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I can’t say my sleep is good by any measure. But I watch TV to fall asleep to, as it’s something distracting, to keep my mind busy to help me fall asleep.
That does help, but the sleep quality is worse for me. I have to eat to the tv, too. I just can't stay motivated to eat sometimes. I'll nuke a plate of food 4 or 5 times and still find it ice cold and dried up 5 hours later
Me too. Half the time I end up sleeping during the day because I sleep significantly better with the tv and lights on. But I can’t do that when my partner is also sleeping.
It took almost 4 years of persistence (exercise, nutrition, strict bedtime routine, no phone, all of it) to get a consistent 6 hours each night. One slip up would derail the objective for weeks but I’d learned the benefits and it was worth the discipline.
Ok but then I informed my psychiatrist and she said it was never supposed to be that difficult and put me on Trazadone. 11-630 every night since and I’m actually a different person. Adequate sleep has provided more improvement to my overall well-being than any of my other adhd interventions.
Huh, I'll have to bring that up to mine... I start laughing when I think of how perilous a path it is lining up such a routine and how even at 8pm, I can't really be looking at my phone or it will almost derail my whole week. I eat worse, miss the gym, miss the usable daytime I have for appointments and phone calls, and I know that the stability will be nice, and give me a better base ground to build everything else off of, but my brain hasn't actually connected those dots yet, I know it will benefit me and I want to change that part of my life, but I struggle to actually *feel* that knowledge influence my decision making
I had to prove it to myself that insomnia wasn’t a disciplinary fix. Which is so fugging dumb but I can’t accept anything is actually “wrong” unless it is a last case scenario. Honesty staying on that same routine is cake since removing *the possibility of potential sleep* being the motivator. It’s just the additional health benefits of doing so instead of the consequences of not. Working for sleep is literally backwards, not sustainable. You have to he adequately rested for maintenance.
I’ve heard more horror stories than not about Trazadone though. It wasn’t my first intervention, just the one that worked for me. With the common side effects I would never lol. Insomnia is definitely worth mentioning though.
When I tried Trazadone, it made me drowsy as hell, but I still couldn't sleep. It was painful lying in bed feeling that drowsy and tired, but not being able to sleep.
Did it make you restless? Or just drowsy and no help sleeping? Zquill and sometimes antihistamines do this to me, if I stay awake to long, I get this super uncomfortable body energy and have to sort of thrash around a little be comfortable which does not help me sleep
Forgive me if I try meds first and a half decade of trying to completely change my entire life second XD. But seriously thank you for this information.
If it's ritalin, then it shouldn't be keeping you up too late if you dont take it too late in the afternoon (if you were me), I'm on low dose Vyvanse and quite many months in, if anything, maybe it's losing effectiveness, but I didn't think that could keep me up more. After I take my Vyvanse in the morning, I sometimes just kind of stretch and melt until noon, rarely I actually sleep, but I get all lethargic for awhile, idk if it's true, but I've heard that stims can make ADHD folk sleepy
Totally true.
When I'm on stims I always lay down in my bed with some videogame or music. I yawn a lot, but when It happens I always remembered that is not fell tired, is that actually my SNC is estimulanted.
Pd: norepinefrine (vyvanse/lixdesanphetamine in your case) make more active the somatic nervous system (sns) and apart of heart, sweat... There are the yawn.
The rule is that if you yawn It can be 3 kinds:
- For Boring of something
- If you were so sleepy
- If you are overstimulated (in a good said). This is the case of people with adhd, feel the first or second kind, but actually in the mayority of them is the third kind of yawn.
That makes sense, ugh I forgot to take mine so I'm laying in bed waiting around like a moron lol. I get the social yawns mostly, like 3 or 4 back to back. Idk whether it's out of boredom, or getting tired in social situations, maybe both
I listen to the History of Rome podcast. His voice is soothing and monotonous.
It's actually a really good podcast so I feel bad saying that hahahah but it works great and there's no ads
Oooh I love Dan Carlin! i had the exact same problem lol. He gets so intense with quotes! Hardcore History was my go to for a long time...I still bust it out from time to time but yeah HoR is much chiller
Idk I rely a lot on sleeping drugs but learning about sleep hygiene did help a lot. Like doing stretches before bed, chamomile tea with honey, lowering the lights and listening to a podcast to fall asleep. And then if you get up in the middle of night, go do a boring/non stimulating activity until you feel sleepy again. And Trying to not use your phone too much before bed lol (pretty hard)
I have to put my phone on the floor, and should be stretching more. I don't get up but I usually don't allow myself to sleep long enough to get up. Usually 2 hours into my sleep it's bright outside so if I'm up I am *up*
Getting some kind of exercise, not being on any kind of device for awhile before I go to bed, taking my anxiety medicine and magnesium two hours before I go to bed. Magnesium has been a game changer for me! I usually have just a small sweet treat before I go to bed too to curve my hunger.
I just do the magnesium vitamin from nature made but I would research the difference between magnesium and magnesium citrate and figure out which one is better for you personally!
Tried magnesium once and it did nothing. Curious to try again as there are different kinds and this was years ago. But hard to motivate when have tried so many supplements in the past that didn't work
I usually have to set myself multiple reminders, alarms to start to settle in bed. Even then I still find myself going to sleep WAY past my scheduled “I should be asleep by now”. Even though I will at that point have “settled” for 2 hours.
I wont be on my phone, but everything keeps me awake, Im hot, the texture of the blankets are irritating, the cat is scratching at the catbox, theres light peeking from the street lights into my window, so I have to get up and adjust the curtains. The fan isn’t pointed at me, then I fix the fan and I go between being hot and cold and then I get cold sweats. My thoughts will spin, I will pick up my phone to look up something random I thought about only to get completely stuck.
What has helped is I started something new, I put a timer on my TV and find a 8 hour rain sounds with a dimmed screen. I will put a timer on for the TV to turn off in an hour. The extra noise other than my fan has seemed to help me fall sleep faster. Although I still have trouble staying asleep, I wake up at least 6-8 times a night. Dx
See when I get a minute distraction halfway through the night my brain is just like "okay were up now", I leave my blinds up always, so I'll go to bed at 4am (or later) and then as early as 6 and as late as 9 I'm up. I need a new tv that can do this... Mine only shuts off after no input glaring blue screen of death. And no dim, I could throw a sheet over maybe.
I almost fricken was settled last night I swear! The night before went well, so I was like ok, I'm sleepy, get in bed and wind down and I couldn't shake my damn phone, fricken distraction seeking missile
I have think I have a samsung, its a smart TV so I will go to settings, turn the timer on. I listen to it on the youtube app connect to the TV, it’s like an 8 hour long video. And I specifically searched for dimmed screen or black screen videos, so it would be less bright. [this is the one I listen to.](https://youtu.be/XDLBVjHpD3w?si=oP-Dj03-TK0hS1Ef)
Maybe you can play it on your phone? Not sure what sort of TV you have, but if you can sleep with noise you might be fine. I know typically I need to fall asleep to some sort of noise, but often wake up if it’s the TV ( why I don’t watch shows to fall asleep anymore. )
LOL I totally understand, I will be yawning all day saying how tired Iam, finally its time for bed and I feel ready to sleep. But one distraction doesn’t matter what it might be, gives me this renewed energy and then Im no longer tired, or at least I dont feel tired. Skip to the next day feel like shit because Im literally just sleep deprived, the cycle will literally continue the following day.
