Mine, is often quite bad. The sad fact for me is that tiredness accentuates the difficult dimension of my inattentive ADD. Anyone else fell "sleep challenged"?
Wow, to even think of waking up refreshed seems so desirable and elusive......


"I did not order this disorder".....

I hate sleeping. Left to my own devices I would stay up until 8 or 9 in the morning then crash for about 4-6 hours, then repeat the same thing the next day.

I used to theorize as a teenager that I was from a different planet, one with a 28 hour day. Did you know that if you ignore daylight/darkness you can divide a week into six 28 hour "days"? If I had a job that would let me do that, I would try it for a week, and see how well it worked out...

Did you check the search function for other threads relating to sleep? I think there is an active one that isn't too far gone..
ian

In theory, sleep is great, or so I've been told.... LOL

If I could sleep well I wouldn't be typing this at 3:24am eastern time when I have to wake up to goto work in about 3 hours. But I just take some adderall and all is well..

I have always had AWFUL sleeping patterns. Thank God I have a job where I make my own hours. I usually fall asleep between 3 - 4 AM and wake up anywhere between 10 - 11 AM. I hope one day I can have a normal schedule. When I lie down I have to have music or the tv on or else my thoughts race so much I cannot even think straight let alone concentrate enough to relax and fall asleep. I usually end up falling asleep when my body is pshycially worn out from the day. Or I drink alot of beer.

I have a very small radio with an earjack. I usually put on a drony talk radio show and that helps me to shut down my mind. About using alcohol, that usually backfires on me---I do fall off but wake up early and my brain is rather depleted by mid day.

i work weird scheduals at work, 5:30am till 3:30pm or 3:00 till midnight, and ill be tired as hades but when i lay down to go to sleep ill just lie for about 2-3 hours, ugh

Pattern? What pattern?

i always has real bad sleep patterns to. i can remember being 6 years old and laying awake at 3:30 in the morning. it happens every few nights. has nothing to do with ritalin, or cofee, or choclate, or anything else. its just bad sleep.but im use to it.

I am consistently awake until 2-3 AM, if not later. And I get up every morning with my wife, at 6:30, so I get by on 3.5-4.5 hours of sleep a night through the week. And I've tried everything. I drink a lot of caffeine, but cutting it out doesn't help. Lying in bed reading at 9 trying to go to sleep just means I'll read until 2-3AM, if I don't get stircrazy. Lying there is even worse, because I will go stircrazy. And, as I noted, getting up every morning doesn't do a lick of good.

But I seem to have pretty much adjusted to it.

If I could sleep well I wouldn't be typing this at 3:24am eastern time when I have to wake up to goto work in about 3 hours. But I just take some adderall and all is well..
same here.

usually go to bed around 2-4am.
wake up for school everyday at 9-10am.
take my adderall and its pretty much the same way.

I REFUSE TO SETTLE FOR THIS THIS CONSTANT TIREDNESS! Being tired chronically just cuts into the day to day quality of life I believe I deserve. Critical thinking, decision making, appreciation of small things---all get kerflookied.
I got the name of a "Sleep Specialist" in Boston I have an appointment next Thursday.
--what I hear is that he can analyze one's sleep pattern and make suggestions. He is a PH D therapist and has written 60+ articles on the subject. I'll keep you all posted on this as it develops.

I would love to hear the details. If you could post some content from those articles here I'd be interested in reading them.
Thanks and good luck.
ian

Re: book A therapist friend swears by book titled "no more sleepless nights:

I tend to stay up too late, start to get those burning eyelids. Was thinking of adding trazadone, an antidepressant that that is generally given at PM hours and has a sedative effective. It works on different neurotransmitters. More of a serotonin boost though it's totally different from Prozac et al.

Will be seeing my doc this Wednesday. Let you all know how it works in combo. Anyone else doing stimulant + trazadone, I would love to know what your opinion is, if you've done it for any length at all.

Sleeping patterns? what is that? I would'nt know, as I write this i've been awake for 40 something hours, I'm not sleepy yet, but I'll regret not being sleepy tomorrow.

I lie awake for hours, even if I'm very tired. My mind won't shut down, thoughts, plans, memories keep rolling along, and I can't concentrate on any one thing. Quite often, an almost painful tension sets in, a dull ache throughout my whole body, and I toss and turn from side to side. I wiggle and kick my feet; trying to get rid of that tension. My wife refuses to sleep in the same bed with me anymore (it could be the gas, too). I try to use pleasant thoughts or thoughts that make me feel good, but its hard to concentrate, and with ADD I can't stay interested in anything long enough to use as a feel good thought. If I try to use tricks or methods to relax, my subconscience catches the trick and nullifys my attempt at it's use. I was awake until 6 AM last night. Maybe I'll get to sleep tonight; NOT.

