lol Rinne - sorry not laughing in a mean way but only because I completely sympathise. I do the same (walk into walls).

After not sleeping through the night for almost 7 years now (eldest took 2 years to sleep throught, middle is 3 and still not sleeping through, youngest is 1 and also not sleeping through), I can manage with 6, but do SOOOOO much better with 8. but I dunno if that's sensory related. maybe it's just permanent sleep deprivation.

All good, Kate. :-) It gets to the point where you go 'huh, where did I get that bruise?' because you're too used to hurting yourself by cutting corners, etc. that you forget what you've done.

Wow, so it's not just me either! I notice on days when I'm overwhelmed with too much sensory input I get tired really fast. To the point where I feel like if I shut my eyes for even just a minute I'll fall right to sleep. Sometimes it's hard to make it through the day... Since I can't ever sleep in in the mornings (I have the pup to take for a walk before work) sometimes I'll fall into bed before 9pm. Sleep always helps make me feel better.

Wow... this thread might explain *a lot* for me! for past 3 or 4 years Ie been to about 5 different GPs, had countless blood tests, ECGs etc etc and all have come back fine...none of them could explain why I was so tired all the time, and have always been pretty fatigued..... about 3 months ago I went for a sleep study (after a month or two before, talking with a sleep specialist) ... well... as you can expect the sleep study did not go well, there was anxiety.... but then.. there was *pain* from the leads and chords on me everywhere - it was like an un-ending nightmare! (ended up with a rash and bruises from tape and lying on chords - which I had for 5 days after) I was there for the night and the whole next day doing sleep studies.. and had barely slept the night before... the test started at 9pm. At about 5 am I fell asleep lightly - off and on, for about 2.5 - 3 hours - from pure exhaustion (was crying at this point) ... anyway the results of the test were pretty useless, and the results from agtigraphy watch (monitors light and movement) I wore for a week showed that in general I got about 8 - 8 and a half hours sleep.. and was getting a fare bit of deep sleep... which left me shocked (as I feel as though I dream *the entire night*) .. (I understand that its usually only an hour or so of REM and seems longer.. ) but some mornings I wake up and tell my boyfriend about my dreams I had that night... (which ends up being 3 to 4 long dreams in a row which are highly detailed) takes me an average of 15 minutes of solid talking to describe a simple version of all the dreams...but most mornings I have immense trouble waking up, and have had to resort to a bar-code scanning alarm clock! haha (alarm wont stop until you get out of bed and scan a QR or bar-code on the bathroom mirror), then takes me a good 2.5 - 3 hours to be able to take things in and not want to fall asleep again.
I usually wake up and am able to focus (sort of) from about 10.30 - 2.30 then crash in the afternoon a bit.. but stay awake, am tired from 3.00 - 45.30 ish... and then from 8 - 10.30 / 11.00 pm am okay... then crash and go to bed.

Also have trouble with physical fatigue, I am very un-fit but a normal weight - climbing two flights of stairs has me so tired! and if I have to run for my train (5 minute run) I have to use asthma puffer and takes me a good 15 minutes of sitting down to get my breathe back to normal :/

Perhaps a lot of the tiredness (at least during the day) can be related back to Sensory Problems and feeling over-whelmed

Meow_machine - something to talk about with the OT!

Wow... first time here, not sure if I have SPD, but this discribes me to a T. I just got home from grocery shopping and had to come to my room with the shades drawn, no clothes and curl up in bed on the only sheets I can stand to be on and just rest for a bit. Being out in public is just exhausting.

Thanks so much for for posting, nice to know I'm not nuts, lol! MJ777

I need 9 or more hours of sleep. If I get less than that I overload very quickly and will often need a 2 hour or more long nap before I feel I can begin to handle even small things again. I have to take a nap everyday or forget it! I drain very quickly. I can be up and going strong for a couple of hours but then I have to lay down for 30 minutes at the very least. The nap will help for the next few hours, but then I get quickly drained again and often find myself in bed early. I generally need more "down time" throughout the day but it is hard to get with a 4 year old who gets up and is constantly on the go. I swear she is a sensory seeker but she has not been diagnosed with SPD...at least not yet.