Hey, so, I really, really need help. I don't know why, but Adderall has started to result in severe sleep loss.

Basically, I took 2 x 20mg in the morning with breakfast every day for a year in high school. It worked great, no problems whatsoever; I usually opted not to take it on weekends, when possible, to try and avoid addiction/tolerance buildup. So 5-6 days a week, for a year, and it worked great. Over the summer, I took it rarely if at all.

Then, I started college. Suddenly, I couldn't sleep at night if I took my normal dosage of adderall. Thinking it was just a temporary issue, I kept taking it day after day like I normally would, but eventually the sleep loss added up and I had to stop taking it. I scraped by that year. Then the next year I discovered that if I took just one 20-mg pill per day, it seemed to work. It was noticeably less effective than with my normal dosage, but at least I was able to sleep at night.

Note: I usually take Adderall around 7 AM. If I take my prescribed dosage, I'm lucky if I can fall asleep before 3 or 4 AM. There's just no reason it should be having effects for that long. Also, it isn't so much that I can't sleep, but rather that I'll get tired and go to sleep, but won't be able to fall asleep, and after about a half-hour of not-quite-sleep rest, I'll be fully refreshed.

So in short, for some reason, my prescription dosage of Adderall, while it works as well as ever, is causing severe sleep loss, which prevents me from taking it daily (actually, more like once every 3 days.) I've already visited several psychiatrists, none of whom have been able to help. (They weren't particularly good, though.) I can't see the psychiatrist who prescribed it, due to relocating, but he said it might be related to a polymorphism of... I'm not sure what. An enzyme? My mitochondria? At any rate, some kind of polymorphism.

I desperately need it to succeed at school. I can scrape by without it, but I can't stand it, because I'm capable of so much more, and in the end I really need Adderall to perform my best.

I just don't know what to do. One capsule per day just isn't enough. If anyone has any suggestions, thoughts, or ideas, then please share, I would really appreciate them. I just don't know what to do.

i have the same issue...

i can be up for almost 48 hours striaght

i would suggest talking to you doctor about taking something like melatonin for sleep...i've heard that it helps (but haven't tried it myself)

You're not drinking enough water. Try drinking 8 glasses a day and see if that doesn't immediately solve the problem.

I agree. I drink a ton of water. I find that it levels out the meds so I dont get the ups and downs with it. I had trouble sleeping in the beginning but my doc put me on doxepin and it completely helped.

If you're on Adderall XR, you may want to try regular Adderall since it doesn't last as long.

It sounds to me like a nutritional issue though. You didn't start having the problem until you began college, which tells me that your daily practices have changed significantly. Are you eating your meals someplace on-campus? Maybe you're just eating less, perhaps even skipping meals? You may want to try going back to eating the way you used to before college started and see if that helps.

You can also try an ordinary home remedy for sleep aid, like a glass of warm milk. Or you could try a Tylenol PM, which I've found to be very effective, and should be benign enough that it won't interact with the Adderall (but if you decide to do that regularly I would recommend checking with your doctor).

Maybe you could just pick and choose the days you use it and dedicate those times to really working hard on homework and test studying and all that. And other days just take notes and stick with morning coffee. I dunno, that's what I do and I think its better that way. You won't become dependant if you just have them every few days.

@????: That's more or less what I do at the moment, but it's still not an ideal alternative. (There have been instances where I've had 3 tests in one week, and by the time I take the third I'm just so exhausted that the adderall is almost useless.)

Also, I'm prescribed to take Adderall XR, but I've tried taking one tablet of XR and one of non-XR and still had the same problem. I haven't tried two non-XR.

The water thing... I can't believe I didn't think of that. That's just brilliant. I'll try that, but I'm not sure it'll help. I usually drink quite a bit of water anyways when I take adderall (you know how thirsty it makes you); the problem is, it goes straight through me. I'll be in the bathroom within an hour. For example, I've had to leave class because I had a cup of water half an hour beforehand and within the first thirty minutes of class I just can't hold it any more.

I really think you're on to something here. That didn't used to happen, back when it worked. Maybe I need to think of something to help with that... but then again, I only have the problem with liquids when I take the adderall. Is there any way that the adderall might be causing that?

You know, I bet that has to do with diet, doesn't it? My nutrition plummeted when I went to college... that makes perfect sense. But then again, why would I only notice it when I take 2 Adderall?

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.

why would I only notice it when I take 2 Adderall? Same reason 1 Adderall doesn't help you enough, that's the reason you don't feel the same nutritional sensitivity when you only take 1. More Adderall is going to mean more benefit but also more side effect. You're probably at a point where you have a tolerance for 1 pill, so you don't feel any side effect or sufficient benefit. It takes 2 pills to affect you now, but that will bring negative effects as well as positive. Again I'd try improving your nutrition... Brown-bag your meals if you have to :)

I have found that occasionally I will have trouble falling asleep. I have learned to recognize my sleep window, I have to go to bed then or I will be up all night. If I have missed my sleep window I pile as many blankets as I can find on top of me. This acts like a weight blanket. The weight of the blankets help your brain to integrate all your senses through deep tissue pressure. Essentially you calm down.

I was supprised to learn about the water. I typically drink alot of water anyway, but now that I think about it, those sleepless nights occur after I haven't had much water.

I owe you all so much. This is my fourth day in a row of taking 40 mg of Adderall XR. I've been sleeping, well, not really "like a baby," but I've been sleeping reasonably well.

I think I'll take a break to rest tomorrow, then try it again for a few days after that, just to make sure. But right now it seems like everything is going A-OK. I can't believe how many doctors didn't suggest this.