How much and what meds are you taking? Aside from that, is a little mania setting in? Are you unable to stop taking a pill every few hours? Or is the mere presence of the med in your system setting this off?

I tend to get hyperfocused and involved in something creative, and I cave in to taking another pill at 9 at night or something, and boom, it's 3 am.

I was going to post about this , yet Turned out a thread had been started. Well, my sleep patterns are a bit screwy. Im not working currently, but actually, im putting alot of time into online business such as my vitamin company or online store.
I havent started one yet, but I have some ideas, which will be a bit different than the GNC store. More like a "Natural Brain Enhancement Research and supplement sales". Now, from all the knowledge I try to obtain, and since im noway no how going to be any type of medical person, Natural supplements are the way to go. But if you notice, most people who work in GNC stores or even if you have questions on say, ADD, what can i take for ADD.
I bet if you asked this question to 10 different sales persons at GNC, maybe 1 or 2 would help you out or know what or where to start. Well, I want to sorta specialize in natural substances for the mind.
Even though I cannot perscibe a supplement, there are ways around that how to word it. My office is like full of files and this and that, so.

OK back to ADD, and sleep, I love the night. Nobody bothers me, so I basically sleep in the day, get up around 8pm and stay up often to next day . Now this can play a factor on how your meds work, and end up taking amphetamines to just stay up.

But when 3am rolls around, im wide awake!. I actually dont want to go to sleep. But I do want to actually get a pattern going. I can say, one time i ran out of adderall , taking up to 90mg a day, for 8 days, I was in another world. I slept 3 days. THen just laid around and did not want to do anything. It seems like it made my ADD worse when I stop the drug, but i know its a combonation of withdrawl and ADD.
I have ambien and remeron, but I actually stopped those drugs , take them if i want to go to sleep early. But melatonin, is released between 10-2am, so when you up at that time, it may effect next day performance. But when Im taking adderall, im not tired. But I can sure feel it if I dont take my dose within 6-8hrs, I begin coming down,but not bad, this is why Im still researching the prolonging of SR, regualar Adderall , even if its 2 hrs, which would be 8 hrs. So then 16 hrs would be nice.
Now my dosing schedule is like weird too. My last dose is about 3am. so by 7-8 am, im able to lay down , but often i get that second wind , and stay up to noon. I do feel i only need 6 hrs of sleep on adderall. I also must say, with add, due to its complexity like the brain, Im constantly learning something new. Its great. I would say my main problem from this drug is sleep probelms.
Well this sure beats a 6 pill a day oxy 40mg habbit, -100 dollars a day, and basically useless, to doing anything. Most drugs, after a week or 2 of abuse, catch up to you, and you end up living your life around the drug. ADD meds for one with add dont seem to act like such. Now meth, or the lab crystal form, is nothing comparable. Iv known people who state this is the most addictive and neurotoxic drug there is. NOt the Pharmaceitical meth, but the crystal. A guy I ran into actually stayed up 14 days on crystal meth. I didnt beleive him until his story was backed up by 2 bikers . Though he said hed fall out for 10 min then go up again. The longest i was able or ever stayed up in my party days was friday to monday am. On ex, which is now cut with speed.

Sleep deprevation can cause alot of problems. I used to have a terrible sleep problem, Not like I do now,but actually worse, because I used to abuse GHB, which totally screwed up your sleep. I mean, total narcoleptic symtoms, and 2-3 hrs sleep intervals , then when the dopamine rebound effect kicked in , you wake up in a panic schizo state. Now, even on stimulants, my sleep isnt nearly as bad.

MRSCH

Well, I know what you mean about semi-megadosing with adderall. Being in that "other world" for a week or so is interesting, but the payback is a definite increase in the symptoms you are trying to get rid of.

I have no advice. I think you will find a pattern that will work. Right now you are getting meds you never had before, and you are experimenting with the privilege. In a few months you will settle down.

Keep posting and stay honest about your med navigations. It's okay to overdo it a little to test boundaries. But be careful. Take a timeout here and there. You'll be all right.

