I Cannot Sleep Late to Catch Up on Sleep

I recently had to start taking medication to treat hypothyroidism. This pill needs to be taken in the morning before eating, and it needs to be taken at about the same time each day.

If I don't take this pill at the right time, I have symptoms of hypothyroidism throughout the day. One of the biggest symptoms is fatigue. I will doze off over and over but cannot sleep. It makes me feel even more exhausted. This is why I make sure to take my medication at 9:30 every morning.

Waking up at the same time every morning

I had been waking up around 8:30 every day, but other health issues prevent me from getting out of bed immediately. It usually takes me an hour or more to get myself together or I will have a number of irritating symptoms throughout the day,

I decided to add an extra hour to my normal waking time to make sure I would be awake in time to take my pill and still give me a cushion in case I slept late. Unfortunately, I can no longer sleep late.

Cannot sleep late on the weekends

Try as might, I cannot sleep past my normal time. It has become such a regular routine in order to take my medication that my body is awake and alert every morning. No matter what day it is, I cannot go back to sleep.

This means I am unable to sleep late after getting little sleep throughout the night. I cannot catch an extra hour or 2 in the morning to make up for waking up many times throughout the night. If I just went to sleep an hour before my normal waking time, I wake up and stay up all the same.

Unable to go back to sleep after waking

When I was finally able to wake up and reclaim the mornings to get things done, I was thrilled. I am more productive during the mornings even though I can sleep better during the mornings than at night. At least I used to be able to sleep better in the morning.

Still, I was able to sleep another hour on some mornings if I had less sleep than usual over the past couple of days - no more. It seems those days are over, and this is making it more difficult to get enough sleep to function.

Lack of sleep and medical conditions cause extreme fatigue

Hypothyroidism causes fatigue. My undiagnosed illness causes fatigue. Depression causes fatigue. Being unable to sleep enough hours to function makes all of this much, much worse. No matter how tired I am, I still cannot sleep past my normal waking time.

There are many days when I feel like a zombie, just dragging myself through the day in a fog. I have days when I feel disconnected from the world and unable to think clearly. It is so bad at times that I feel intoxicated. If you have experienced extreme fatigue, you understand.

Unable to function well without enough sleep

I used to sleep later in the mornings when I could to help with the insane amount of fatigue I had. Now I can't. Now I am stuck trying to get through a lot of tough days. As much as I do like having the mornings to get things done, I sometimes need to be able to sleep a bit later to feel better and function.

I suppose I should be thankful I do wake up to take my medication at the right time. Having had insomnia for pretty much all of my life, I should not expect to be able to get enough sleep. Have you had issues that kept you from sleeping later some days? How did you function? I would love to hear about your experience.