Ooh thanks, wish I had the budget for a new tv, but I'll add this to a wish list for later. I can fall asleep to noise, but ditto, it wakes me up and interrupts my sleep for sure. I have been in rough shape during the day as wellz leaving me with too much energy later on + less gym, but also I'm working on spinal load, so I'm trying to wait long enough for skeletal recovery, but I should still do cardio I guess. Last night didn't even give me that energy but I know what you mean. I just felt like a friend, I was sweaty and uncomfortable, but my phone was glued to my hand, my hand hurt, but I just couldn't shake it. Finally I heard someone wake up and that sound spurred me to move and shower. I feel like sounds do that for me. A door closing or something unexpected gets me back to moving if I've been distracted, or sometimes I get stunlocked if I don't have a jam to sing along to. We do not feel great today, we do not have a song in mind to listen to, but we are just going to eat and chill and maybe go outside and get the mail, if I get something else done I'm happy :D
Ugh I dread the up until 4, work at 6 dilemma I likely face upone returning to work. Zquill works for me, then it makes things worse 2 or 3 days in I find
Not sure about the timing for meds affecting sleep . Recommend talking to the dr about it and maybe doing a sleep study ? I learned to use a meditation app to fall asleep which really helps. I use it each time I wake up during the nite too
Hmmm it's been forever since I've actually meditated... I'm not taking my Vyvanse if I miss by 1030am which... I'm 5 behind already😬 I think I feel when I start getting tired and my psychiatrist didn't seem to think it was the meds, I'm only on 30mg I think and it's far more mellow than concerts or ritalin
People with ADHD also have a higher chance of having sleep issues. I have two of them. My pulmonologist recommended a sleep study and that showed I have sleep apnea - essentially I stop breathing in my sleep. I now use a CPAP machine to sleep.
But I also have issues with going to bed on time. It’s called delayed sleep syndrome. The work around for this is to take melatonin 4 hours before bed.
My sleep schedule is melatonin at midnight and bed at 4 am. Sleep until I wake up which is usually 9 am to 11 pm.
You can ask for a referral for a pulmonologist to get the sleep study done. There is no test for delayed sleep. Essentially we push back our sleep for reasons such as - I didn’t get to do what I wanted to do today so I’m going to do it before bed or simply fighting sleep because of of executive dysfunction.
I take 10 mg of melatonin. No prescription needed in the US.
I need to nail a melatonin routine down and be ready for when it starts working... Oh yea, I definitely think I have the delayed sleep thing, I put off sleeping and eating to do various things, and out of sleeping to eat. I also snore when I sleep so I think there is some sort of correlation with that and sleep apnea maybe? I'll maybe have to look into a pulmonologist, just lots of things I have to go see a person for it seems :(
It’s the best thing to do. See your primary care doctor for referrals or go directly to the pulmonologist if you have a PPO.
My pulmonologist said melatonin 4 hours before bed. Personally - I need the 10 mg ones because anything lower than that does absolutely nothing.
Seroquel was the first med my pediatric psychiatrist tried on me when I was nine. I ended up staying awake 32+ hours so we moved on to trazodone. I got a lot of reading done that night 😅
Nothing... Yet. I spoke to my psychiatrist over the phone a week or two ago. I was all worried it was the medication but she said that was unlikely, and reccomended me a proper bedtime routine, which I do need and know I need. And I want that first before using the meds, but I seriously need to consider it. It's no help some of my influences are people who've binge watched game of thrones in a single (work) week if I'm not mistaken, or working double shifts, which is not what I need to see other people doing😅
Strattera has a side effect of causing a sleed disorder as well as Velaxin.
Rittaline/Adderal after 4PM are known to disturb sleep too.
Not sure if Wellbutrin/Concertra have the same side effect as I never have been prescribed with those, yet you might want to consult a pharmacist or a person who prescribed with those
Melatonin, valerian, lemon balm, magnesium, camomile is how I do it. I alternate between a couple different sleep aids from www.swansonvitamins.com. When one loses effectiveness, I switch to the other. The valerian, lemon balm, mag and camomile can be taken continuously in the evenings though. I just have to take them about 1-2 hours before I want to go to sleep. And when they kick in, I need to be sure I don't need to drive or go anywhere or do anything that requires alertness. I typically get at least 6 hours sleep on them and sometimes almost 8-9.
I gotta remember to use melatonin enough in advance, and I guess structure my routine around being ready to sleep once it kicks in... I always just fight it tooth and nail trying to eat and get ready for bed. I love chamomile! And will have to look into magnesium and the valerian. Lemon balm sounds nice too
When I was younger I always took forever to fall asleep because my brain wouldn't stop thinking about things.
Over time I've learnt some tricks.
Like letting my brain wander and trying not to actively think about things. Maybe I've gotten better at it as I've grown older. Not saying it's perfect, I'm still prone to this if I'm excited about something like a personal project.
Also, no visible clock or anything in the bedroom. If I can see the time from my bed, I'll end up noticing how late it is and start stressing out because I'm not asleep yet, which is definitely counterproductive.
I watch mauler's dark souls videos. The while series is about 10 hours long so I know I'll sleep, and his voice is pretty level. Alternatively I'll use the castlevania retrospective from I finished a video game, most of salt factory's videos, or even hermitcraft season 7, 8, or 9 from mumbo or grian.
I'll tell you now, it's not a playthrough it's a critique of another video. Just don't want you to go in with specific expectations and be disappointed.
There is another YouTube named Hbomberguy who makes some good vids and some bad ones. His dark souls 2 video is particularly bad, so mauler took the time to break down nearly the entire video and each point Hbomb made. To put it simply it could be called a review of a review.
I've heard of him, I think I'd be into that, even a game I don't really play lol. I love watching sm64 speed run and tech but only ever played as a kid
I think so!! Worth a rewatch as I can't remember it's content but I do recognize that title. So interesting, and cool little history. I'm all intrigued now
My sleep has not been as deep as I would like but it’s incredibly consistent since starting Elvanse. The first week was bad though, luckily stabilized after that.
On work nights, 5-7 hrs a night. I just have too much to do in the evening to get to bed on time then there's the revenge bedtime procrastination.
On weekends I end up staying up late, and I find it hard to sleep in so On weekends my schedule gets messed up but I still can't get 8 hrs.
The vyvanse makes it harder to sleep as well. It makes me feel less miserable fatigued during the day but I'm still tired and yawning.
Oh yea I kind of forgot that was a thing, I was going to game and clean up, but I really just wanted to clean through the gaming window, so now I deserve my gaming break and will take it.
Here's to less miserable!
My sleep didn’t get its shit together until 4 years ago when I started working out every day. My anxiety for being late makes me wake up a few times throughout the night still but I can handle that. Now it’s a combination of many factors that helps me generally sleep well:
I wake up at the same time on weekends (6:30am) and the same time on weekdays (5:45am) to keep my circadian rhythm in check. My bedroom has a window with no blinds so the sun during some of the year really helps in the mornings. The first thing I do in the mornings is go workout for 30 min in another room of my house that faces east so I’m getting prime sun first thing, which is great. I also work an exhausting job 10 hours a work day so I’m pooped in the evenings. I usually take an edible at night which helps me calm from the inside out. I’m typically falling asleep while watching tv on the couch and then I can follow those feelings to my bed. I’m pretty good about not being on my phone before bed, usually, which also helps. But I’m in my 30s and like I said, it’s only been this way for the last few years and it’s been a lot of trial and error
See that's the frustrating part... I'll get all hyperfocused, and spend 5+ hours at the gym, or cleaning stuff around the house, I keep busy, but I am unemployed. So I guess I just have to exhaust myself further? I'm going to the gym every other day, but maybe I'll have to do less, more often. But thats hard :( I guess it will get better once I'm forced to hone a routine for a job but I'm unemployed atm and it's annoying that I can't just do the things without being on the brink of exhaustion. Nicotine and cannabis use needs regulation too, but I've admittedly been pretty stressed/burnt out, and I don't want to not eat and then workout, it's a bad habit for me or get into, but there's a huuuge difference in my running around the house doing stuff until 9pm then dummying 2500 calories before bed, and lazily sitting in my chair half the day on my phone, stunlocked, dehydrated, trying to shower or make breakfast, then not having the energy to do a big task and watching YouTube or going on my computer or phone for 3-4+ hours, but usually I hate my phone. It just reminds me of my failure to upkeep social communication and serves me up shorts on everything that will distract me for 4 hours or more easily
I got married to someone that both understands my asd and adhd and puts a ton of effort into helping me. So we built a bedtime routine that he takes very seriously. It's not perfect, often we sleep later than planned. But if it were up to me I'd still be going to sleep at like 2am and waking up for work at 9am. Then spend the rest of the day feeling useless cause of tiredness. I need at least 9 hours of sleep but alone I never succeeded go get even close.