:rolleyes: my sleep pattern; if i could see a pattern.:(
life long inso-insom-insommneAAAAK!!!!
now days come home 1:00am wind down couple hrs & doze off 'tween 3: & 4:
wake & doze most of the night & up about 10:am
& it does affect my attention & comprehension. also my mood & daily attitude.
it sucks. every time i go to dr he asks how my sleep is. i tell him lousy & we go
off into something else ( he seems to be fixated on my ocd-could it be his ocd trying to talk to mine? :confused: ) not sure if its the meds because this has been ongoing, but now that i think of it, seems to have gotten worse since starting strattera.
im going back to him next week, & after reading over this thread & being tired of waking up exausted, think ill redirect his wandering (:D )
thank you for bringing this up.

I would look for another doctor. Some of us ADDers are challenging to deal with. Our disorders are such that we get misdiagnosed as bipolar or O/C or schizo because we sketch out in front of a doctor. You sound like you have a lot of overlapping problems, or "co-morbidities" as the docs like to say. Good luck

I keep thinking I've replied here...but I guess not...

I have a fairly decent sleep pattern. I always sleep naturally for 7.5 hours. My sleep cycles are about 1.5 hours long, so I can time them pretty well for waking up.

Rules of thumb when establishing sleep patterns:

1) Most people average 4-5 sleep cycles per night.
2) A sleep cycle is normally about 1.5 hours.
3) A sleep cycle consists of dropping into Phase 4 sleep, then rising to Phase2 REM sleep. 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM -2-3-2-REM -2 etc. As sleep cycles continue, the time spent in phase 4 gets shorter, and the time spent in REM gets longer.
4) You will wake up easier from REM sleep than deep sleep, and you will be more alert than you do.


IF you wake up in the morning naturally, get up then. You will be awake for the rest of the day. Go back to sleep if and ONLY if you have another 1.5 hours of time left, because your body will go back into another sleep cycle, and you will be less refreshed if you go back to sleep for 20 minutes and have to pull back out of deep sleep.

If you'd like, I can make a graph for sleep cycles or find one on Google, if you want me to clarify and expound on the issue some more...

I experimented with it all summer, and I found it works perfectly.

I've always had problems, several solutions that have worked over the years.
Sleep center treatment- if people complain about your snoring, go.
light box therapy-not hype, works really well in northern climates.
meds-provigil and strattera in am, small dose of seroquel in pm. This is what it feels like to be normal!

Sleep is not overrated.

I havent really had any trouble sleeping. Work realy drags the energy out of me and after a good hot shower, it's all I can do to stay awake. If I read a book, I barely get through a whole page and Im out.

I've always been curious about provigil. There was version of this in France that was around for quite awhile. As many ADDers mope through the day and end up insomniacs at night, much as I wanted to avoid it, it seems like two meds work better than one. Right now I have an interesting batch. For daytime I can choose either adderall xr, 30 mg, or dexedrine, 5 mg. Have a bunch of both. I like the adderall for the smoothness of the ride. The dexedrine i use for "spot" situations, like 10 mg will work beautifully for a 3-4 hour span. Around 9 or 10 at night I take trazodone, 50 or 100 mg. It makes me drowsy and sleep like a baby. Plus it seems to be having a complimentary anti-depressant effect in areas of the brain other than what the stimulants are doing.

This is normal. On no meds, I am dull around the edges all day and go to bed feeling like I didn't do anything significant. I make "to do" lists that turn out to be "don't do" lists.

Sorry, but the pills work.

My sleep pattern stinks. For the most, I am up until 2 or 3 in the morning every night, and I have to be to work at 6 am. I know I need to go to bed earlier, but on most nights, I feel more productive after the kids are in bed and things are quite. Once things settle down some around here, I am looking for more things to do. I do get most of mine things done, but then there always seems to be more.

I'm finding tentative good results with Neurontin aka gabapentin. I take 4 100mg capsules 90 min before sleep. In past 5 days I've gotten 2 nights w/ better sleep than ever. The Red Sox games have given me some disruption the other nights.
How I got to the prescriber was thru a therapist who asured me that the prescriber is a "sleep specialist" who does research on sleep disorders.

Okay all, this is going to sound weird. I picked the information up from a taped seminar Dr Bill Dodson did that my doc gave me.

Pattern Sleep Disturbance, which is what they call our crappy sleep patterns, occurs in about 30% of children with ADD, but as they grow into adulthood it appears to get worse. 75% of adults with ADD exhibit Pattern Sleep Disturbance, to include difficulty in sleeping (IE simply not feeling tired), waking up often during the night (16 or 17 times a night for me), and extreme difficulty with waking up. This last is caused by what is called "Theta wave intrusions". Now, what Dr. Dodson said is simple. ADD/ADHD doesn't punch out at five. Nor does it cease as a problem when you sleep. The very parts of the brain it affects include those that regulate sleep patterns, and so if you want good sleep patterns you need to carry treatment into the 24/7 range.

