For Women with ADHD ADD Who Want to Connect

Sleep issues

For years, I have had a barage of sleep issues. I have experienced every type of insomnia there is from not being able to get to sleep, to waking up in the middle of the night, to waking up at the wee hours and not going back to sleep. These happen because of a variety of reasons. Either I'm too hot or too cold, I need to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water, I'm in pain somewhere in my body, I have too much on my mind and can't get it to shut up or there's outside noises (cars, the sprinklers on timers - need to talk to manager about that, people being loud, occasionally my daughter coming in, light, smells). Now that I've added ADHD meds to my regime, I'm having the late night insomnia. Last night was a bit better. I think I got to sleep somewhere by 11pm. But I woke up at 3am because of some jerk with a noisy truck and he was talking with someone. Then the sprinklers. Then at 530, I woke up and had to take daughter to work. What a way to start the day. Hopefully, I'll get to sleep a bit better tonight. The Adderall really helped me sleep better and I have to get in touch with the doctor because I was on Yasmin for a year and I think that helped with the sleep issues too. Just this morning I finally purchased the good earplugs online. I used to be able to find them in the store but the store discontinued it. So, I bought these other ones but they don't stay in my ears and they don't block out the noise. But the new ear plugs will work wonders. They are a bit uncomfortable but I can at least sleep with them. My therapist also recommended meditation (some of you responded to that post, thank you) and today, I feel better about trying it.

So, I just wanted to share my experience about sleep and wonder if anyone else has sleep issues and what you do about them. Sometimes I think that it's all just me and my imbalanced brain chemistry and I feel like noone understands. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by jo elleman on November 21, 2009 at 11:44pm: Terry, I participated in a sleep study several years ago. The sleep medication not only did not help me fall asleep, but caused severe anxiety symptoms most of the following day. This was after I had been diagnosed, but before I had started ADD medication.

Terry Matlen, ACSW said:
Yes, please be careful with Ginko. It can interact with other meds one might be taking. Please discuss this option with your doctor.

Terry; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jo elleman on November 22, 2009 at 12:06am: I have had sleep issues all of my life. I have also experienced painful RLS on and off, and sometimes my whole body is restless to get up and move around, despite exhaustion. I have a routine that I stick to, but it doesn't neccissarily mean it will lessen the sleeplessness. Once in bed, I try to move as little as possible, because any movement will wake me up more. I have warm milk at my bedside, keep soft music on throughout the night, attempt to read extremely boring material, etc. While the music is not recommended because I have read that upon hearing a song which is significant somehow whether in tune, lyrics, whatever, one often is awakened, I find that attempting to follow a song can lure me into sleep. But we ADDERS don't usually follow the rules, do we? I am hesitant to try any sleep meds that can be addictive, so I never take them, and the over-the counter ones seem to be useless to me. Being over-tired actually wires me out more, so there is often a frightening feeling that there is a point of no return. I have often gone with such small amounts of disturbed sleepfor such an extended period of time that it is quite literally painful. But every now and then I will suddenly fall into a very deep dreamful sleep, one which makes it difficult to arouse from, but I guess those infrequent slumbers keep me going. Yet I can take naps, although I seldom have time to. I am starting to notice, especially on this site, that insomnia seems to be possibly connected with ADD.

JessicaLynn said:
Karen, I just found this post by searching "insomnia" in the forums ... as it is currently 12:30 AM and I can't get to sleep even though I've only had about 4 hours of sleep in the past 48+ hours.

Like you, I feel like I've struggled with almost every kind of sleeping issues there is on and off over the course of my entire life. When I was a kid, I used to hide a flashlight behind my headboard so I could read under the covers after "lights out" if I couldn't fall asleep. Too often, I would read through the night until dawn almost before finally being able to sleep. Through my teenage years, my insomnia disappeared for some reason unknown to me and my battles with sleep didn't return until about halfway through college. Since, the issues have returned on and off consistently. Sometimes, I'll go months with no problems getting a good 7-8 hours of restful sleep every night. Then, out of the blue it seems, the inability to fall asleep will occur and keep occurring for months. Then, another few months will go by and as I'm starting to struggle less with falling asleep I start struggling more with staying asleep and/or getting restful sleep etc. Sometimes, the problems go away as suddenly as they appeared. Other times, the problems surface and although I'm able to pin point why (e.g., a stressful event has occurred or something in my personal life has changed), nothing I do seems to help.

I noticed your comment about contemplating any link between your taking dexidrine and getting more restful sleep and it got me thinking .... when I first started taking adderall a couple of years ago, I did notice that after being on it for awhile (taking 20-30 mg/day every day) my problems with sleep became more mild than usual and the sleep I was getting became increasingly restful. Recently, I went through a period where I stopped taking the adderall cold turkey and almost immediately my problems resurfaced (especially the insomnia!). I've since resumed taking my adderall, but it's been over a week and I'm still suffering from some pretty significant sleep issues.

Anyway, I have very love/hate relationship with sleep and I totally understand what it feels like to be so damn tired but unable to shut off your brain and fall asleep for night after night for days on end! You are not alone!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Karen L on November 22, 2009 at 12:31am: Jo- I would think that one would do whatever they need to do, whatever works for them, to go to sleep. If you need music and milk, then that's okay. I sometimes listen to instrumental soothing music or a CD of ocean waves. I always turn my clock around. That simple task has made such a difference. I am no longer fixated and hyperfocused on what "time" it is. Yes, sometimes I cheat and will turn on the tv or go get something to drink but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. it's great on the weekends because like today, i slept until 730. once it was light out, i knew it was okay to get up.

My prescriber had put me on Trazodone - an anti-depressant, to help me sleep but it made me more depressed the next day. And didn't help all that much with the sleep. So, I don't take it. I just try to relax and let my body get the rest it needs.

No, we don't follow the rules very well. I guess that's why I always got in trouble. But hey, rules were made to be broken, right? LOL

I don't take naps. I found that napping made the sleep problems worse. I go to bed about the same time every night. Unless like tonight I have to pick up my daughter at 1030, bedtime is between 930 and 10. I need to stick to a strict routine to maximize my sleep. I still have problems (like the other night I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight) but they aren't nearly as bad as they once were. Now if I wake up and it's dark, I know I can go back to sleep until the alarm goes off during the week. And I'm not stressed about "gee, it's 430am and I only have another 1 1/2 hours of sleep". And it's primarily because I turned my clock around. Who knew such a simple fix?

Thanks for sharing.; ▶ Reply to This