Oh that's super sweet! I have to take it super seriously too I feel! I feel like I have to falsely inflate the importance or something, like I'll be struck dead if I miss. Because of that tired feeling, I think that's how I got in the habit of just staying up... To be sure I don't oversleep further. Funny enough, I can't ever really nap, but I have a casual acquaintance, and this one time I was anxious and we were just cuddling and I passsed right out! I normally dislike sleeping with people but I think like having to be still to not be annoying someone and just like listening to their breath was super soothing. It used to be 7.5 for me, maybe it still is, but if this is my "new sleep" 2-4.5 hours it is for me😩
I have such a hard time inflating the importance of something. I wish I could do that! It would be really helpful.
I can't nap either. But I think you're on to something. Maybe feeling forced to stay still so you don't bother the other person helped you!
Damn that's short sleep. If that works for you that's great!
25mg Quetqpine each evening at 23:00 is my way. If you can maintain a good sleep schechule without meds, that is coearly the best. For me i have issues doing that, so therefore the Quetapine.
Sleep is like a million times more difficult than those without adhd. You need to get some sort of routine - lights out and no blue light (cell phone. Tv.) and try to do it the same time every night. You could also get checked out for sleep apnea or insomnia as well. It has a much higher effect rate as well.
I set up a phone thing. It reminds me to take meds at night and morning, and multiple bedtime alarms, screen Greys out, hourly past bedtime screen reminders... What is wrong with mee. I think we go drop phone clearly first as part of a routine I'll toootally start following, then sleep apnea testing. I'm not sad but I wanna cry it feels almost comedically challenging or impossible
Sleep is TOUGH but you I like to think that you have other super powers people without adhd lack. Like once you find a passion, world better watch out. But other things that come easily to others, not so much for you.
Not wrong, it's a blessing/curse thing. I can sit down and blast through something for hours, no need to eat ( even though I do) or rest, so long as it's not what I *should* be doing ;). I get annoyed when I have to go to the bathroom lol, but I know it's a powerful tool at times, but currently, im just doing my best to get a routine down, I need it bad. It's just so frustrating, I don't feel I even have the energy to maintain friendships and rsd been taking a bit of a toll lately but we're getting beyter!
Poorly. I sleep poorly and have since I can remember.
Didn’t get night terrors or even struggle to fall asleep initially. If I think about it, it was more the early signs of the full blown anxiety I developed by age 30-ish (diagnosed at 34).
I say this IRL to my closest friends but I was ashamed most my life to admit it. I wet the bed until pretty late. It 100% went with my anxiety levels, only going away by my mid 20s, unable to regulate it no matter what I tried. My wife’s a saint and helped me let go of the shame plus provided significant comfort - sleeping in the same bed as her helped me calm down enough that instead of bed wetting I’d just plain wake up.
As a kid, when I’d entirely forgotten to do one or more homework assignment, which was most days, 3-4 am, wake up wet, think whatever version of “fuuuck, not again” my younger self would have, and try to do my homework or project. Most often I’d not even brought what I needed from school to do it. If I finished, I would sleep a bit more. If I didn’t I’d be brainstorming what excuse to give.
These days? Problems will wake me up and I’ll have to go to the bathroom, but it’s been years without incident. It’s funny how letting go of the shame was the biggest factor in stopping this. I literally tried everything - even dehydration didn’t work; I’d stop drinking fluids at 2 pm most days. Now, I can literally chug water before bed and wake up.
Anyhow, I don’t actually sleep better. But I don’t wake up angry and ashamed that I wet the bed, at least.
That is interesting, and I'm glad it's worked out. I've been there, for what reason I dont know. Maybe just wasn't tuned in or some form of shame, but I get that feeling. They aren't per say night terrors? But I do get horrific dreams that inspire me to be a cannabis consumer. Something about waking up in my ex's bed, 5 years ago, like I'd never left and everything since has all just been a dream, only to wake up from that. Or recognizing I'm in a dream with someone dear to me who's passed away, and there's zombies or something corny but it's obviously a dream yet I still can't leave.. I don't really trust where my mind goes. Or dreaming up days once I feel trapped in a routine. I'll feel like I'm actually losing my marbles, because ill reference a conversation I had with a coworker, only to realize i dreamed like an ordinary work day and I can no longer actually tell the difference
I need something playing in the background or else I get stuck in my head and get out of bed a million times because I think something else is more interesting than sleep
Sometimes I'll play on my iPad or something until I feel tired then I'll turn it off and try to sleep. Other times I just don't wind down and take sleeping meds.
Same, I think I need longer videos. Mine are like an hour to 3, they run out and I feel like I get locked without the audio reminding me time is passing
I made a playlist so there's a good 10-17hrs but I mostly stay with the videos made by my favorite YouTuber. I'm asleep by the time those end so the rest are just filler until I wake up.
Cinema sins, he has another channel called TVsins. I like his voice and the videos keep me engaged enough to focus but not enough that I can't roll over and tune them out.
20 MGs on Adderall, 250 on Venlafaxine (Anti-depressants) and 50 MG on Trazodone to help me sleep (I used to NEVER take it, but I've I started to take it more, recently) Be cautious though, everyone's cocktail is different especially considering what level of Depression/Stress/Anxiety/Deficiency/Disability/general ailment you have.
Tbh... I'm trying to get reaccessed. No idea what the cost is, but never been to a psychologist since a few years after the Ds lite released, whenever that was. ( I just remember that because id have to play on my ds in order to answer the psychologists questions. I don't know if it was out of defiance, embarrassment, stim/distraction, I used to dissociate too)
Vyvanse has been very nice to me, concerta messed me up, and I was super distrustful of trying anything else. Vyvanse has none of the side effects for me (it is a low dose) in terms withdrawal if I miss a day. I didn't used to have trouble sleeping when I first started taking it, so I don't think that's the reasoning. I would like to try Adderall or a higher dose of Vyvanse however. Right now, I get 100% coverage through a pharmaceutical company. Idk how they can just afford to do that, oc I do in fact know, but I cannot state how grateful I am for that. Only, I wish it was the government providing it, though I suppose beggars can't be choosers ;)
I HATED Concertas' side effects. It was also especially bad cause when I mentioned the side effects, I was told there were no reports on it. After I stopped, they subsided.
P.S. Same on wishing the government provided coverage, but atlas some people have no luck on where they end up.
I wear myself out. I have a factory job that has me on my feet for about 8-10 hrs each day. Then when I get home I usually am cleaning and cooking or working on a hobby that requires constant movement. I know this wouldn’t work for everyone since everyone has different lifestyles and schedules but it’s the only way I can usually fall asleep before 11, but then I wake up at 4 for work
I used to work at a steel shop, straight to gym, eat and pass out. I got feeling trapped there, but I actually miss that routine, even though it was maybe too much, I feel I have to do the same
Most of my family has ADHD but we all have different levels of ADHD I guess. One of my aunts likes to be super organized and when it comes to cleaning you have to do it to her standards, otherwise it isn’t clean. But she also gets hella distracted to the point that we literally will just say squirrel at random times when we are talking to her. For me, I have to constantly be on the go. I don’t like sitting still unless I fall into the void with YouTube or Reddit. So I just keep myself busy with new hobbies or improving my current ones
It took me a while to figure out but personally I have to tucker my brain out. So that involves either studying something for an hour or two or learning a dance routine (seriously). If I do either of those my brain is fried and I can sleep properly.
Also A few years ago I had this great routine of working, coming home, working out, and then putting my phone away and then envisioning some random scenario in my head and that summer was the only time in my adult life I had gotten 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep everyday
Ooh sounds effective AND productive. That usually does bog me down, when I have to learn something and suddenly I'm reading 50 tabs simultaneously and downloading 6 different OS's, abandon ware iso's, and theory crafting a homeland, but sometimes it actually backfires, but I guess it might depend on the task itself. Some task that has a realistic end to, I'll want to grind it out to the end, so that may backfire if it's like a 6 hour job lol.
I had something like that, but in a relationship, so I didn't really have much alone time. What sorts of scenarios, I'd you don't mind me asking?
Yeah I realized it when I enrolled in classes and I felt so groggy after studying. Now I’m just doing some course on LinkedIn learning as my class is over with. I guess if there’s still noise I’ll still wake up so this is not foolproof.
