I have been struggling with falling asleep, staying asleep, and overall quality of sleep for years. I can’t seem to find a medication or supplement that works well for me.
I have tried melatonin (nightmares), valerian root (too many giant bad smelling capsules to take in order for it to work), magnesium (did nothing), chamomile and other sleepy time teas, essential oils
OTC: Benadryl, unison, Advil pm, zquill and basically these are all the same ingredients and not recommended by my doc
Prescription wise you name it i’ve Tried it. Trazadone, seroquel, lamictal, ambien, klonopin, Xanax, Valium, lunesta, zaleplon, belsomra, doxepin, and that’s all I can think of ATM.
Many don’t work at all or do the opposite by making me hyper or sleep walk or give me a “hangover”. To be honest this has been going on for so long I’m starting to doubt myself. I make an effort to take my 2nd dose of 30mg tablet of adderall before 1pm (I take 30xr at 6am then it wears off). I do my very best not to drink caffeine after 5-6pm and I’m fairly physically active from my fast paced work environment. Even after a long day and I have no more energy I still have quite a difficult time falling asleep.
It’s either one extreme or the other. No sleep at all or dead sleep.
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I am sorry to hear your going through this, I read your post a couple times, Have you tried meditation or hypnosis ? I once knew a guy who could stay up for weeks on end with only a few hours of sleep at a time, he wasn’t tired or anything he just didn’t require much sleep. I remember he told me he meditated right before he would sleep, then slept for a few hours then he was good for 24...
I'm replying, not with answers, but hoping someone else has had success. I've struggled with insomnia since I was a kid. Sometimes I've gotten it mostly under control during low stress times, but any time anything changes in my life, sleep quality goes out the window. Anything that works only works sometimes, and I can't do medication because it either has horrible side effects, it doesn't work, or it's highly controlled and no one wants to prescribe it, which I get, but it's still frustrating to not sleep.
Meditation. All sorts and kinds on YouTube. Find what works for you. Also I start studying when I’m ready for bed and it puts me to sleep fast! hope you’ll get better
I have Inattentive ADHD, and it would sometimes take me about 4+ hours to fall asleep when I was younger. Thankfully supplements have greatly helped, along with some other things.
Here is what works for me.
1. An hour before I plan on falling asleep, I take N-Acetyl Tyrosine (Dopamine and Norepinephrine boost) in order to motivate myself to go to sleep, because otherwise it is very difficult to go to sleep.
2. 10min After I take N-Acetyl Tyrosine, I take 300mcg of Melatonin. A majority of supermarkets carry Melatonin that is in milligrams (3mg, 5mg, 10mg etc). The reason I recommend milligrams (mcg) is because it is a smaller dosage/unit of measurement, and is more close to the dose of which Melatonin was actually synthesized in the mid/early 20th century. I had the same issue with bad dreams, and that stopped once I went down to 300mcg. (1mg = 1000mcg). The one I get is also a 6hr release, meaning that Melatonin is secreted within the span of 6hrs coming out little by little, as opposed to a majority being secreted by the pineal gland early on and then stopping mid sleep, causing sleep quality to lower.
3. Right after I take Melatonin I take L-Tryptophan. L-Tryptophan is a supplement that helps out with the neurotransmitter Serotonin. Serotonin in simple terms deals with mood and sleep. People with ADHD have low levels of important neurotransmitters like Dopamine, Norepinephrine, Serotonin, and Acetylcholine to name a few. Also Serotonin eventually becomes Melatonin, which also contributes to a good night sleep.
4. I use a sleep app to track and monitor the quality of my sleep each night, in order to adjust sleeping habits if needed. This app wakes me up in a 15min window of when I set my alarm. So if I plan to wake up at 8am, the app, based off the sound of your breathing, snoring, movement, can tell when you are in your lightest stage of sleep and will wake you up in your lightest stage of sleep, making waking up be a much more soothing experience as opposed to being awoken during deep sleep (one of thee worst feelings in my opinion)
5. I just started doing this 2 days ago. I now use a semi weighted blanket to sleep. When I heard people talking about those, I was under the impression that these blankets would be really thick and uncomfortable. I did research and found out that there has been studies done with ADHD and other conditions when it comes to sleeping with a weighted blanket, and it shows positive results. Low and behold, I tried it out and have slept really good these last two nights, which is pretty rare for me especially when I have a busy weekend. The best way to describe for me is like a an embracing hug that helps you not feel your body and eases you into a very comfortable sleep, and helps you get plenty of deep sleep.
literally people were like how do u deal w such horrible insomnia? and im like tbh sleep regime every night lay in bed eyes closed the whole time. its awful it works. i got like 6 months of decent nice sleep because i just laid daown every night. Insanely hard to follow thru.
Have you ever tried glycine it is an amino acid that seems to help some stay asleep. I would not give up on herbal teas since they are not hurtful and can help. Stay away from caffeine even decaffeinated coffee has caffeine!!
Insomnia is difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep, even if a person has the opportunity to do so, according to guidelines from a group of doctors. People with insomnia may feel unhappy with their sleep and usually experience one or both of the following symptoms: fatigue, low energy, concentration difficulty, mood disturbances, and reduced work or school performance.
Have you tried Black screen YouTube videos? They come in 6-12 hour long videos. They help me so much! You can do Delta waves or white noise. I like thunderstorms and fans. I found that it was my brain that was keeping me awake. I needed to block it from going off the rails. Once I had noise my quality of sleep improved 2 fold. I can't do music because it is like a stimulant. I would start thinking about the lyrics or whatever else. I need basic "filler". Good luck!!
Do you have problems sleeping if you don't take your adderall? You could be taking too much which keeps you up. If you don't take it on weekends and sleep thru the weekend, hypersomnia. Too much adderall could be the issue. You may want to try taking the second adderall earlier, taking a smaller second dose, or try a med that lasts longer. I switched from adderall XR to vyvanse than mydayis. I currently take Mydayis. It is the same chemically as adderall XR but is supposed to last 12 hours.
I was on all sorts of different sleep meds for a few years and suffered similar side effects as you. The hangovers caused me to need more adderall to counteract the hangover and foggy brain. I finally had enough and stopped taking the sleep meds. I suffered for a month or so without sleep or waking up at midnight and not being able to get back to sleep. Gradually it got better. I still have periodic insomnia issues but I don't use sleep meds. I also have sleep apnea which makes the insomnia even more fun.
I can relate to your frustration. I've struggled with insomnia all my life. Tried prescriptions medications and over counter meds as well. Recently I tried CBD oil, several drops under tongue. It's working well, and no hangover feeling. The CBD I tried is made from hemp.
That has got to be very frustrating for you. I had sleep problems and my dr lowered my dosage from 15mg of Adderall to 7.5 mg. Sleep medication and it takes a long time for it to work. It does hours later and then I wake up hours later and it takes me hours to fall back asleep. A friend of mine had sleep problems and started taking CBD oil and she now sleeps great. I'm thinking about trying that soon .
Have you tried sleeping with soft earplugs in? Honestly, I go 24-72 hrs with out sleep frequently due to insomnia and nights I do sleep it’s only 4 hrs BUT I started sleeping with earplugs in and a fan sound and the fan hum through the earplugs puts me to sleep. Medicines don’t work for me, so if you’ve never tried you should!
Belanikki90, we understand what insomnia is. I appreciate your efforts, but it's not necessary to explain what insomnia is as the original post is asking for solutions to insomnia.
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hope you’ll get better 
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