I spoke to my doc who gave me the tape about taking my meds before bed, which is what Dr. Dodson recommended for those on stimulant meds. He thought I was high. LOL! But I told him that is what the tape he gave me recommended (his memory is as bad as mine, makes me wonder if he has ADD too!) So he suggested I try it on a weekend first, in case I couldn't sleep, and then if it worked he would proscribe me what I needed to take a night dose too.

Well, I'm here to tell you I never slept so well, or woke up so easily in my life! Dr. Dodson says that you have to have a "tuned dose" to get maximal results. Many people are treated to "first positive response" to meds and their doctors stop there. This can allow them to miss fifty percent of the possible benefit of meds. Other people can be over medicated. A simple test is to try taking a nap after you've taken your meds. A good dosage should easily allow for a nap. Of course, you need your doctor to be supervising all of this.

Why does it work? In a nutshell, stimulants like ritalin, Adderall, and Dexidrine, come from the same two basic molecules. Methylphenidate, and amphetamine/dextroamphetamine. In a person with ADD these drugs have quite a different effect than with a non-ADDer. Instead of a stimulant dosing response curve, a person with ADD taking them gets a curve that looks more like a replacement dosing curve. A lot like what a diabetic taking insulin would get. That's because one of the isomers in the molecule seems to look an awful lot like a naturally occuring neurotransmitter that folks with ADD are short of. On top of that, because of what are called paradoxal medication reactions, many ADDers don't even get "hopped up" by the non-thereapuetic, but still stimulating other isomer. The regulatory, or executive centers of the brain benefit from the replacement of the missing neurotransmitter by functioning better and allowing a smooth regulation of the sleep patterns. No restlessness at bedtime, no interuptions of sleep with wakefulness throughout the night and no Thetawave intrusions at inappropriate times (theta waves occur when we are in the deepest stages of sleep, and an ADDer who has them "intrude" during the time they should be waking up, isn't being lazy about getting up, they LITERALLY have to fight like hell to recover consciousness).

Everyone is different, and only your doctor can or should make changes in your medication regimen, but this one worked wonders for me.

Neurontin update-------------I'm up to 500mg per nite-------------take 90 min B4 bed--------------sleeping 6 1/2 hours w/ getting up-----------------a step in right direction!

Very interesting and very right on. Matches the growing body of information now increasingly available.

Funny how us high functioning high curiosity ADDers tend to become more informed about new wrinkles and novel therapeutic approaches to this disorder than the doctors we go to for help.

I use the information I get from this forum to "steer" my own psychiatrist into therapies I want to try. Otherwise, like Eboy says, once they get that initial first positive response from you, they generally stop trying anything new, and you may find yourself stuck in a rut that turns out to be bad.

and here i thought it was just me. my boys and i both have a very hard time falling asleep every night because i know for me that my mind wont stop racing so that i can relax and fall asleep. my boys complain that they just lay in bed and no matter what they do can not go to sleep {both me and my boys are adhd}. i always just thought it was a problem that we had never thought it had anything to do with adhd. it would be so nice to just have a long restful sleep for a change. i feel more tired when i get up then when i went to bed.

Have you started into any meds yet?

Hi All,

I've gone from going a few days without sleep to getting myself into a steady pattern. The main thing that helps is my Effexor. Without the Effexor, my brain
literally feels like it's buzzing around. No matter how tired my body was, my brain was wide awake, and the thoughts kept me from sleeping.

With the Effexor, I have some control over my thoughts. When I'm in bed and I start thinking, I just tell myself "let it go". I still have thoughts popping into my head, but at least I can shut them down enough to get asleep.

I work night shift so I have to sleep during the day. I have a routine that works pretty well. About 45 min before I go to lay down, I take a 3mg melatonin. When I do lay down, I put in a set of foam earplugs and put a black sock over my eyes. I usually zonk out in a few minutes.

Al

I'm getting favorable results w/ 500mg Neurontin---90 min before sleep. It isn't totally effective, If I have a stress hanging over my head----------I still tend to waken earlier than I want to. I am grateful to have found a Ph d psychologist in Boston who is a Sleep Specialist. He prescribes the Neurontin---we'll also be discussing Light Box therapy

Hi All,

New member here. :) DH has recently been diagnosed as ADD. This thread has been eye-opening. DH has had poor sleep and weird sleep patterns since BIRTH, but we never attributed it to ADD until reading this thread! He can't wind down, frequently stays awake all night and sleeps most of the day, and can't really get to sleep that well. He's on Paxil and Nortryptaline now, and it seems to be working okay, but still not perfectly.