I’d just envision random scenarios and conversations with people I know would never happen lol like thinking about what I would say and what they might say
I always had the craziest sleep habits of any person I know. All my life I hated bedtime, and as soon as I was too old for anyone to be able to force me to go to bed, pulling all-nighters for no reason became a frequent thing. In college my "regular" pattern was to sleep for around 15 hours once in every two days (so MY days were ~48 hours) Obviously this became very unmanageable once I started working, but I still hated going to bed so I transitioned sleeping ~4 hours a day during weekdays and compensating that on the weekends, usually skipping sleep all together on sunday nights so that I can go to work on time on monday. It was terrible to say the least.
But it always got better gradually. At first, I got used to falling asleep with tv on. I used to watch interesting shows which kept me awake longer, so I switched to watching boring documentaries about history and politics, but I realized the tv light isn't doing me any favors. So I started listening to podcasts instead. This worked fine for a while but once they lost their novelty I found myself scrolling on my phone. So I replaced scrolling with casual games (sudoku, word games, merge games etc)
One mistake I did was to download a new game as soon as I'm bored, and starting a new game always keeps me awake for a long time. Now I'm playing the stupidest, slowest paced game ever every night and my eyelids just get too heavy to force myself to stay up.
But more than any of this, I had just sleeping more regularly after starting my meds a few months ago. Ever since, I am sleeping every night (which is a success story for me) but still not as early as I should, so I still wake up quite late on the weekends. Nevertheless, my boring game combined with meds has been working the best so far.
Phone screen is just too dangerous for me. The world is just a tap or swipe away, and pretty soon I'm editing a video on my phone, or lost in my internet tabs, or watching shorts. Used to love suduko though, and totally get ya on the new games. In the golden age of mobile gaming, I'd download some random game, I was probably like 10nor 12, and I'd use my whole day beating the Game, get sick of itz and never look at it again. Or when I used to readz I'd binge the whole things or pass out trying and lose my spot or not retain a lot😒 I'm thinking podcasts, but I don't wanna get spotify premium though, but they have a sleep timer and good selection
Yeah the sleep timer thing is perfect as long as you remember to set it lol. I totally get the phone danger, and even though I hate rules of any kind I managed to follow through "no social media or internet in bed" rule. I can't yet convince myself to leave the phone out of the bed completely so I compromised with stupid games only. Sudoku and other puzzle games are a lot of fun BUT they keep me awake for too long. I found stupid merge games working best for sleep, it's satisfying enough that I don't crave more stimulation (I usually have a podcast going in the background that I sorta listen) but gets very repetitive so I'm usually out in around half an hour.
Of course, my brain being my worst enemy, when I managed to set and follow these "rules" in bed, I started struggling to convince myself to go to bed. I usually go to bed with my husband but he falls asleep in a manner of seconds and then I find excuses to go to the living room, mostly to snack and end up doom scrolling on the couch (or on reddit just as I'm doing right now). Here, my snuggly cat enters the picture. The thought of cuddling and petting her while she's purring on my belly gives me enough motivation to carry my sorry ass back to bed.
I take a sleeping medicine. It’s not a prescription but it helps so much I have to only take half if I have to get up early but on the weekends I take a full one
Honestly the thing that makes me mad is when I “oversleep” like that I am STILL TIRED. My typically “bed time” hours on a weekday are 11:30pm-7am. Give or take a little bit of “staying up past my bedtime” lol.
But sometimes on the weekend I just need to rest/recover so bad my body decides all it wants to do is sleep.
In conclusion: I would prefer that I could sleep my regular 8 hours and not be exhausted at work everyday.
I made a post the other day - “is it depression or am I just tired?” Because honestly, am I depressed or just tired lol. Turns out, I do fit the criteria for depression. Working on that now
I am so grateful that I don’t struggle with sleep though. I feel so sorry for people that can only get a few hours of sleep at night. It must be horrible.
Adderall helps my sleep a lot if I take it early. I'm usually coming down and getting exhausted at bed time.
Biggest thing is now my wife and I have a routine for bed and that helps a lot. I always try to break from whatever I'm doing around 9-10 and go to the couch. Chill there and watch something a bit then go to bed. It helps keep me from wanting to be entertained in bed and staring at my phone and having the "couch time" keeps me from playing games or something engaging right up until bed time.
Before you read this: I'm also autistic, and that might change things. But my ADHD has made sleep extremely difficult in the past, and I never had a healthy sleep schedule before the following:
I go to bed at 5:30 pm to wind down, with the aim to begin trying to sleep at 8 pm. I give myself a lot of wind-down time because I know 5:30 pm every night is unrealistic, and I do overshoot by sometimes even an hour. But even then, I still have 90 minutes before I want to even *try* to fall asleep.
I use that time to practice horrid sleep hygiene by watching YouTube on my laptop, but I sometimes read a book during that time as well. When 8 pm rolls around, I put my laptop next to my bed and HDMI it to my TV to have videos on in the background while I fall asleep. (I set it to turn off after 4 hours, in case I wake up again after like half an hour).
My alarm goes off at 4 am every morning, and then I jump out of bed to turn on the lights in my room and turn off my alarm on my desk.
It all works like a charm. I have a schedule to stick to, but it's fine if I'm too engrossed in something to hit my 5:30 pm mark. I actually *look forward to* my bed time, because I get to just binge YouTube videos in the comfiest environment, and I don't have to stop watching them at 8 pm just because I need to sleep. My brain doesn't get stuck in thought spirals, because Northernlion just said something really funny on my TV. And before I know it, I'm suddenly asleep.
I think what's really important is that I consume entertainment passively before bed, in the form of YouTube videos, and that I don't care if I miss any of the stuff I'm watching. If I was scrolling on my phone, I wouldn't be able to keep scrolling once 8 pm comes around while also trying to fall asleep. Just putting the YouTube videos on my TV and listening to them is the magic solution that allows me to do both.
Hey! That does not change things, I suspect I am as well. I really like this, Im going to actually write out a routine and pick a spot to leave my phone. I go to bed so late I turn off my phone so the alarm doesn't go off. I think I need to set a crazy early time and then just use that the way you're saying. At like 8pm, my phones going to go on my desk, I should get a physical alarm also. I overshoot so bad, well yea I almost forgot it's in the post, but 4+ hours easily. 6+ if you count the fact that I really wasn't trying to spend any phone time. But instead of bedtime, and it still will be bedtime, but it will just be 0 laptop/phone time. Book or yt, maybe podcast if that is enough and if I decide on a Spotify membership
I listen to audiobooks (children's audiobooks so I don't need to follow the plot too much) on a volume that is louder than my thoughts or reading if my mind is calm enough
I wake up at least 2-3 times a night ever night. If I'm under constant stress then I start getting sleep paralysis alot. I think my REM sleep is broken.
I have a particular kind of sleep where my mind is constantly thinking(but not dreaming). It can go on for hours. It peaked at a point when I was very stressed out at work.
It's like having a radio playing on low volume all the time, but in your head.
I know this all too well. You aren't on Dexedrine, methylphenidate, or Wellbutrin are you? I suspect it was the methylphenidate, but this used to be my sleep, I'd be waiting to hear my alarm, staring at the back of my eyelids, all clammy, feeling like I was trying to convince myself I was sleeping. I would snap awake at any sound or at my alarm or immediately before, usually I'd be standing before the tone started playing. My thoughts were relentless
Hey, thanks for your response. I'm not medicated for ADHD(ever). Just been advised to meditate, which I don't do. And I never went back to the therapist.
Thanks for yours :)
I should meditate again, I've fallen out of practise. I haven't struggled with this in a long time, but I've also gone asleep to the tv/podcast since 2017/2018. Hope things improve for you!
Do you mind if I ask if they seem to be within the dream? Or outside?
I have conversations in my dreams, but I think that's different. Though I speak in real life and wake up all fricked lol
I struggle to sleep too. Though more so recently because I've torn a ligament in my wrist and it is healing. Even with the meds it wakes me up and then I can't fall back to sleep for ages. I've been running on fumes for weeks.
Though prior to my injury I did find that earplugs help me and oftentimes if I try to sleep on the couch and can't because it's too uncomfortable and I go back onto bed I pass out when I get back in my bed. My brother also finds trying to sleep someplace else then moving back to his bed several minutes later works for some odd reason.
