tell me your symptoms of sleep deprivation so I don't persuade myself I have some hideous disease...

[unaltronome]

I addition to gritty eyes, no energy, all over haggardness, when things get really bad I have:

aches and pains all over, joints, muscles etc
my tongue feels 'thick' and just weird, often makes me feel am tripping up on my words
I get twitches all over body, like the ones you might get in your eye lid but all over legs and arms etc constantly

Anyone else have weird and wonderful symptoms??

I've read that long-term sleep deprivation can alter your genes so I wouldn't be surprised if 18mo of interrupted sleep can cause lots of odd - and sometimes worrying - symptoms.

I just want to know what else is out there before I convince myself it's all something a lot more sinister.. :-(

[Rooners]

might it be iron related?

[TheOrchardKeeper]

DS is 3 and I still get all over twitches.

Maybe check for iron levels/lack therof but sleep deprivation really does make you feel all sorts of weird!

The walls looked like were moving once or twice during night feeds when DS was very very small!

[unaltronome]

TheOrchardKeeper - I get the moving walls too!

Do your twitches come and go? Even when I go through a patch of being better rested these can be quite bad. Which is why I always get paranoid it's something else, as I tell myself, am not THAT tired right now... But at the end of the day, I still don't get ENOUGH sleep so I guess in some sense I am still sleep deprived.

[Sid77]

I feel sick and achy, much like a hangover I think (tries to remember when the last time enough alcohol was consumed to produce a hangover)

[neversleepagain]

Dizzy, a bit drunk, dark rings under eyes, very vivid dreams (like you are holding a crying baby then waking up to baby/babies in cot and your arms cradling nothing), fuzzy head, headaches, not understanding/comprehending anything when people talk to you, tearful.

God I wouldn't want to do those newborn twins days again.

[leobear]

With DD1, I had eye floaters, weird sensations in my limbs, felt dreadful. And I wasn't even massively sleep deprived, she slept through from about 7 weeks!! This went on for about 10 months! Was convinced I had a brain tumour or something.

[Flambards]

Headaches, buzzing in my ears in quiet rooms which is horrible, sinus pain, attacks of the rage, weepiness, dry skin (urgh)

[DesperateHousewife21]

DS is 3.6 and DD is 14mo and havent had a whole night sleep since ds was born because of illness/ preg/ bf/ general awakeness/ insomnia

The main feeling I get when v tired is my head feels like it needs to take a sec to catch up with my body. Its sometimes so weird I have to sit down or I will fall.

I hate battles with sleep.

[FreeButtonBee]

I totally lost my vocabulary. Couldn't remember simple words at all. It lasted months.

[nicename]

Bumping into things, dropping things
Losing ability to speak coherently
Forgetting everything
Tingling finger tips
Falling asleep in odd places
Hallucinations (in the 'feeding every hour' days)

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

Muscle and joint aches here too. Burning stinging eyes. General lack of concentration and zero short term memory. I think 50% of my vocabulary has fallen out of my head I struggle to find words all the time. Headaches. Can't be good for your health?

[omuwalamulungi]

So relieved to see someone else say attacks of rage, sometimes when I'm very sleep deprived I feel like the incredible hulk!

Otherwise I have lethargy, lack of concentration, headaches, apathy about doing anything, loss of appetite. If I feel it getting really bad I will just go to bed when he goes to bed one night and I'm usually 'topped up' for a few days after that. Can't usually because I have to do all the other house stuff after he's in bed.

[Mishmashfamily]

Deafness.
Twitches over body
Blurred vision .
Emotional
Memory loss
Incoherent
Tingling skin when touching fibers


I haven't slept more than six hours in nine months and that's a good night on average it four

[HugoTheHippo]

I have the all over aches and pains. In the middle of the night and first thing in the morning it can take a couple of minutes to actually get my body to move. It hurts going downstairs in the morning. My hands and feet ache and tingle, but I am actually going to see the Dr about that particularly as my knuckles have started clicking and locking.

I also get blurred vision and sporadic extreme tearfulness and grumpiness. Forgetting how to speak and jumbling words up. Oh, also - greediness. I can literally eat an entire pack of biscuits in one sitting. Although that might be the breastfeeding rather than the tiredness. Probably a combination.

DD is five months. Three hours sleep in one go is considered a good stretch. I feel your pain. All of you. Literally.

[Slebmum]

I was so exhausted that I used to see rats or spiders running across the room out of the corner of my eye.

It really is a form of torture, but to those going through it now it does get better and you look back and wonder how you coped on that little sleep. For me it was never the number of hours I go but the broken-nes of it that used to cripple me. That and then not being able to get to sleep once DTs had gone back to sleep which seemed especially unfair!

[omuwalamulungi]

I hallucinated a giant spider on the wall last night, it was horrible!

[Flowerpup]

All the above but by far the worst is just saying what I was thinking without thinking I can't say that. My mouth works but brain doesn't! Got me in trouble a few times!

[nicename]

Visions! Oh how could I forget those! I'd be sitting down, fall asleep and wake up 'seeing' a murder or something equally nasty. So much blood, so many stabbings! I was rather stressed that time.

When DS didn't sleep - ever - I just saw people walking through rooms when they couldn't possibly have been there. I also came up with a killer of an opening line for a novel I appeared to be writing. I never did remember what it was!

[starsandunicorns]

Doing stuff like making a coffee but feel like your watching yourself sort of wandering around the house going into rooms and having no idea what you doing ir suppose to be doing

[HugoTheHippo]

Ooooh, I'd forgotten about the hallucinations. No giants spiders (fortunately) just things like the cot moving, or the bedroom door opening by itself. It's only for a second and as soon as I focus on it it's back to normal, so it's not really scary, but it is very odd!

[Tinyflutterby]

I'm hearing crying even when there isn't any, like a ringing in my ears.
I see a balloon or similar object out of the corner of my eye and think its the cat.
I don't have any appetite and when I do eat I don't taste anything.
I get tingling sensations in my neck.
I constantly feel like I'm swimming. Or the room's swimming. Either way unstable and don't feel safe carrying a baby down the stairs.
I don't feel happy at all and have no enthusiasm for anything.
Maybe I'm depressed or maybe it is just sleep deprivation. I can understand how it's difficult to differentiate.
Surely we weren't designed very well to cope with this?

[omuwalamulungi]

Tiny, please tell your HV or GP if you think you might be depressed, they will want to help you. Mine have been wonderful and not at all judgemental. How old is your baby?

It will get better