He works nights, which he enjoys, so it's easier to work with his patterns. He, too, also thinks he's working on a 28-29 hour a day clock. It's fascinating to see that he's not alone in this.

Anyone else here have "night terrors" or panic attacks in their sleep? DH has been plagued with them for the past couple of years (he's screamed so loud some nights that he's slept on the couch so as not to awake me.) It seems to be directly related to stress, so I can almost predict when it's going to happen.

I'm a perfect match for him - highly organized and efficient. :cool: I think that's why we found each other. :)

Glad to know this forum exists,

D.

my sleep pattern is very odd...

when I had a few months to do nothing at all, I ended up staying up until I saw light, then I'd crash for 6 or 7 hours... and wake up perfectly rested...

now that I'm back in school, I go to sleep between 11:00 and 1:00, sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 am, and I'm ALWAYS SLEEPY... I just do better sleeping days

I'm also like the person who thought they'd do better w/ 28 hour days... when I was sleeping however I pleased, I'd end up staying up later and later... then have a crash day about once a week, where I went to sleep way too early... and start over again...

My unmedicated sleep pattern has always been a roller coaster ride. Stay up late being hyperfocused on something until 2 am, crash for few hours, get up and hyperfocus for as long as possible and if there was ever an opportunity to nap in the afternoon...I'd take it!

For the past few months my intense workload and schedule have made it necessary to sleep a more "normal" schedule. For this I take a small does of Ambien. I never wake up feeling refreshed but I do seem to get through the day with a more stable energy level.

The odd thing is that my Ambien supply is about to run out and so is my contract work...so I will no doubt starting back on the roller coaster ride of late nights and naps whenever the heck I feel like it.... (Ah, the good ole days :o )

Sometimes I think if I could just sleep good I wouldn't have ADD. My ADD doctor says ADD people are sleep deprived because their brains process things differently than a non-ADD brain.The non ADD brain would process a noise or whatever as normal and ignore it. In the ADD brain it wakes us up.
He also suggested a sound machine (white noise) to drown out noises. This seems to help a little.
John

believe it or not guys when I have felt most energetic in my life as well as being able to have restful sleep was when I rolled out of bed around, 4:30 am, worked out for a few hours, someitmes I'd go back to bed for an hour. I'd work out around lunch time (job permitting) come home and work out 20 minutes before dinner then a couple of hours later that night. At least 6 days a week. It takes around 30 days for your body to get used to it but once you're there you'll be completely worn out come 10-11:00 o' clock. You'll wake up w/out the use of an alarm too and full of energy!

Oh, eating right is key also. You must eat small portions of food at least 5X a day to keep your metabolism running and fueling your system. First meal I made around 6 am and last at 5pm. After that a snack would suffice.


NOw, when I'm not training hard like that I can be up until 3-5 am sleep a few hours and do it all over again. I am a complete night person. If I go to bed before 10 I'll wake up at 3 wide awake. If I go back to bed I'll fight like hell to get up before 9:00.

E-Boy, are you hyper-active? I wonder if the Adderall before bedtime is something only for ADHDers, and not we "inattentives".

Think that would make a difference...?

I currently have been seeing what Adderall 20mg Xr + 40mg Strattera first thing in the morning does. The Adderall kickstarts me, and the Strattera at this time & in combo. doesn't make me drowsy, as it did at other times, or w/o the Adderall...

I generally am up till 3,4,5, even 6 or 7am at times. When I do get in bed, usually go off to sleep (w/music or talk radio on) within 15min., but often am up & down a few times, and up by 9, 10 at the latest....

That's pretty erratic. Never heard of anyone combining Strattera and Adderall.

Ok, so I'm not getting any work today since I really made it a point to start reading the board more closely.... thanks alot guys !!!
In the first few years of being diag'd with ADD, I was on wellbutrin & celexa... you want to talk no sleep.... I was going 110 all the time, and I could just stay up right through to the next day if I wanted to, or I could do what my doc at the time was doing and take Lozapram, trazadone and at one point Kolonapin.... which was bad bad bad.
These days I've learned through experience, if you're counter-acting meds with other meds... something isn't right, that just leads to a clumination at some point of a rash of awful side effects.
Now... I've been using this software I stumbled across on the web while searching for Neurofeedback software, it's called Brainwave generator... and it's been working well for me to induce deep deep sleep, so that I don't need as much overall because it's so much more efficient. There's also presets that slow you down so that you can get to sleep on your own as well, I'm liking it.
I'm happy that I'm not in those can't sleep worth a damn days anymore, there were many a night I'd work overtime with other guys in my dept at work, they'd start fading out around 2am, I'd go right through til the next afternoon and get yelled at to go home by my boss.....oh, those 34 hr work days.....