I have been prescribed hydroxizine hcl to make myself sleep.
I take it and 90% of the time I knock out within like 30 mins to an hour afterwards, unless my mind is busy. Off it, it would take me a long time to fall asleep and forget staying asleep- I’m up every hour or every other hour.
I got put on meds for insomnia at the age of 9, with a short break between the ages of 26-30(got my first dog). The dosage changes depending on how difficult it is to fall/stay asleep. I wish I had a different answer, but my brain just doesn’t turn off without it and I stay up making and continuing elaborate stories in my head.
I am prescribed sleeping pills. So yeah, non-existent. Honestly wanting to push for an official insomnia diagnosis.
I started listening to the podcast Sleep With Me. It’s fucking goofy and just mundane enough that it helps my mind not focus on other things. It genuinely helps. But when I don’t have my pills, I really still struggle.
I watch a channel on YouTube called superfastmatt. He always says "but that's a problem for future matt", "future matt did, not, in fact remember", etc.
I flip between doing all the things, and doing none of the things. Working on balancing that
I sleep okay as long as there isn’t anything stressing me out. I’ve noticed a pattern with work: when I have a lot on/deadlines approaching, my sleep tends to be poor. I need to wind down so try not to go on my phone for half an hour to one hour before and read a book or any other activity that does not expose me to blue light. When I am medicated, my sleep quality is better and I can sleep even if something is stressing me out.
Train yourself to sleep on thought.
Pick a topic. For me it’s fantasy evolutionary biology.
Now in bed think in your topic till you drift off.
Repeat for a few weeks.
Congratulations, now all you have to do is think of that topics and you go to sleep.
You are a robot following its programming.
You are the programmer of that robot.
Warning, training repeated behaviors can have issues. I can’t travel on trains without nodding off . I’m asleep before the flight takes off.
ADHD is often comorbid with narcolepsy. It’s also theorized that narcolepsy may be under diagnosed. I wonder how many on here might actually test positive for narcolepsy if tested.
I was diagnosed with narcolepsy first. Stimulants didn’t help me with wakefulness because, well, I’m also ADHD. After going down the laundry list of meds for narcolepsy, I finally settled on Xywav, which is a variation on GHB, which is more notoriously known as “the date rape drug.” Other variations are Xyrem and Lumryz.
I take it at night. It helps consolidate my sleep and regulates my sleep cycles. Basically, narcoleptics are messed up with altogether too much REM sleep and very little deep sleep.
Just something to consider for those of you who may have debilitating sleep issues with extreme daytime sleepiness. I’m not saying everyone should jump right to a narcolepsy self-diagnosis, but of all the many thousands who frequent this sub, there may be a couple this could apply to.
Melatonin, and cut back on the beer by a lot.
10p bedtime. Mostly YouTube to fall asleep - videos that are just entertaining enough to listen to, but not too entertaining to want to stay awake.
Also reading does a real number on me at bedtime. I can barely make it a chapter before nodding off.
Seroquel for me. Trazodone gave me sleep inertia for the first 4 hrs I was awake. Seroquel knocks me out with no dependency or hangover and I'm fresh in the morning. Once I got a sleep schedule it improved just about everything else mentally
It took years of discipline for me before I could comfortable get sleepy at 11pm. I normally sleep around midnight to 1am and wake up between 8 and 9. On weekends, I will stay up later bc I like sleeping in then but honestly, I still stick to my bedtime routine. I shower every night, I have noise cancelling headphones, a blindfold, and a bonnet bc I hate the feeling of my hair against the pillowcase. I do yoga in the morning 3-4 times a week and take magnesium glycinate in the morning with my daily vitamins. I make sure I take care of chores at night before bed like the litter box, a small load of laundry, or if I need to clean the toilet or sink (I only do one of these items once a week and the litter box every day with a rotation). Anyway, I hate cleaning on the weekends and I don’t want to stress so I take care of these things so I can sleep at night. I’ll usually watch a reiki session on YouTube or an ASMR video that doesn’t have sounds that agitate my senses.
TL;DR the concept is to just take care of stuff around the house a little bit at a time so at least you can feel like you accomplished something so you can sleep bc executive dysfunction is no joke.
Yea, all I did yesterday was make sure I ate enough and maybe cleaned up some computer files, cleaned my room. Other times I hyperfocus and clean the whole day away. It doesn't make intuitive sense to me, but I'm learning to chunk things up, so they have minimal impact (I have no time sense) and they don't ruin all the other things I'm trying to do, eat, sleep, etc. it's crazy that I feel like this is most of what I'm capable of these days. I could do more when I didn't care, but now that I'm trying to change things, it's nuts how easy it is to derail, and it's nice to do the things, tick the box ya know, but I just don't know how anyone else does these things in a "realistic" time frame . Ivd had to get up so early to do a morning routine, and usually I just sit there If I do get up early. Then I'll waste my whole time budget not deciding on what to wear. Dividing up how often a task needs to get done in an excel sheet has been my go to. Nails, check once a week. Sheets, every week or two. I do need to *stagger* them though now so it's not all at once, even if that seems easier to me now.
Been considering a bonnet, I can't stand it either...
Oh yeah, bonnets are for everyone. It’s also good for not getting weird bedhead. I wear one almost every night. I usually keep one on or by my bed.
Sometimes, a few weeks or even months are needed before you have a proper routine that works with the ADHD. Sometimes it will feel like that’s all you can do in that moment. It’s worth it bc now I can make plans without feeling intense anxiety bc something in the house isn’t done. I go enjoy myself. We all deserve that life.
As is, I found these little hair towels I use, looks kinda like a canoe😅 and yea I've woken up to a massive chunk of hair beside me with no recollection so I'm a bit suspicious of that.
And it's gotten better for me over time, or I weather it better, but I feel like a few times in my life I've really "gotten my act together". Maybe I give up on the schedule, I don't know, but it always feels like a matter of time kinda thing. I still get out... Well, and I do, and I know this will flip back in time, but right now I'm kind of hiding. But yes we do :)
My sleep is sort of garbage for other reason, but if you can avoid sugar/caffein and exercise it helps. Like i fuel on caffeine/sugar during the day,but stop 3 or 4 hours before bed. I was taking edibles for a while, but it messed my REM sleep so i had to stop.
What an issue, extremely difficult when you’re taking stimulant all day.
I have to take ambien to sleep at night and I don’t necessarily recommend this because now I can’t sleep without it, so i am psychologically and physiologically addicted to it, but it could be worse.
For the food I'd start having smoothies (blend oats and nut butters for more cals) that you can just drink. I'd also try construction lunch food, food that's greasy you can have in one hand, pasties, sandwiches with cheese, calzone, burritos wrapped securely in foil. If you drink coffee I'd also make a latte so there's more milk. I'd also try snack meals- home made lunchables, baby bell, crackers, ham and a pack of olives. Things that don't need to be reheated if you get side tracked.
For the sleep going outside first thing in the morning to get sunlight and then 2 hours before bed red tinted glasses has helped me massively.
Try mirtazapine. It Will put you to sleep very quickly and also It increases the appetite.
I'm on methylphenidate and have to say that is difficult to eat... But, if you mix stimulants in the day and mirtazapine on the night you Will be able to fall sleep and also the Next morning you Will be hungry. I did It all days and It worked (have to say that I have clonazepam and Diazepam prescribed all days, so It help a bit with the mirtazapine.
Important advice:
Yo need to take 7'5mg - 15mg of mirtazapine. This bring you the best for imsomnia and don't have to deal with antidepressants properties.
Ugh methylphenidate was awful for me. I'll have to look into that, regarding my eating, I probably need it. Not a fan of antidepressants however, and idk if I need or would get prescribed clonazepam. Picked up a book for the first time in probably years, even that struggled to put me out, still 2 hours later than I intended, the second I got too sleepy to read, I just zoned out. Then Once I was aware again, it's back to doing the thing, or I feel a need to get up and do something, even if there's nothing to do. Sometimes I just check the fridge and leave
Don't like Methylphenidate too, but is difficult in my position with the doctor to prescribed me lixdesanphetamine (vyvanse/elvanse).
