Wait -- have you been diagnosed with sleep apnea? This is a specific condition, not something that would have just started bothering you because you changed your schedule. Many people find late shift work very difficult on them, and you might be one of them. But if you think you are depressed, a psychologist is where you should start if you think this time you're not able to get out of it yourself. Know that childhood things aren't the same as adult things, and that you're at the age where most people start to manifest adult emotional problems if they're going to get them. Not to say you have them, but you are posting on a depression forum.
Thank you all so much for your help! I really appreciate it
There's a story of one person's experience on the internet which may help. I'm probably not allowed to post a direct link to it here, so I'll just describe how to find it. Search for a story with the title, "Depression as a Medical Illness." It's on the site with the name (don't be put off with the site name) wingofmadness.com . (On Google you can search: "Site:wingofmadness.com "Depression as a Medical Illness"") See if you identify with the story. It sounds like it might be similar to your situation.
A good regular doctor should understand. Your description was very good. Just tell him that. He may refer you to a specialist, which is a psychiatrist. (Psychiatrist = doctor, psychologist = talk therapist. They both can be helpful, each in their own way.)
Difficulty sleeping can be either a symptom or a cause. It's hard to tell.
(Sleep apnea is a condition, often overweight people have, though sometimes thin people have it too, where the throat muscles relax and the throat collapses during sleep to the point the person stops breathing, so the brain thinks, "Hey, we're not breathing, I'd better wake up." And the person wakes up just enough to start breathing again, and the falls back to sleep. The person doesn't even know it's happening; however, this endless waking up and falling back to sleep throughout the night prevents the person from getting a good night sleep, and they wake up dead tired the next morning as if they haven't slept at all, wondering why they are so tired after a long night of sleep. Sometimes someone else in the room can easily tell when this is happening.)
See if that story above helps.
Like you, I had the same symptoms. I am older, however sleep apnea was ruled out. If your partner says you don't snore or move around at night, or shudder awake, etc., sleep apnea may not be your issue, it definitely wasn't for me. You will need to pursue that route though first.
I was also thinking that the issue was me, that life was as I was experiencing it, and maybe I was just lazy or something. After the last couple years my family and friends even started noticing changes. I would not show up to social events, as it was just too much and I was tired. I would put off EVERYTHING, getting the mail, reading email, normal chores, taxes, dr, dentist, you name it. I would also feel exhausted ALL THE TIME. This was when I finally had enough.
I went through a Sleep Study to rule out apnea or other sleep issues, then the Dr. for a full physical to rule out thyroid or other issues, and finally a psychiatrist.
I have never thought of psychiatrists/psychologists as "real" doctors, and I went to a 4 yr university and minored in psychology! I am now for a week on prescribed Wellbutrin 150 mg ER, already noticing a little difference, but full effects don't usually show for a couple months.
The REAL help so far for me is realizing that what is going on with me is a "thing", that others share this, and it is indeed not something to be tolerated.
While not having any thoughts of suicide or anything, recently I had been getting stressed that my fatigue and not really accomplishing anything on a day to day basis other than work and the minimum necessary to keep my current lifestyle, was making me think that I was doing nothing other than carrying on waiting to die one day. That was not acceptable.
Please, start early. Go see someone right away. There is literally no harm in doing so, and the negatives can be you waste years, or decades plodding through life when you could have otherwise been actually living.
You do need to see a doctor and work on the sleep apnea first. That would be the priority and resolving your sleep issues may help with the other things you are feeling. Do you see a doctor for this? Have you done a sleep study? So, assess that first and then go to work on the depression. You've had some level of depression for a long time. It's time to realize you don't have to live that way. Now, this is not to say that you won't have good and bad days. All humans do and it is normal. So, you'll maybe want to log how things are going each day to take to the doctor with you for examples of how your moods depression are interfering in your life just for clarity. Life is not easy but having depression just puts a cloud over it so that general happiness is more rare than common. Does that make sense? So, let me know what you think and we'll go from there. hugs