I can't sleep lately at all. I have to wake up at 6am, and I usually don't fall asleep until 2 or 3. Even if I go to bed at a normal hour, I can never sleep more than 2-3 hours at a clip. I have bought stuff from GNC (theanine and melatonin) and it hasn't helped. I think my primary problem is stress. I hate my job. Including my commute, I am gone 12 hours for a job that I hate...

I haven't had a refreshing nights sleep in many years, which is unfortunate because I am only 18.
yesterday in writing lecture I felt very close to passing out in class from exhaustion. I literally yawned at least once every 30 seconds


im unmedicated

I have been having problems since starting with Adderall. I wake up after about 2-3 hoiurs of sleeping, but I'm quite refreshed. Then I spend a few hours lying awake, fall asleep for about an hour before the alarm rings, whereupon I feel awful.

I am definitely a night person. Mornings suck!

My sleep problems have occured ever since I was a child. It takes me hours to fall asleep. The thoughts just don't stop. I roll around with a clenched jaw until I can't take it anymore. I then move to the other bed. . .then the couch. . .then the other couch.

However, once I am asleep, nothing can wake me. During the week, my alarm clocks will make noise for atleast an hour before it even starts to registar. On the weekends, no alarm clock means I will sleep atleast 10 - 12 hours.

I just started meds today for the first time. Hope it doesn't make my insomia worst.

Actually the irony is stimulants alone may "naturalize" your sleep pattern. When I was younger I always had a hard time going to sleep and an even harder time getting up. The meds work pretty well.

In answer to an earlier question by someone, I do have Hyperactivity with my ADD, but the study I mentioned was of patients with all sorts of different subtypes. The percentage of patients helped by taking stimulants before bed was 97% if I remember correctly. The gentleman who supplied the info was a Dr. Bill Dodson.

Mr. Brooker makes a very good point that I endorse heartily. It is true however that different people often react differently to medication. So while I hope this info helps many people I can't assure you that it will help all. Of course, one should make no changes to dosage or med schedule without first consulting their health care provider.

It is worth mentioning though, that DOSAGE IS IMPORTANT. Many people are under medicated, or even upon occasion overmedicated. With persons who are undermedicated it is because physicians often treat to "first positive response" and then stop dosage increases there. This is an overly conservative approach that can deprive patients of as much as 70-80% of the medication benefits they might otherwise enjoy. Persons who are overmedicated may not be able to enjoy the benefits to sleep that a proper dosage might otherwise enable. Too high a dose, even for an ADDer can keep one awake. Dr. Dodson advised tuning the dose appropriately. Which involves the doctor raising the dose until undesirable side effects occur (small increments mind you so the side effects still tend to be minimal), and then going one step lower on meds. He also says that a properly tuned dosage should allow a patient to take a nap while on meds. If they are unable to do so, then either the dosage is still too high, or the particular medication they are taking may not be the most suitable one for that patient. That last point is important because as I stated earlier WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT, and consequently what works best for one may not be the best solution for everyone.

The reason this approach apparently works for pattern sleep disturbance, is that the same areas of the brain that cause us so much difficulty when awake, also regulate sleep patterns. Frankly, if an individual has sleep apnea (An entirely different issue than pattern sleep disturbance) stimulants before bed probably won't do any good unless the sleep apnea co-occurs with pattern sleep disturbance of the type I mentioned above. Our doctors, of course, are the only ones truly qualified to make these calls. However we need to play our roles as our own best advocates, do our homework, and keep the doctors on their toes as it were. :-)

I sleep better on Adderall as well. Has anyone noticed a rise in blood pressure?

I have. Mine goes up and down unpredictably, and even arm to arm when they check it. After a few months on the meds it seemed to stablize, but I need to watch my hydration. Also I notice on Adderall that I de-condition faster when I take breaks from my exercise routine. Two weeks off the runs ends up feeling like a month off the runs. LOL.

