I'm having a problem falling asleep and staying asleep since I started taking Adderall XR 20mg each morning for about five mornings now. I have never been on stimulants before this year and was reciently diagnosed by my doctor (not psychiotrist) at age 21. I can't afford a psychiotrist at this time but I plan on getting properly diagnosed in the near feuture.

Sorry for the long thread, I hope you guys can stick with it. I'm trying to explan every issue in detail so you all know exactly what my situation is.

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Before meds:
I loved sleep so much, I would sleep 8-10 hours each night if i could. When I worked, I would always put my sleep before work. If I stayed up too late the night before, I may aswell forget about waking up at the right time to get ready for work because I found it extreamly diffacult to wake up without hitting the snooze button 20 times. When the alarm sounds, I click snooze and imediently my mind would start drifting off into wonder land and before I know it, I would be asleep. I could click snooze and drift off back to sleep about 10-20 times a morning. This got so bad, that me being late for work every day got me fired from 9 jobs in the past 5 years. Thats my own fault tho for not going to bed on time, but still i'm trying to explain how my sleep was before meds.

After meds:
Now that i'm taking Adderall, I find it very hard to go to sleep and very hard to stay asleep more than 4-5 hours. For the past 5 nights, I have slept a total of 22 hours. My bodie is so tired that I feel like I havn't slept in 2 days and no matter how hard I try to fall asleep I can't. (thats not a very good fealing :faint: )

Each night before bed I think to myself "i'm extreamly tired, i'm going to sleep for 10 hours streight". I go to bed, have a hard time falling asleep, then find myself woke up just a few hours later feeling well rested and awake.
I know this isn't true b/c I havn't slept that long, but no matter what, I can't go back to sleep. So, after a few hours I give up on sleeping and take some meds and feel great. After about 8 hours of feeling great, i'll feel like i'm a zombie again and havn't slept for 2 days streight. But the meds are still kicking it and I can't go back to sleep. At bedtime i'm extreamly exausted but still have a problem falling asleep and staying asleep.

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Over the past 5 years, I have never had an exact set time for sleeping as in an exact schedule/bedtime. My jobs would always move me around on the schedule from morning, mid day, and night shifts. But never night one day and morning the next etc. An example, but not nesessarly acurate example is: Mon:morning, Wed:mid day, Thrus:night. This probably explains why my sleeping habbits where so bad before meds and why I couldn't get to work on time. That and the fact that I played Everquest/Warcraft too late each night no matter if i was tired or not. Those games get you hooked like an addiction you have to pry yourself from to go to bed.

What i'm trying to figure out here is.... what can I do to sleep a good 7-8 hours a night and stay on Adderall. Adderall is helping me so much, but it's not worth it if i'm going to feel like I havn't slept for 2 days all the time.

I am currently taking Adderall XR 20mg wich lasts 12 hours from what I read. Should I consider asking my doctor to lower the dosage? Or will lowering the dosage even take care of the problem? I don't know if this dosage is high or low for a 21 year old 240lb guy. I have also only been taking it for 5 days and have not goten any tolerance to it yet. Sould I ask him about switching me off the XR version and take 2-3 pills a day insted? Or do you think i'll be fine if I make me a set sleeping schedule and stick to it every night no matter what?

Any kind of input/sudgestions would be wonderfull and thank you for your time in reading what I typed from an extreamly sleepy person.

Edited: I have also tryed Concerta wich didn't help with attention and Strattera wich helped a little but gave me thoughts of harming myself. Adderall helps my attention extreamly, but I can't sleep.

I would say that its just the stimulant keeping you up. I am ADHD and have a negative reaction to the stimulants, so i dont take them. I have recently been diagnosed with a sleeping disorder, and they have me on provigil. I could have chosen any ADHD medication to solve my sleepiness problem on this. The provigil is taken by me to keep me up, not solve ADHD issues. I also have to take a sleeping pill at night to be able to fall asleep, so i also have insomnia i guess. But what im guessing what is going on here is that you might not be able to sleep b/c of the stimulant nature of the pill to keep people up, you might want to look at some sort of sleep aid. You should try and keep as constant of a schedule as you can, if you cant get to sleep, with a constant schedule, then you may need to look into getting some sort of sleep aid for you to be able to keep it.

It's the stimulant that's keeping you awake (best educated guess). It's pretty typical when starting one. I suggest you try taking Melatonin before trying a prescription sleep aid.

Melatonin is what's naturally produced in your brain by the pineal gland to regulate awake/sleep while you sleep. You can buy it in pill form from any natural store.

The reason I suggest you try that first is because many sleep aids are habit forming and if you can take something that works and is naturally produced in your body - why not?!

here's info on it:
http://www.melatonin.com/

One of the things that helps me fall asleep, (as I am taking 40 mg a day) Is to a somewhat moderate meal. My doctor was explaining to me that food helps take some of the "adderall edge" as he called it. It helps level out your blood sugar, and certain foods help you reach sleep. I don't know if he was just saying that, because I really am not hungry during the day, but eating something at night really does help me at least.

Hope this was some help