A year ago, before I was diagnosed with ADD, my sleep problems got very bad and I went to my doc for help.

He prescribed L-Tryptophan, which is a naturally-occuring substance (still needs a prescription though because of some bad history when it was an uncontrolled substance).

It is found in turkeys and along with stuffing (carbs are required to make L-Tryptophan effective) is the cause of a lot of snoozing at Thanksgiving time.

It was incredibly effective and has allowed me to sleep deeply most nights. Even now, using Ritalin, the L-Tryptophan has a positive effect.

I haven't searched the forum to see if this medicine is a known help for sleep problems and add, so here it is!

Do most people with add have sleep problems?

oldbutnew2add

well, i cant answer for anyone else, but ive had sleep problems for years--even as a child. mind racing at bedtime, & sleep at inapproprate places...self medicated during teen years & beyond w/alcohol & drugs w/tragic results.
im 45 now & have been dianosed ADD nor not quite a year.
p-doc rx'ed gabatrol at first (awful stuff i thought) & now trazodone (much better) to help sleep. this w/ the strattera & wellbutrin we're trying to get some basic rythem to my living.
ive made some concessions to sleep troubles-taking jobs that would start later in the day was the biggie.

Hi there

I too have sleep problems. Not that I don't sleep but I can't seem to get out of the dream phase. My dreams are extremely physical and I often wake up feeling exhausted. Before taking antidepressants I had a terrible time falling asleep because of my mind racing, now I turn on my fan and the noise helps me to get to sleep. I also nap from 1-2 hours a day. I haven't been diagnosed ADD by a doctor but there is no doubt in my mind that I am. I am dying for a good nights sleep and not sure that will ever happen.

Blessings,
Mary

Sweeethartsok--before i started seeing p-doc & meds boy i used to get dreams (that is when i did get to sleep)-awful physical racing dreams. when i woke up
i would need a nap just to recover from them. didnt get them all the time but often enough -- oh the horror!! the horror!! :D

I've been an insomniac since I was a kid. Got a little better, depending on which med(s) I was on, when I grew up, but I was put on Dexedrine a month ago, and even though it's what my doc called a "Mickey Mouse" dose, I had so much trouble sleeping at first, no matter what time I took the medicine, (as in, it should have worn off by the time I went to bed and I shouldn't have been all wired.)

Put it this way: I'm on Xanax PRN for insomnia (and the occasional anxiety attack, but mostly for insomnia), and very rarely go over around .5 mg. (Tiny. I know) to help me go to sleep. Now, when I was first taking that medicine, and it was like 1 or 2 in the morning, I got desperate one night and took 1.5--mind you, 1 mg usually knocked me out pre-Dex--and it did absolutely nothing. That's how bad it was.

Then that started to ease up assuming I went to bed at a reasonable time.
Lately, though, I have gotten in a trap--I stayed up late one night, and slept in, and took my meds at 11 a.m. or so. Thus, I was all wound up at night, and couldn't go to sleep, and stayed up late, and slept in, and...it's been like that for a while, and I've been over in the Dexedrine forum bit**ing about the meds not seeming to work very well, "but then again I haven't been sleeping well, so maybe that's why."

Guess what I'm saying is, it took me a couple of weeks to stop being all wired, and that was just on 10 mg (first week) 15 mg (2nd week)--the beginning dosage. Then I got my appetite back, sort of, and was much better about sleeping. You're not alone--I knew these stimulant thingies would screw with my sleep, but didn't know it'd be that bad.

(BTW...In this trap, I do this pathetic thing where I'm completely bored and wide awake in the wee hours of the morning, (last night, it was 2-3 AM, Central standard time, US) and post a ton of messages on this forum. You look down the "new posts" list, and look at the names, and it's like, "Knitting Junkie," "Knitting Junkie," "Knitting Junkie," "Knitting Junkie," "Knitting Junkie,"... all the way down--or with an interruption here or there.:rolleyes:
Chrys

I've been a career insomniac. I used to look at my boyfriends, husbands, (yeah... a whole 'nuther problem in itself!) and other folks when they'd drop right off to sleep when their head hit the pillow and ENVY them. I'd lay awake for HOURS and usually only slept for two hours at the most at a time. I always have vivid dreams and/or vivid nightmares as well.

My Doc put me on 10mg of Ambien which works GREAT... I only sleep for 4-5 hours at a shot, but it's deep. I still have dreams and nightmares, but that's only after I've woken and try to go back to sleep. It's a pain to wake up at 3. Usually the only reason I don't get up is just because my house only has wood heat (I have a portable heater in my bedroom) and I don't want to be cold! :D

I've been on the Ambien for... hmmm... 'guess it's been 10 months now. I like being able to go to bed and know I'll be asleep within a half hour.