Hello everyone! THANK GOD! IT ISNT JUST ME! I was recently diagnosed as ADD, and promptly put on adderdal xr, first 10 then 20, and now a 30 every morning. And ever since I have had the energy of superman! However, my Wife was starting to refer to me as crackhead, and all sorts of other wonderful things - Apparently she gets really upset when she is in the bed all alone :( I stumbled across this forum and thread last night at 4am. It was a godsend as I have been awake the last month more than asleep. And now I see its not just me. I think my meds should be switched to the non-time release, as the good stuff that they do for me only seems to start at 30mg (I almost think it should be more pronounced ie: not strong enough, but it lasts too long.) What would be ideal would be to be able to have it wear off like around 11 or so. And whoever posted about counteracting the effects with another drug, bravo! Definetely not the way to go. Well thansk again, and you will be seeing me here often, although I may have to lurk for awhile till I start to unlock this ADD thing.
You guys are the best!

Frank

I dont sleep very well either. I usually go to bed around 2 and I wake up at 6 a.m. to go to school because our school starts at 7. Even though I dont sleep for very long during the day I am usually not very tired. I also noticed that once I wake up I'm up. I can never fall back asleep and I dont take naps either.
Another thing is that if I do go to bed early I never fall asleep anyways. I always end up laying in bed rolling around trying to fall asleep but never can so I just get up and do something.

I've never kept regular hours. The hyperactivity would keep me up all night and drive me to exhaustion. For years I couldn't sleep unless my head could hit the pillow and I could be asleep almost immediately. Otherwise I would think of a project and have to get out of bed to go start it.

I've been on strattera for a whopping 7 day at 25 mg. I'm still doing the same thing and sleeping about 4-5 hours a night. I hope to get to 8 hours of konk-time as those are the rare occasions that I awaken refreshed and feeling like I accomplished something the day before.

Moving to 65mg tomorrow. Maybe it will help - maybe not.

my sleep pattern is x-treeeeeeeeemly nuked. I have to stick to a religious sleep rhythm if I need to work regular hours (9pm to 6am)...lately I been unemployed or working nightshifts that seem to suit my natural sleep pattern...like Garfield, I don't do mornings.Often I sit up till midnight, then sleep till 11 am... sometimes even add a nap to that, making my usual sleeping hours about 11 - 14 hours. Anyone else have a similar sleep pattern?I see some of you also have the "run around until you collapse exhausted" thing.I never use meds...I have found behaviour modification and diet keep me relatively functional. Also : No caffeine, colourants, sugar etc. Room must be dark but not pitch black. I sometimes play some MP3's of the King James Version of the bible...they calm me and help me sleep...but maybe that's just me...I am a Christian, and the biblical texts comfort me.Maybe others might prefer some soothing music to distract your mind.

PS... I happen to have blood pressure problems...but I'm not on meds for add...could that be some kind of co-morbid disorder to add? anyone have any stats on something like that?

Qoute PurpleMicaZX7: "I am definitely a night person. Mornings suck!

My sleep problems have occured ever since I was a child. It takes me hours to fall asleep. The thoughts just don't stop. I roll around with a clenched jaw until I can't take it anymore. I then move to the other bed. . .then the couch. . .then the other couch.

However, once I am asleep, nothing can wake me. During the week, my alarm clocks will make noise for atleast an hour before it even starts to registar. On the weekends, no alarm clock means I will sleep atleast 10 - 12 hours."

DITTO !!

I dont have regular sleeping habit . I can sleep 8 hours one night and sleep 2 the next night. I fonction very well on 4-5 hours sleep which is my lets say normal sleep pattern.
If one day i sleep 9 hours, i will be so tired, the more i sleep the more tired i will be the next day.

I usually sleep in the wee hours of the morning then have to get up fairly early. I have never really remembered a dream. I don't mean to sound corny, but I kind of feel like Neo in The Matrix. I feel as if I'm waking from a real bad nightmare that I don't remember.

I probably look like a dork now.:o

I sleep 5-6 hours a day, 7 if I'm lucky. Always feeling tired and restless.

My sleeping pattern is fairly stable. Sometimes, I won't be able to sleep because my mind won't stop generating a million thoughts. Some things that help me sleep include: working out in the late evening and reading. I also avoid eating a large meal before I go to bed.

Thought I had replied, I guess not.

I have no problem getting to sleep its the staying asleep that i have the problem with. I can fall asleep within seconds of laying down. Drives my wife totally insane. She can be sitting there watching TV with me, and then go to say something to me but then she finds that I am asleep.

Most of the time my problem is staying asleep i'll wake up to either the slightest noise, or the fact that i turn over will wake me up, or will just wake up for no reason at all.

