I've never been disoriented after a nap, but when I used to work insane hours including days without sleep, sometimes I would wake up and not have a clue if it was a.m. or p.m.

All the time. I remember once when I was a teen, i had gone to bed.I had to work at 7 am the next morning. My sister woke me up at 11 pm for some ridiculously stupid reason, and sent me into a panic because I thought I was 4 hours late for work,even though it was dark out. She thought it was hilarious. Heifer.

I don't like naps. Now that I work nights (5pm to 5 am) I find that if I have something to do or some appointment that keeps me up for most of the day, i feel much worse on 1 or 2 hours sleep than I do if I just tough it out for the night. Also, they almost always leave me confused and disoriented like you descibed. Sometimes I wake up thinking I'm at my mom's house,or even my grandmas,which is hundreds of miles away and empty since she passed away several years ago. I also panic that im late for work,even on days when im off. SO claims that once,when he woke me up from a short nap,I laid into him for kicking a penguin. Apparently,I was dreaming about a penguin, and for some reason, he kicked it. I jumped up from the bed,and stormed into the kitchen,scolding him the whole time,to find and tend to the imaginary penguin. Why a penguin would be in the kitchen of all places,I don't know. Maybe he was trying to get into the freezer? And why would he kick it? What on earth would make someone want to do that? I couldnt clearly remember the dream,and SO wasnt keen on helping me remember,especially since it caused me to tear through the house looking for a penguin and swearing. Needless to say, unless the house is on fire,he leaves me alone now,and i do try to avoid naps as much as possible.

Amy, my neighbor did that. She woke up & thought she was late for work. She got dressed, jumped in the car heading to work. She called her boss on the way to say she's going to be late. He said, Wendy, it's 8pm not 8am. Go back to bed!!

Ha! I've never made it as far as the car, but I have jumped in the shower and ran outside, hair still wet in a panic before. Luckily, I came to my senses before I left.

I hardly ever take naps. But I have learned to set myself an alarm, and wake back up 30 minutes from setting the alarm.

I sleep better at night if I don't nap.

Moni

Like Pawprint's neighbour, I once fell asleep after I came off my shift. When I woke up I thought I had overslept the alarm and would be late for work, so as I dashed down the hallway to the shower I phoned work to apologise for being late and assuring them I'd be there ASAP. I felt so bad as it was a 24 hour service station so if your relief was late you had to stay until they got there, which could be really rough if you were tired. My coworker on the other end of the phone laughed and said,"But you only left here a couple of hours ago!" "But that was yesterday I was there!" I told her, totally confused. "No, it's still Saturday afternoon!" She thought I was hilarious. :-)

Sometimes!

I usually will nap if I didn't get a good night's sleep the night before. Some say it will effect that night's sleep, but I don't think it bothers me enough to not take a nap if I feel that I need one.

I know that feeling of being disoriented, but have't experienced it lately.

If I need to take a nap during the day, it always ends up being a 15-20 minute 'power nap'. It always shocks me that only such a short time has passed because I usually have a dream in those few minutes and I always wake up so refreshed and raring to go!

Ah naps! Back when I was young and without a family, but a pile of debt, I worked 70-80 hours a week (40-50 hours at my full time, brokerage firm job, the rest at a part time job that paid the medical bills), AND a university student with one class less than a full load, I often slept during lunch. Just go out to the car and set the alarm.

I've been disoriented once or twice, but not to the extent of colleenoz. I love your dedication though colleen! Impressive.

For 3 years I commuted 90 miles one way to work. I worked 3, 12 hour shifts that rotated every 4 weeks nights to days in a banks computer room. I turned my office into a bedroom, it has no windows. I'd get disoriented every once in awhile, clock watch waking up every hour. Coworkers would arrive on their days off and managers would take pity on them and put them to work. :0) I remember sun tanning on my days off trying to fall asleep in the heat to catch up on my sleep.

Every time I think about getting a 2nd job, so I'm busy inbetween house remodels.....these memories stop me. :0)

I have woken up from naps disoriented not knowing where I was, but not to the point of actually acting on a wrong impression. I never know what time it is when I wake up though, unless I look. DH, however, always knows what time it is. I'd make sure that he couldn't look at a clock when he woke up and I'd ask him if he knew and he was always within about 10 min of the actual time. Day or night. Amazing.