Rain

L-Tryptophan is very benign, inexpensive, and worth a try. I can't imagine any doctor hesitating to prescribe it.

If you do not take it with carbohydrates (bread is good) it doesn't seem to work very well.

But when it works!

oldbutnew2add

Oh gosh yes I have a terrible time falling asleep. I have been put on trazadone and ai feel groggy in the morning along with the stattera, celexa and cymbalta I take so I have stopped taking it . I think lot of my problem is racing thoughts at night and I cant calm my mind. It just want to stop. I also have strong vivid dreams, like the one I had about my dance teacher who died in 1986. I just figured out her birthday was on the 5th of February. Sleep when I do sleep is sound. auntchris

Don't ever take Trazodone with Benadryl. I think I already told someone that--was it you?

Chrys

no i dont think it was me. But why? auntchris

Well, how can I put this...coming from a girl with allergies and insomnia...learned this a few years ago. At first, I thought it might just be me, but then (living with my parents at the time) when I freaked out, my dad was like "You're not supposed to take those together!!!" And I was like "Well, I didn't know! AAAAUGHHHH!" Took about 5 or 6 hours b4 that chilled out.

I'll put it sort of in a step-by-step format.


Take a dose of Benadryl with a dose of Trazodone.
Then, feel a few hundred insects with spindly legs crawling all over your body and under your skin
develop the ability all of a sudden to literally feel every single hair on your head, though you may not be able to even imagine that, as it sounds so odd...it's like the follicles are all separately tingling quite sharply
get goosebumps for several hours, you know, hairs on your arms standing on end and everything
get sick
get dizzy
begin to have thumping/pounding in your ears and/or during the same period of reaction suddenly realize that instead of going thump...thump...thump...regularly, as it (your heart) should, you're getting a thump........thuuump....like the engine's dying or something (don't know why that's an either/or but each of those happened at one point)
pass out (if you're lucky, and don't have to stay awake during the scary stuff)
get very, very panicked
delusional...(besides that first one)
other stuff my scattered brain can't think about
It's some scary stuff, man. So scary that no matter how much Trazodone you've taken, your body will resist the urge to become sleepy for no other reason than inability to shut out the crazy irritation and freakiness going on. Though I have heard of blood pressure stuff that resulted in passing out (as mentioned above.) I still get freaked out remembering how scary that was. If that's what it's like to be schizophrenic...man, I can't imagine that every day.

All in all, definitely a "do-not-mix," but for some reason, not well known, even though doctors are aware of it.

Chrys

wow thanks for the warnign and description of what happens. I feel bad enough on my meds as it is I dont need any other side effects. Thanks Chrys

I prefer to learn from others' mistakes when possible...thought I'd warn you. Vividly. Can't say it enough...scaaaary.

Chrys

p.s. By the way--forgot to mention...my entire body itched after that for about a week and a half, if I remember correctly. (Which, with my brain, I may not.)

L-Tryptophan is very benign, inexpensive, and worth a try. I can't imagine any doctor hesitating to prescribe it.

L-Tryptophan does have possible nasty interactions with SSRI or MAOI antidepressants. BTW, besides carbohydrates, vitamins B6, B3, and C help facilitate metabolism of l-tryptophan as well.

Hello there:

Sleep problems you say? I am there with you all. Suffering every step of the way. I have been a severe insomniac since I was a little girl. This may sound hard to believe, but there are times in my life that I go for 2 weeks without closing my eyes. I am now just starting to get on track with the Trazodone that the doctor has prescribed for me. But the 200mgs that I take at night sometimes is not enough to even make my eyes heavy enough to close for any longer than maybe an hour. I have been prescribed Temazepam, Ativan, and Trazodone. I resorted to self medicating when I was in high school. I had a SERIOUS addiction to Gravol. I was up to taking almost 30 pills in the run of 24 hours! I was diagnosed with ADHD just this year(2005) I am on Ritalin and Trazodone now. But like I said, because of the insomnia and how severe it is with me, I don't know what else to do for sleeping. If there is anybody else out there that has had a good experience with another type of sedative or sleep aid, please let me know. Thanks for reading. . .

Fast Talker.
:confused:

We are all different. So what works for me might not work for you. Yes, I have had insomnia most of my adult life. Timing my stimulant meds to crash when I want to sleep works for me. Sleep comes almost instantly. I wake up refreshed, ready to go.

PS to Fast Talker. Please don't take offense. I simply want to read your message. I'm an old geezer with bad eyes. Please change your font and its color to something more readable. I'm sure you got good stuff to share - if I could read it.