Sleeplessness

I was up ALL night long even though I was tired. My mind was pinging around the room.

I'm on Adderall XR 40mg. (although most times I only take 20). I know that Adderall can cause sleeplessness but even when I'm taking a break from the meds, I still have the problem.

So I've found myself for the past couple of years self-medicating just so that I can get a decent nights sleep. Alcohol (beer and wine), benedryl, and melatonin. Yeah, I know, not good.

My sleeplessness is a big ball of interwoven problems: ADD, lack of physical activity, stress, meds, worrying that I'm not going to sleep.

So I'm starrting off the new year trying to "detox" myself. I'm not looking forward to it. But I can't keep self-medicating like this. I don't even know if I can fall asleep on my own. Surely at some point I will.

What have you done to address sleep problems? I've had people tell me that ADD people should absolutely NOT watch tv before bed as it's too mentally stimulating. I sure would appreciate some advice.

One thing I could never figure out was those people who can fall asleep at the drop of their head. They'd be like, "I just think about nothing." I couldn't figure out how on earth they do that. My mind never shuts up. I have very active dreams (no wonder I'm always tired - I don't actually sleep)

I have early morning insomnia. Usually I go to sleep early enough and fall asleep quickly enough but then I wake up at like 330 or 4 and then I'm up. Can't get back to sleep. Unless it's a non-work day and then I'll lay in bed and sometimes go back to sleep. But none of it is restful.

I almost always watch TV in bed. I'll set the timer for 20 minutes and if I haven't fallen asleep, i'll turn it off before the timer goes. I'm real good at sleeping through half of jeopardy in the evenings though! Watch the news. That's boring enough. Or public tv or some other show you don't like.

I'd be interested to hear what other people do. I also sometimes sleep with ear plugs because I wake up at all sorts of sounds. Cars, people, animals, weather.

I know this wasn't much help to you but just an acknowledgement to let you know you aren't alone!

Good luck with the "detox". You can do it!

Christmas early morning I didn't sleep either. I got up for the 6 a.m. Santa call, politely sat through the opening of the presents (husband and I didn't exchange), drank coffee, took pictures, made breakfast and went back to bed. To the casual observer, I looked dead to the world. But I heard every conversation, my son coming in asking for batteries, was even able to answer coherently to 'go look on my desk or in the 2nd drawer on the left'.

And that went on until 11 a.m.

My husband (bless his heart!) said I "just need to get over my fear of missing a few hours of sleep". Yeah, like I said, albeit sarcastically, "bless his heart". He's one of those people who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. But he will wake up and worry (serves him right). If I am able to get into deep REM sleep, it's hard to wake me. What he doesn't understand, is that getting decent sleep determines whether or not I get anything accomplished the next day. And as any ADDer understands is hard enough on it's own.

I'm going to try a more calming activity, like reading.

Reading is a great idea. For me however, the book has to be really interesting in order for me to even pick it up and then I have trouble putting it down. I can't read in bed because I like to relax in bed and I'd have to hold my arms up and I have to wear glasses to read. So, reading is a dilemma. But hey, if it works for you, then go for it!

Sometimes I'll do sudoku.

To the OP:

You know, a few questions came up in my mind as I read
your post. Are your sleeping problems episodic? Are
you fine a lot of the time, but then they just pop up
for a few days? Are you tired the next morning, or are
you ready to go? If you're not tired, and it's
episodic- you may be looking at hypomania- specifically
bipolar disorder.

Now, back to ADD. Let's be honest- we don't sleep well.
None of us really. I personally can relate on a lot of
levels. Though, what I've learned is that it's not so
much that I can't sleep- it's that I can't sleep when
I'm supposed to. For me, my body is just stuck at 4AM-
Noon as sleep time. I always seem to get a second wind,
no matter how tired I was, around 10 or 11pm. From
there- it's not just that I can't sleep (though I really
wouldn't be able to_, *I don't want to*. To me, this is
the biggest problem. Like everyone else, my brain just
won't shut off. And I'm so desperate for stimulation
that the idea of just lying down in the dark with
nothing to do sounds horrifying. I'll do until sheer
exhaustion takes me down. There's also something very
addictive about the late hours for me (and I'm sure most
people reading this). They're calm and serene. They're
most my focused hours of the day, and I hate to waste
that feeling.

Now, solutions. Me? I got a night job. So I can stay
up until 4 AM and wake up at noon, and there's no
problem. But that doesn't work for everyone, obviously.
Here's what I did when I had a morning job:

1. My doc and I set up my medication schedule so that I
would take a second adderall XR in the afternoon after
the first wore off. (anyone else HATE timing meds?
Ugh, drives me crazy) It would last a few hours after I
had to be in bed. I found that when I was medicated, I
was more able to shut my brain off and to make myself
lie there and sleep.

2. I also had an extra prescription for 5mg tabs of
adderall. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, I just
wouldn't take that second adderall XR (often forgot,
honestly). But I found that if I took a 5mg tab before
sleeping, it'd knock me out. Quiets the chaos long
enough to fall asleep. Always did sleep like a baby on
stimulants.

3. Get a sleep med prescription. Clonodine is a great
medication. It's a sedative that happens to have
efficacy against ADHD symptoms. This means it'll help
you get to sleep and stay asleep. (Because even when we
can fall asleep- we tend to have very restless sleep)

4. Exercise. I had a gym nearby that I joined. It was
open late at night (24 hours actually). So after work,
I could run to the gym and work out for a bit, and then
I'd come home and crash. And I slept really well. You
don't even need a gym. You could just get some
resistance straps or something for home and go through a
workout. Make it an exhausting one or just a light one.

Hope that helps!

Try asking your doc for a prescription of Trazodone. Actually being able to sleep for a long, solid block of time is utterly amazing...I never imagined it was even possible before. I have to take a pretty strong dose, however.

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