If I'm tired enough to lie down and fall asleep during the day, it usually means I am sick. I do get a lot of sleep at night, though -- nine hours has been my desired 'normal' all my life.

I only remember sleep walking once. I was in my late teens and living at home. One morning I recalled an unusually vivid dream. I dreamed I was on board a ship, standing at the rail, looking out at the sea and feeling the cool air on my face and legs. (Something I had done a few years earlier, when crossing the Atlantic.) That morning I realized I had sleep walked out of my bedroom and into our upper hall. The 'ship's rail' was the banister above our lower hall.

I don't nap but I have woken up disoriented, when in bed because of illness and drifting in and out of sleep. That doesn't happen much, I'm rarely ill.

I never take naps. At night I only sleep about 3 hours & that is not all at one time. I have gotten much worse as I got older.

Pawprint, have you ever tried taking magnesium for your RLS? Many people swear by it. You could Google it to find out which kind of magnesium works best. I've taken several kinds of magnesium for years--not for RLS, but because I need it.

I only get like that if I'm sick. I take naps on occasion but not all the time.

I think I'm into what some call "power" naps?!? Sometimes just NEED to lay down. Sometimes don't think I even actually fall asleep, but after less than an hour, I have second wind.

School starts back up in a little more than a week. When I come home, especially for a few weeks after being a slug all summer, I will really NEED a little nap once I get home. If I lay down at 3:00, I will have to start setting the alarm once daylight savings is over. If I don't I could lay down and sleep an hour and be refreshed OR sleep EIGHT hours or more and be wide awake at midnight... after getting a full 8 hours sleep. Now THAT's disorienting.

pawprint, ask you doctor to increase the dosage given to you for one month if you have regular need for more than one a day.

I also have RLS and take Neurontin (trade name that in generic form is called Gabapentin) when I go to bed. I've used it for over a dozen years with no side effects, maybe that's what you have pawprint?

Power naps are great! They are now recommended to increase productivity. 1/2 hour, not too long or it can disrupt sleep at night.

Magnesium works great for RLS. OTC product, Restful Legs works great too. One tab does it for me. It works quickly. I find I don't need it if I remember the magnesium. Magnesium is supposed to work for leg cramps too.

Pawprint, my husband gets leg cramps from some medications he takes and his doctor (An internist who also uses holistic medicine) suggested eating plain yellow mustard to relieve them. Sounds weird I know, but it works and it works rather quickly. I'm just wondering if such a simple fix might help your cramps too. (Another suggestion he had, tonic water with Quinine)

Around 2 - 2:30p in the afternoon is when I start to run out of energy and need to "rest my eyes". I'll sit in the chair in the library, sometimes my head will drop with a snap. ouch. 20- 25 min. is all I need. If I actually lay down to nap I awaken feeling worse. I wonder why that is? Also the recliner in the livingroom is way more comfortable for a quick nap.

For sleeplessness, I take 10gm. of Melatonin before bed. However, if I take it close to or even a little after midnight, forget it. The next day I'm like a zombie for much of the day.

My Mom has awful leg cramps at night. The Tonic water works for my aunt but Mom can not stand the taste. Recently her doctor took her off one of her water pills and her blood pressure pill completely to help with the cramps. The cramps went away, but oh my, her ankles swelled and her skin above the ankles broke out black and blue and worse! Her doctor quickly put her back on both meds.

Schoolhouse, it's been years since I had that issue, so you may want to check with the Pharmacist first but if I remember correctly, when it happened to me it was an issue with my potassium levels. The most popular pill doctors use for water retention is hydroclorothiazide and it can affect the potassium levels which in turn can cause cramping. Adding a potassium pill to my supplements was the easy fix for the issue.

My doctor has me on carbidopa/levo & it works perfectly. But my prescription plan just covers 1 pill at bedtime so I don't have RLS at night.

However if an accidental daytime nap hits I'll have RLS until I get up and move around. I probably only take 5 naps a year & its when I'm in pain or have a migraine.

Morz, I started having a panic attack when you mentioned sleeping outside. The bees, wasps, hornets, bumble bees, ants, mosquitos & poluted air does me in. Eeak!!