My son, as I have posted elsewhere at this site, started taking Adderal XR, 20mg appr. 3 1/2 weeks ago. He goes back in on Jan. 27 for a recheck. I have noticed that for the past couple weeks at least, I have had a hard time getting him going in the morning. He is 17, and usually they get up pretty good, typical teenager, wants to sleep. But lately, I am shocked he has not been tardy yet. Probably because he drives and his sister is also at the high school. I have to constantly get on him to get moving. I will check with our doctor at his appt. but thought I would post here too. I guess it could be because he hasn't had the meds yet, and it has been worn off for quite some time. Anyone else with this issue?

My son is SO SO SO hard to get out of bed and always has been.

He takes 25mg of Adderall XR.

The first few weeks, he woke up perky, but is currently back to his self in this regard.

Likewise, I'm a difficult riser & went through a short period of easy wakenings when I first started Adderall.

But, this goes back to birth. My mom use to slap me sometimes because it was the only way to get me up!


BTW, my nonADD child is a morning person & so is DH. Grrrr.:rolleyes:

He, like myself, has never been a morning person, but at least before the Adderall, he wasn't so slow moving. I mean, I would always have to go down a couple times, but once up, he would get going. Now, he is just a turtle. I am assuming it is due to the meds.

I read an article by a doctor who treats ADD patients, many of which have difficulty waking in the morning. I took his advice and set my alarm(read - tell my wife) to wake me up an hour before I really need to be up and take my Adderall. I then go back to sleep and have an easier time getting up an hour later. So far it's been much more effective than getting up an hour late and wandering aimlessly until the medicine kicks in.

Check with your son's doctor before trying something like this. My Psychiatrist didn't have a problem with me doing it, but there may be a reason why your son shouldn't.

nasnem, Thanks. I will check with him. We go back in about a week and a half anyway. It sounds like something I will have to try with him, although, it will be rough on me to make him get up and take it. Gotta do what ya gotta do. I can't just expect him to do it, or it won't happen.

I can take Adderall and go back to sleep for three or four hours. With Ritalin, I think I even go deeper in my sleep when I take it before waking up. In my case it improves the quality of my sleep - it just feels so good. When I decide to wake up, my mind is already clear.

If your child is so crippled by sleepiness -- to the point where he cannot get up for school/work, etc -- might it be time for your Doctor to get his sleep checked for a sleep disorder?

This can be very serious. The High school years are a time that determine your child's future.

How unfortunate if your child could not go to college b/c he is impaired in his learning, memory and alertness due to an unknown sleep disorder.

In his new book about Sleep, Meier Kryger <sp?> talks about a farmer's daughter who was diagnosed as "RETARDED". It turned out, she had a SEVERE SLEEP DISORDER.

Remember too: sleep disorders kill. (eg inattention while driving; they destroy the ability to learn in school [memory/learning is consolidated in sleep; they cause hypertension --> heart attack/stroke.]

When I firsts started stimulent medication I was tired as anything, but like as already been shared that usually passes after a month or so. I was reading that Adderall takes more than an hour to kick in, so that may well be your problem. Definately run it by the doctor in any case. If your son staying up later on Adderall, which can sometimes happen, that could also be complicating the picture.

Scattered

I agree... it is a "serious" problem... however, it can also just be a part of who you are. I have never been a morning person. I have tried many things. Taking the meds early, (some help, but not really as far as actually getting out of bed when I'm supposed to..), 4 alarm clocks in varoious postitions around the room, changing the times.... ( all these things do help...) I am hoping that with the Adderall atleast I won't be effected as much through the day. When I do sleep, I sleep like a rock. Post/and now with Adderall, and to be honest, I think that even as my dosage increases I won't be easy to get up in the morning. The only time that I was a light sleeper was right after both my children were born, I would wake at the drop of a hat.
I was like this in highschool, and my ability to go to college and succeed was not impaired. The wonderful thing about college is the fact that you can arrange your classes later in the day. I have a hard time getting anywhere on time... actually... but hopefully with meds and BT this will change, but the morning thing... nope, I doubt it :) But, hey, there must always be hope.
A sleep disorder may be something to check out, but don't stress that his future will be distorted due to this. People learn to adapt, and with patience and trial and error I wish you luck :) BTW, let me know if you find anything else helpful... :)

I was reading somewhere -- escapes me now where -- that teenagers cycles are generally geared to be sleepy first thing in the morning and more alert later in the day. They gave a lovely explanation for this, which I forget:rolleyes: , but it's pretty normal even if you're not ADD.

Scattered

Well, I don't think it is a sleep disorder. Once up and going he is fine. He is doing better now. Been on Adderall appr. 7 weeks. I have to say, he is doing amazing. His grades have gone from C's, D's and F's to A's and B's. This will be the first time we won't be getting a progress report halfway through the quarter. They only send those out to parents if the kids are getting D's and F's half-way through. Can you tell I am excited? His self-esteem is much better now, he is more talkative to us. As for getting to bed, geesh, he is 17 1/2. He doesn't fall asleep early that's for sure.

18 year old male in Canada BC

I have many sleep disorders including sleepwalking, talking, apnea, insomnia, and much fatigue on top. I Can't sleep well at night, sometimes I have full conversations with people in the middle of the night and dont remember them :S or sleep hallucinations which can be frightening ... I went in and had sleep tests done, nothing showed up, so now I take sleepingpills every other night to sleep. It usually helps once in a while, but not good all the time. I find when im tired I'm really not myself, I would recommend maybe a dimenhydrate/dramamine pill 1 hour before bed, on a sunday night at ohh .... 9:00 ish, so he can get a good sleep. See what his reactions are to a good nights sleep and if he's feeling better, try to get him into a regular sleep pattern. If he can't take him into a sleep specialist. Check for sleep pralysis which usually occurs during a stage of deep sleep, and can cause sleep deprivation. Apnea is another big issue. Dimenhydrate is an antinausiant, commonly named travel tabs or gravol. I find it works well for a once in a while temporary cure.

Dont do this too often because sleep patterns run on a cycle which can be disrupted by anything you eat or consume. It's actually a very sensitive cycle, but it will help him to get the deep sleep he probably lacks, and the normal shallow sleep will fill in the rest.

Best wishes!


PS: Cut caffeine out of his diet completely, and limit sugar. You are what you eat.

18 year old male in Canada BC
I have many sleep disorders including sleepwalking, talking, apnea, insomnia, and much fatigue on top.
Hyper, your experiences sound a lot like mine.

I engaged in sleepwalking as a child and had nightmares and sleep hallucinations from about age 9 to well into my 20s.

No sleep disorders and I eventually developed a fairly normal sleep pattern. Now I just snore!

Some of the differences, I believe, were getting on the right meds (I'm Bipolar) and hormonal changes (I started snoring when I was pregnant with my first child and haven't stopped).

Serotonin in particular helps regulate the sleep cycle, so when it's out of whack you can end up with things that look very much like sleep disorders.

Also, depletion of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex can knock you out!

I started taking Adderall (20mg) once every few days starting a couple weeks ago and noticed since then it's much tougher to get up some mornings.

It used to take me about 20 min (1 hour tops on weekends) to roll out of bed, but some days it takes up to three hours. Didn't have this problem before the Adderall & something I didn't quite put together before reading your thread. I'll keep a look out and see if anything changes.