleep is absolutely critical to your mental and physical health. It is key to you being safe and to you having a happy life (not to mention your GPA and your ability to learn job skills). </p>
<p>Please don’t feel like a failure or a weirdo or like you can’t do anything about this. An overnight sleep study could do a lot to help you sort out what is happening. </p>
<p>Our doc said that narrow passages (and you can have narrow passages even if you have a big nose) combined with a large body and a slightly receding chin can be associated with sleep apnea. My kid had all three aspects. Weight gain and alcohol can also trigger sleep apnea. There may be other physical or lifestyle attributes that I don’t know about. </p>
<p>Please, please, get a sleep study done. My heart goes out to you.</p>
<p>Actually, that’s exactly how I know I have low iron, since my iron fluctuates. I notice the restless legs at night and I crave, crave, crave ice to chew on. After a few iron pills over a week or so, I notice a difference and the restlessness in the legs goes away.</p>
<p>My S also had a lot of sleep problems & went to a certified sleep specialist who had him undertake an overnight sleep study (it was a gorgeous room that looked like an expensive hotel room you sleep in at the sleep lab; because he was a minor hubby had to sleep in the room with him). You’re hooked up with monitors and they are able to help figure out what your sleep issues are and analyze the information and have the sleep specialist customize what your issues are and help you devise effective treatments.</p>
<p>Bright light therapy CAN be helpful to some (but it wasn’t all that helpful for our S who also had delayed phase sleep syndrome, which is very common in teens & young adults).</p>
<p>Some folks have sleep apnea which means they actually stop breathing several times while they sleep which can be effectively treated with the right equipment and REALLY makes a huge difference.</p>
<p>One thing about college–both my kids are doing much better with their sleep issues since they started college because they have so much more control over their schedules. They work to get their classes to start later in the day, when they’re more awake and do not have issues with getting up to attend them. (My kids prefer classes that start at noon or later when they can get them & it has worked out VERY well for them.) This is just to reassure you, but before you go any further, you really need to get properly evaluated by a good certified sleep specialist (many are also pulmonologists–lung docs, as was the one who evaluated my son).</p>
<p>You don’t mention where you’re located, but I’d find a local sleep disorder clinic and do an overnight sleep study.</p>
<p>From the Stanford University sleep disorder clinic website:</p>
<p>The clinic was founded to diagnose and treat patients who have difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep at night, problems with excessive daytime sleepiness, or other medical problems that may occur or exacerbate during sleep.</p>
<p>The clinics are fully accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. </p>
<p>40 percent of adults are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with their daily activities. </p>
<p>18 percent experience this level of daytime sleepiness at least a few days a week or more. </p>
<p>Find a clinic near you. I simply googled “sleep disorder clinic”.</p>