Up until I started to get more physical my sleeping habbit were really bad and started to worry me. I joined the gym got more physical got into my studies more and had some more se* which defanitly helped :)

Lately I haven't been having any problems with sleep. Generally, when I go to bed and I've left a lot of my daily activities unfinished, or major goals completely untouched and I know I won't ever start in on them, this causes extreme anxiety and worry, which I think about as I'm falling asleep. But with medication and gumption I'm more on top of things than ever, and I can go to bed feeling relatively satisfied. It's remarkable. I hardly ever wake up in the middle of the night, but then again I seldom did. It was the getting asleep part that used to be such a problem (in the past I could try for hours to fall asleep), but not anymore.

I'm 42 and before my AD/HD diagnosis, I would fall asleep quickly but would rarely stay asleep and not have a deep sleep. After Adderall XR, I sleep a solid and consistent 6 hours per night (10:30 to 4:30) and feel better than I ever have. No more waking up from panic attacks either. My chronic anxiety issues are mostly gone.

za zen do a google on this technique i tried it a week ago it works i don't know if it's partly because i've been off adderall for a week because that was causing to much insomina but i do feel alot better doing this za zen i even wake up alot more refrashed, this puts me so relaxed in 5 mins i was pracitllicy out.

i thought i was the only one...except stay up like...30 hours.or occasionally i wont sleep at night at all...i use to do this once a week, but im to busy to do that now...my adderal basically makes me not require much sleep, and i can still function as if i did sleep, some would cosider it abuse, but i gte alot more done this way..

To think somehow that extending my day like that is a free ride, is where the danger in doing so rests.

If I allow myself to borrow from my sleeping time in order that I prioritise "getting more done", other parts of me are picking up the slack.

I disagree strongly, that "I can function as if I did sleep." I would suggest you are just unaware of how you are suffering because of your reduced sleep.

Stimulants, don't perfectly replace sleep. There is always a cost to reducing rest and increasing activity, we just may not be aware of it.
Cheers! Ian.

Sleep, sometime good sometime not so good.
Running my own busness can cause me to wake up with frets about a job or just being excited about a hunt in the morning. I keep very active, so by 9:30 I ready for the sack weather I'm sleepy or not, knowing that the next day will bring new chalanges.
. If it's been a very busy day and I'm restless I sometimes take PM tylenol just to help me remain asleep

I sometimes only get an average of 3 or 4 hours a night... when stressed... none at all.

I sleep about 3 or 4 hours a night. I'm often forced to take naps during the day, which hurts my sleep schedule even more. :(

I tend to be an insomniac. I'll go a few weeks sleeping almost normally, then something disrupts my routine, or stresses me, and I won;t sleep properly for days, or weeks.

Glen

Mine, is often quite bad. The sad fact for me is that tiredness accentuates the difficult dimension of my inattentive ADD.

If I'm up too long, my ADHD gets worse and I can't sleep. I am literally 'too exhausted to sleep'. No one at work gets what I mean when I say 'I'm too exhausted to sleep', but apparently, I'm not the only one.

I fall asleep easily but tend to wake up every hour or so. That's been my pattern for quite some time and I'm used to it. Can't imagine speeping for 7 hours without waking up at least 4 times.

It's a strain isn't it. I have an increasing intolerance to coffee that I keep bumping up against with sleep issues! Grrr. I'm a horrible sleeper at best and it grates on my nerves.

The further along i go with this--now a full year under my belt with continuous medication, most of dexedrine--the more normal, or preferable, is my diurnal cycle. Non-medicated, was always sleepy and noddy during the day, esp. late morning, and restless and brain-wakeful at night, esp. 2-4 am. At first I used low doses of trazodone to induce drowsiness. This seemed necessary with ritalin, which has a more spiky, speedy onset and effect. With dexedrine, and its generally smoother effect, it is unnecessary.

Tho it seems funny that because of the DEA and the drug's history as a recreational drug, the amphetamines are a last resort. Yet they still work the best for me, and worked almost instantly. With the least side-effects, and without all the "combos" you are sometimes subjected to. But that's just my experience, what do I know.

Still, a newly diagnosed ADDer would probably do better with starting off with adderall or dexedrine in low, titrated, non-time-release hits, and nothing else. To me ritalin and strattera are the ones to avoid, yet they are the first to be prescribed.

After 5 years on Strattra I sleep great. BUt I don't take a pill after 2 unless I have a fucntion to go too or I want to be aleart and ready for a conversation.
Tylonal PM helped me through many sleepless nights.

Ian, I can't drink coffie any more and I was a 2 pot a day Star Bucks persons. Black high test ! Now I can't get enough water durring the day. I think the water helps me sleep better also , don't know why , it just dose.