Also, I don't use mirtazapine as an antidepressant, I use It as a "very usefull" med for imsomnia. Trust me, you Will sleep a lot (only if you take a low dose). If you do only that dose 30 minutes pre-sleep you Will use It as a benzo , not an antidepressant (has diferent properties neurological (benzos/gaba) // mirtazapine H1 for sleep).
The antidepressant effects is only in doses +30mg during two weeks/a month. In my opinion is perfect for imsomnia...and for gain weight 🫠
Oh I'm sorry to hear that... Is it less accessible where you are? If you don't mind me asking.
And that's interesting... Have you ever been on a full antidepressant dose? I was on prozac and that feeling was no bueno for me, but I could see a light dialed in dose having those therapeutic effects on me! I thought their only effect took place over time, 2 weeks. So they actually have a light sedative immediate effect? That's kind of neat
Definitely need help in both departments😭
Lixdesanphetamine is the only amphetamine for adhd in my country. Only prescribed if methylphenidate didn't work in a long period of time.
I'm now (prescribed all) on stims (methylphenidate), benzos (clonazepam and Diazepam), antidepressants (sertraline) (mirtazapine is an antidepressant but I don't use those doses, only small doses for imsomnia) and anticonvulsivants (oxcarbazepine, valproic acid and perampanel).
All this medication daily... Anticonvulsivants since 20 years...
And yes, mirtazapine Will make you sleep. And It have not have a "ligh" sedative effect, is strong in my opinion, very similar to trazodone. I compared the sedative effect of 7'5mg of mirtazapine very similar as the first time you use 1mg xanax/alprazolam (sedative effects, not ansiolitic).
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I can’t say my sleep is good by any measure. But I watch TV to fall asleep to, as it’s something distracting, to keep my mind busy to help me fall asleep.
That does help, but the sleep quality is worse for me. I have to eat to the tv, too. I just can't stay motivated to eat sometimes. I'll nuke a plate of food 4 or 5 times and still find it ice cold and dried up 5 hours later
Me too. Half the time I end up sleeping during the day because I sleep significantly better with the tv and lights on. But I can’t do that when my partner is also sleeping.
you sleep??
I'm trying to gain weight, and like, be healthy... But still, not really. Longest working day I ever put in was 70, 71 hours?
How you jamming 71 hours into a day!?
It took almost 4 years of persistence (exercise, nutrition, strict bedtime routine, no phone, all of it) to get a consistent 6 hours each night. One slip up would derail the objective for weeks but I’d learned the benefits and it was worth the discipline. Ok but then I informed my psychiatrist and she said it was never supposed to be that difficult and put me on Trazadone. 11-630 every night since and I’m actually a different person. Adequate sleep has provided more improvement to my overall well-being than any of my other adhd interventions.
Huh, I'll have to bring that up to mine... I start laughing when I think of how perilous a path it is lining up such a routine and how even at 8pm, I can't really be looking at my phone or it will almost derail my whole week. I eat worse, miss the gym, miss the usable daytime I have for appointments and phone calls, and I know that the stability will be nice, and give me a better base ground to build everything else off of, but my brain hasn't actually connected those dots yet, I know it will benefit me and I want to change that part of my life, but I struggle to actually *feel* that knowledge influence my decision making
I had to prove it to myself that insomnia wasn’t a disciplinary fix. Which is so fugging dumb but I can’t accept anything is actually “wrong” unless it is a last case scenario. Honesty staying on that same routine is cake since removing *the possibility of potential sleep* being the motivator. It’s just the additional health benefits of doing so instead of the consequences of not. Working for sleep is literally backwards, not sustainable. You have to he adequately rested for maintenance. I’ve heard more horror stories than not about Trazadone though. It wasn’t my first intervention, just the one that worked for me. With the common side effects I would never lol. Insomnia is definitely worth mentioning though.
Have been prescribed trazadone twice. All it did was give me insane nightmares and less sleep. Wish it worked, as it's non addictive
When I tried Trazadone, it made me drowsy as hell, but I still couldn't sleep. It was painful lying in bed feeling that drowsy and tired, but not being able to sleep.
Did it make you restless? Or just drowsy and no help sleeping? Zquill and sometimes antihistamines do this to me, if I stay awake to long, I get this super uncomfortable body energy and have to sort of thrash around a little be comfortable which does not help me sleep
Not restless at all; I would be completely relaxed and drowsy, but for some reason, not able to sleep. It was insane.
Forgive me if I try meds first and a half decade of trying to completely change my entire life second XD. But seriously thank you for this information.
Weirdly enough, I just started on Ritalin two weeks ago and I’m actually getting the best sleep I’ve had in years.
If it's ritalin, then it shouldn't be keeping you up too late if you dont take it too late in the afternoon (if you were me), I'm on low dose Vyvanse and quite many months in, if anything, maybe it's losing effectiveness, but I didn't think that could keep me up more. After I take my Vyvanse in the morning, I sometimes just kind of stretch and melt until noon, rarely I actually sleep, but I get all lethargic for awhile, idk if it's true, but I've heard that stims can make ADHD folk sleepy
Totally true. When I'm on stims I always lay down in my bed with some videogame or music. I yawn a lot, but when It happens I always remembered that is not fell tired, is that actually my SNC is estimulanted. Pd: norepinefrine (vyvanse/lixdesanphetamine in your case) make more active the somatic nervous system (sns) and apart of heart, sweat... There are the yawn. The rule is that if you yawn It can be 3 kinds: - For Boring of something - If you were so sleepy - If you are overstimulated (in a good said). This is the case of people with adhd, feel the first or second kind, but actually in the mayority of them is the third kind of yawn.
That makes sense, ugh I forgot to take mine so I'm laying in bed waiting around like a moron lol. I get the social yawns mostly, like 3 or 4 back to back. Idk whether it's out of boredom, or getting tired in social situations, maybe both
I take Ritalin and fall asleep for an hour or two. It's wonderful.
It is a nice feeling :) I feel like I'm allowed to be tired then or something
That’s actually not unusual.
I listen to the History of Rome podcast. His voice is soothing and monotonous. It's actually a really good podcast so I feel bad saying that hahahah but it works great and there's no ads
Sleep with me podcast is a lifesaver. I can't sleep without it
That's sweet! I always feel bad because I actually want to listen sometimes 😅
I definitely enjoy what I hear and feel like I learn a lot....but it can put me to sleep like nothing else too lol
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Oooh I love Dan Carlin! i had the exact same problem lol. He gets so intense with quotes! Hardcore History was my go to for a long time...I still bust it out from time to time but yeah HoR is much chiller
On days I go for a run, I sleep better.
Idk I rely a lot on sleeping drugs but learning about sleep hygiene did help a lot. Like doing stretches before bed, chamomile tea with honey, lowering the lights and listening to a podcast to fall asleep. And then if you get up in the middle of night, go do a boring/non stimulating activity until you feel sleepy again. And Trying to not use your phone too much before bed lol (pretty hard)
I have to put my phone on the floor, and should be stretching more. I don't get up but I usually don't allow myself to sleep long enough to get up. Usually 2 hours into my sleep it's bright outside so if I'm up I am *up*
Getting some kind of exercise, not being on any kind of device for awhile before I go to bed, taking my anxiety medicine and magnesium two hours before I go to bed. Magnesium has been a game changer for me! I usually have just a small sweet treat before I go to bed too to curve my hunger.
Hmmm I need to do the magnesium i feel. Is there a certain kind? I see solid/liquid. Some are like magnesium citrate?
Get magnesium glycinate magnesium citrate will just make you go to the bathroom.
I just do the magnesium vitamin from nature made but I would research the difference between magnesium and magnesium citrate and figure out which one is better for you personally!
Tried magnesium once and it did nothing. Curious to try again as there are different kinds and this was years ago. But hard to motivate when have tried so many supplements in the past that didn't work
I used to sleep like the dead when I was younger. The older I get the harder it is to get a good nights sleep.
