Strom,
I'm glad you have an appointment set up. The self medication with that amount of drinking is really not good. You're risking becoming addicted to alcohol, if you're now already.
I have a good friend who is is the same situation as you as far as self medication with alcohol to calm down and relax in the evening. She is 26 and has been doing this since college. Although she is a great teacher now and is responsible about being at work every day, there are many days that she goes to work hung over. She has poor hygiene, I mean hair looks dirty and her clothes are wrinkled more times than not when she is at work. Most, I'm sure, just attribute it to poor hygiene and lazyness...I'm the only one that knows her secret....She is an alcoholic.
She is also ADHD, was diagnosed when she was 17 but goes unmediated. She drinks a lot of coffee in the am to get going.
She has tried a few times to go cold turkey and not drink. Both times she got the shakes for a few nights and felt sick. Then eventually went back to drinking.
Strom,
PLEASE take care of this now!! You may be taking your afternoon dose of adderall too late..You may need another med. for anxiety (I take Lexapro). You may need to keep a prescription sleep aid on hand.
Hope all goes well, keep us updated.
bepatient38897.456875
I have to agree with bp as to you needing to deal with the alcohol. Especially since it's probably your cause of insomnia rather than your meds.
Now IF you've been properly diagnosed as ADHD and taking your meds responsibly the last year (not too much or cutting back too often) then you become acclimatized and it no longer affects sleep.
Alcohol on the other hand is well known to cause interrupted and poor sleep as it dehydrates, doesn't permit proper REM sleep and causes fatigue. It can severely interrupt normal rythyms and cause many physical difficulties such as acid reflux, insomnia, headaches, etc.
People who use alcohol compulsively to addiction very often complain of what you are talking about. Add to that stress and late nights forcing yourself to stay awake it's a bad combination.
I honestly ask you to not take other meds until you get this trouble out of the way. It will only further cause you confusion as to what is the cause.
Talk to your psych about your skewed priorities. Don't feel too bad many young people get their priorities mixed up but you need to see that your personal health is as important as happiness in other places. It's very hard to enjoy a degree when you are dead or crippled or on the street begging for change for wine.
Think about slowing down a bit or maybe take a sabbatical to clear your mind. With a note from a psych most colleges will allow a short pause in studies while you get things right.
Alcohol rarely solves anything but very often makes problems instead.
I wish you luck - every relative on my father's side of the family but a spare few died from alcohol either directly or indirectly. That kind of takes the fun out of living in my books.
Hello there, I am new to this forum. But have been diagnosed and treated for ADHD for almost a year now. It's been a long time coming, but I am a hard working(30+ hours a week) nearly 21 year old Junior in college (specifically engineering meaning 60+ hours a week). I take 30-40 mg of Adderall a day(depending on my schedule); and overall my acedemic performance has increase exponentially as well as my current job performance.
I have a problem of going/staying asleep. I take doses late due to my late classes. And I have a serious problem of self-medicating with alcohol. I used to look forward to it, as a way to solve my anxieties, my stress, and a way to calm down....now I dread it; yet I still do it. I drink fairly heavily; on an easy night 3+ drinks, on a stressful one....7-10+ by MYSELF!!!!....this is bad.
I have been researching and found that many people use the anti-hypertension drug Clonidine to calm them down at night and prohibit sleepiness; in an otherwise sleepless night.
I am meeting with my psy. in about 2 weeks and want to know what I should bring up to him as far as options...put it this way...
Priorities:
Doing well in classes around noon and on opposite days night classes,
Being able to rest for classes at noon even though I need medication the night before.
Cutting down on the self medication of drinking, makes me feel so incredibly sick all the time
I thank you guys for any replies you have to this~~!!!!!!
Coffee is a stim. It relaxes Daniel.
Wow... im a 21 year old uni engineering student with add on dexamphetaminem who also cant sleep. I also tried to get to sleep by drinking. I cant believe how similar your situation sounds. I also used to drink by myself quite a bit. I realised i had a bit of a drinking problem, and before it really got a hold on me i decided to stop cold turkey. Because i realised early, it was fairly easy to stop. Yes, i still drink regularly, but always with friends and never to get to sleep.
I've had a problem with insomnia for years, even before i was diagnosed and started taking stimulents at 18. When i was 19, my doctor prescribed me with zolpidem tartrate, a non-benzodiazapine hypnotic drug, still in its infancy. It really f**ked me up, for want of a better word. i'd have hallucinations, strange dreams, and one night i had what i can only describe as a "bad trip". My girlfriend found me on the floor of the hallway screaming my head off. I think i went into detail of it in an earlier post.
Nowadays, i'm on 10mg Temazepam, but only when i really cant sleep. It works like a dream. My psych was a little wary about re-issuing my prescription, but was convinced i wasnt going to get hooked when i told him i only used it 1-2 times per month, and that i still had some remaining from my previous prescription 8 months before. Some other suggestions were some antihistamines used off-label, and also natural type herbal medicine. Hope this helps
drinking and ADHD don't mix well!! Drinking, ADHD, and meds really don't mix well!!!
.IMac38943.808587963Nope I have Visual processing issues!