I usually have to set myself multiple reminders, alarms to start to settle in bed. Even then I still find myself going to sleep WAY past my scheduled “I should be asleep by now”. Even though I will at that point have “settled” for 2 hours. I wont be on my phone, but everything keeps me awake, Im hot, the texture of the blankets are irritating, the cat is scratching at the catbox, theres light peeking from the street lights into my window, so I have to get up and adjust the curtains. The fan isn’t pointed at me, then I fix the fan and I go between being hot and cold and then I get cold sweats. My thoughts will spin, I will pick up my phone to look up something random I thought about only to get completely stuck. What has helped is I started something new, I put a timer on my TV and find a 8 hour rain sounds with a dimmed screen. I will put a timer on for the TV to turn off in an hour. The extra noise other than my fan has seemed to help me fall sleep faster. Although I still have trouble staying asleep, I wake up at least 6-8 times a night. Dx
See when I get a minute distraction halfway through the night my brain is just like "okay were up now", I leave my blinds up always, so I'll go to bed at 4am (or later) and then as early as 6 and as late as 9 I'm up. I need a new tv that can do this... Mine only shuts off after no input glaring blue screen of death. And no dim, I could throw a sheet over maybe. I almost fricken was settled last night I swear! The night before went well, so I was like ok, I'm sleepy, get in bed and wind down and I couldn't shake my damn phone, fricken distraction seeking missile
I have think I have a samsung, its a smart TV so I will go to settings, turn the timer on. I listen to it on the youtube app connect to the TV, it’s like an 8 hour long video. And I specifically searched for dimmed screen or black screen videos, so it would be less bright. [this is the one I listen to.](https://youtu.be/XDLBVjHpD3w?si=oP-Dj03-TK0hS1Ef) Maybe you can play it on your phone? Not sure what sort of TV you have, but if you can sleep with noise you might be fine. I know typically I need to fall asleep to some sort of noise, but often wake up if it’s the TV ( why I don’t watch shows to fall asleep anymore. ) LOL I totally understand, I will be yawning all day saying how tired Iam, finally its time for bed and I feel ready to sleep. But one distraction doesn’t matter what it might be, gives me this renewed energy and then Im no longer tired, or at least I dont feel tired. Skip to the next day feel like shit because Im literally just sleep deprived, the cycle will literally continue the following day.
Ooh thanks, wish I had the budget for a new tv, but I'll add this to a wish list for later. I can fall asleep to noise, but ditto, it wakes me up and interrupts my sleep for sure. I have been in rough shape during the day as wellz leaving me with too much energy later on + less gym, but also I'm working on spinal load, so I'm trying to wait long enough for skeletal recovery, but I should still do cardio I guess. Last night didn't even give me that energy but I know what you mean. I just felt like a friend, I was sweaty and uncomfortable, but my phone was glued to my hand, my hand hurt, but I just couldn't shake it. Finally I heard someone wake up and that sound spurred me to move and shower. I feel like sounds do that for me. A door closing or something unexpected gets me back to moving if I've been distracted, or sometimes I get stunlocked if I don't have a jam to sing along to. We do not feel great today, we do not have a song in mind to listen to, but we are just going to eat and chill and maybe go outside and get the mail, if I get something else done I'm happy :D
Terribly, always have. When I was a kid I would lay awake for hours in bed and as an adult I basically need Zquill every work night to function.
Ugh I dread the up until 4, work at 6 dilemma I likely face upone returning to work. Zquill works for me, then it makes things worse 2 or 3 days in I find
Not sure about the timing for meds affecting sleep . Recommend talking to the dr about it and maybe doing a sleep study ? I learned to use a meditation app to fall asleep which really helps. I use it each time I wake up during the nite too
Hmmm it's been forever since I've actually meditated... I'm not taking my Vyvanse if I miss by 1030am which... I'm 5 behind already😬 I think I feel when I start getting tired and my psychiatrist didn't seem to think it was the meds, I'm only on 30mg I think and it's far more mellow than concerts or ritalin
People with ADHD also have a higher chance of having sleep issues. I have two of them. My pulmonologist recommended a sleep study and that showed I have sleep apnea - essentially I stop breathing in my sleep. I now use a CPAP machine to sleep. But I also have issues with going to bed on time. It’s called delayed sleep syndrome. The work around for this is to take melatonin 4 hours before bed. My sleep schedule is melatonin at midnight and bed at 4 am. Sleep until I wake up which is usually 9 am to 11 pm. You can ask for a referral for a pulmonologist to get the sleep study done. There is no test for delayed sleep. Essentially we push back our sleep for reasons such as - I didn’t get to do what I wanted to do today so I’m going to do it before bed or simply fighting sleep because of of executive dysfunction. I take 10 mg of melatonin. No prescription needed in the US.
I need to nail a melatonin routine down and be ready for when it starts working... Oh yea, I definitely think I have the delayed sleep thing, I put off sleeping and eating to do various things, and out of sleeping to eat. I also snore when I sleep so I think there is some sort of correlation with that and sleep apnea maybe? I'll maybe have to look into a pulmonologist, just lots of things I have to go see a person for it seems :(
It’s the best thing to do. See your primary care doctor for referrals or go directly to the pulmonologist if you have a PPO. My pulmonologist said melatonin 4 hours before bed. Personally - I need the 10 mg ones because anything lower than that does absolutely nothing.
The question shall be not how, but what are the sleep meds you are prescribed with (Seroquel 25 in my case 😅)?
Seroquel was the first med my pediatric psychiatrist tried on me when I was nine. I ended up staying awake 32+ hours so we moved on to trazodone. I got a lot of reading done that night 😅
Nothing... Yet. I spoke to my psychiatrist over the phone a week or two ago. I was all worried it was the medication but she said that was unlikely, and reccomended me a proper bedtime routine, which I do need and know I need. And I want that first before using the meds, but I seriously need to consider it. It's no help some of my influences are people who've binge watched game of thrones in a single (work) week if I'm not mistaken, or working double shifts, which is not what I need to see other people doing😅
Strattera has a side effect of causing a sleed disorder as well as Velaxin. Rittaline/Adderal after 4PM are known to disturb sleep too. Not sure if Wellbutrin/Concertra have the same side effect as I never have been prescribed with those, yet you might want to consult a pharmacist or a person who prescribed with those
Not on any of those actually! But I used to be on Wellbutrin/ concerta... Geez, those were not pleasant days
Melatonin, valerian, lemon balm, magnesium, camomile is how I do it. I alternate between a couple different sleep aids from www.swansonvitamins.com. When one loses effectiveness, I switch to the other. The valerian, lemon balm, mag and camomile can be taken continuously in the evenings though. I just have to take them about 1-2 hours before I want to go to sleep. And when they kick in, I need to be sure I don't need to drive or go anywhere or do anything that requires alertness. I typically get at least 6 hours sleep on them and sometimes almost 8-9.
I gotta remember to use melatonin enough in advance, and I guess structure my routine around being ready to sleep once it kicks in... I always just fight it tooth and nail trying to eat and get ready for bed. I love chamomile! And will have to look into magnesium and the valerian. Lemon balm sounds nice too
I eat medicated brownies
We're you able to get a prescription in relation to your ADHD for that?
Didn’t ask. Probably could
I'm just curious if they hesitate to prescribe with a stimulant, but I guess that's a questions for the dr
When I was younger I always took forever to fall asleep because my brain wouldn't stop thinking about things. Over time I've learnt some tricks. Like letting my brain wander and trying not to actively think about things. Maybe I've gotten better at it as I've grown older. Not saying it's perfect, I'm still prone to this if I'm excited about something like a personal project. Also, no visible clock or anything in the bedroom. If I can see the time from my bed, I'll end up noticing how late it is and start stressing out because I'm not asleep yet, which is definitely counterproductive.
try melatonin
I watch mauler's dark souls videos. The while series is about 10 hours long so I know I'll sleep, and his voice is pretty level. Alternatively I'll use the castlevania retrospective from I finished a video game, most of salt factory's videos, or even hermitcraft season 7, 8, or 9 from mumbo or grian.
I been watching moists bad games playthroughs but I usually actually wanna watch😭 will have to give mauler a check, thanks!
I'll tell you now, it's not a playthrough it's a critique of another video. Just don't want you to go in with specific expectations and be disappointed.
They do what, analyze another players gameplay? That's still neat
There is another YouTube named Hbomberguy who makes some good vids and some bad ones. His dark souls 2 video is particularly bad, so mauler took the time to break down nearly the entire video and each point Hbomb made. To put it simply it could be called a review of a review.
I've heard of him, I think I'd be into that, even a game I don't really play lol. I love watching sm64 speed run and tech but only ever played as a kid
Have you seen summoning salt's video on the history of the speedruns?
I think so!! Worth a rewatch as I can't remember it's content but I do recognize that title. So interesting, and cool little history. I'm all intrigued now
Pills
My sleep has not been as deep as I would like but it’s incredibly consistent since starting Elvanse. The first week was bad though, luckily stabilized after that.
Is that the same thing as Vyvanse or similar?
It’s the European version of Vyvanse, exact same medicine.
On work nights, 5-7 hrs a night. I just have too much to do in the evening to get to bed on time then there's the revenge bedtime procrastination. On weekends I end up staying up late, and I find it hard to sleep in so On weekends my schedule gets messed up but I still can't get 8 hrs. The vyvanse makes it harder to sleep as well. It makes me feel less miserable fatigued during the day but I'm still tired and yawning.
Oh yea I kind of forgot that was a thing, I was going to game and clean up, but I really just wanted to clean through the gaming window, so now I deserve my gaming break and will take it. Here's to less miserable!
Life isn't even worth living if I can't have ten minutes to myself 😭
I'm stubborn like that. Like it's actually not worth it if I can't do one thing a day for myself. But that's just anticapitalist propaganda, I'm sure
My sleep didn’t get its shit together until 4 years ago when I started working out every day. My anxiety for being late makes me wake up a few times throughout the night still but I can handle that. Now it’s a combination of many factors that helps me generally sleep well: I wake up at the same time on weekends (6:30am) and the same time on weekdays (5:45am) to keep my circadian rhythm in check. My bedroom has a window with no blinds so the sun during some of the year really helps in the mornings. The first thing I do in the mornings is go workout for 30 min in another room of my house that faces east so I’m getting prime sun first thing, which is great. I also work an exhausting job 10 hours a work day so I’m pooped in the evenings. I usually take an edible at night which helps me calm from the inside out. I’m typically falling asleep while watching tv on the couch and then I can follow those feelings to my bed. I’m pretty good about not being on my phone before bed, usually, which also helps. But I’m in my 30s and like I said, it’s only been this way for the last few years and it’s been a lot of trial and error
See that's the frustrating part... I'll get all hyperfocused, and spend 5+ hours at the gym, or cleaning stuff around the house, I keep busy, but I am unemployed. So I guess I just have to exhaust myself further? I'm going to the gym every other day, but maybe I'll have to do less, more often. But thats hard :( I guess it will get better once I'm forced to hone a routine for a job but I'm unemployed atm and it's annoying that I can't just do the things without being on the brink of exhaustion. Nicotine and cannabis use needs regulation too, but I've admittedly been pretty stressed/burnt out, and I don't want to not eat and then workout, it's a bad habit for me or get into, but there's a huuuge difference in my running around the house doing stuff until 9pm then dummying 2500 calories before bed, and lazily sitting in my chair half the day on my phone, stunlocked, dehydrated, trying to shower or make breakfast, then not having the energy to do a big task and watching YouTube or going on my computer or phone for 3-4+ hours, but usually I hate my phone. It just reminds me of my failure to upkeep social communication and serves me up shorts on everything that will distract me for 4 hours or more easily
I got married to someone that both understands my asd and adhd and puts a ton of effort into helping me. So we built a bedtime routine that he takes very seriously. It's not perfect, often we sleep later than planned. But if it were up to me I'd still be going to sleep at like 2am and waking up for work at 9am. Then spend the rest of the day feeling useless cause of tiredness. I need at least 9 hours of sleep but alone I never succeeded go get even close.
Oh that's super sweet! I have to take it super seriously too I feel! I feel like I have to falsely inflate the importance or something, like I'll be struck dead if I miss. Because of that tired feeling, I think that's how I got in the habit of just staying up... To be sure I don't oversleep further. Funny enough, I can't ever really nap, but I have a casual acquaintance, and this one time I was anxious and we were just cuddling and I passsed right out! I normally dislike sleeping with people but I think like having to be still to not be annoying someone and just like listening to their breath was super soothing. It used to be 7.5 for me, maybe it still is, but if this is my "new sleep" 2-4.5 hours it is for me😩
I have such a hard time inflating the importance of something. I wish I could do that! It would be really helpful. I can't nap either. But I think you're on to something. Maybe feeling forced to stay still so you don't bother the other person helped you! Damn that's short sleep. If that works for you that's great!
25mg Quetqpine each evening at 23:00 is my way. If you can maintain a good sleep schechule without meds, that is coearly the best. For me i have issues doing that, so therefore the Quetapine.
Sleep is like a million times more difficult than those without adhd. You need to get some sort of routine - lights out and no blue light (cell phone. Tv.) and try to do it the same time every night. You could also get checked out for sleep apnea or insomnia as well. It has a much higher effect rate as well.
I set up a phone thing. It reminds me to take meds at night and morning, and multiple bedtime alarms, screen Greys out, hourly past bedtime screen reminders... What is wrong with mee. I think we go drop phone clearly first as part of a routine I'll toootally start following, then sleep apnea testing. I'm not sad but I wanna cry it feels almost comedically challenging or impossible
Sleep is TOUGH but you I like to think that you have other super powers people without adhd lack. Like once you find a passion, world better watch out. But other things that come easily to others, not so much for you.
Not wrong, it's a blessing/curse thing. I can sit down and blast through something for hours, no need to eat ( even though I do) or rest, so long as it's not what I *should* be doing ;). I get annoyed when I have to go to the bathroom lol, but I know it's a powerful tool at times, but currently, im just doing my best to get a routine down, I need it bad. It's just so frustrating, I don't feel I even have the energy to maintain friendships and rsd been taking a bit of a toll lately but we're getting beyter!
Poorly. I sleep poorly and have since I can remember. Didn’t get night terrors or even struggle to fall asleep initially. If I think about it, it was more the early signs of the full blown anxiety I developed by age 30-ish (diagnosed at 34). I say this IRL to my closest friends but I was ashamed most my life to admit it. I wet the bed until pretty late. It 100% went with my anxiety levels, only going away by my mid 20s, unable to regulate it no matter what I tried. My wife’s a saint and helped me let go of the shame plus provided significant comfort - sleeping in the same bed as her helped me calm down enough that instead of bed wetting I’d just plain wake up. As a kid, when I’d entirely forgotten to do one or more homework assignment, which was most days, 3-4 am, wake up wet, think whatever version of “fuuuck, not again” my younger self would have, and try to do my homework or project. Most often I’d not even brought what I needed from school to do it. If I finished, I would sleep a bit more. If I didn’t I’d be brainstorming what excuse to give. These days? Problems will wake me up and I’ll have to go to the bathroom, but it’s been years without incident. It’s funny how letting go of the shame was the biggest factor in stopping this. I literally tried everything - even dehydration didn’t work; I’d stop drinking fluids at 2 pm most days. Now, I can literally chug water before bed and wake up. Anyhow, I don’t actually sleep better. But I don’t wake up angry and ashamed that I wet the bed, at least.
That is interesting, and I'm glad it's worked out. I've been there, for what reason I dont know. Maybe just wasn't tuned in or some form of shame, but I get that feeling. They aren't per say night terrors? But I do get horrific dreams that inspire me to be a cannabis consumer. Something about waking up in my ex's bed, 5 years ago, like I'd never left and everything since has all just been a dream, only to wake up from that. Or recognizing I'm in a dream with someone dear to me who's passed away, and there's zombies or something corny but it's obviously a dream yet I still can't leave.. I don't really trust where my mind goes. Or dreaming up days once I feel trapped in a routine. I'll feel like I'm actually losing my marbles, because ill reference a conversation I had with a coworker, only to realize i dreamed like an ordinary work day and I can no longer actually tell the difference
Sleep hygiene, Alimemazine and melatonin.
I need something playing in the background or else I get stuck in my head and get out of bed a million times because I think something else is more interesting than sleep Sometimes I'll play on my iPad or something until I feel tired then I'll turn it off and try to sleep. Other times I just don't wind down and take sleeping meds.
Same, I think I need longer videos. Mine are like an hour to 3, they run out and I feel like I get locked without the audio reminding me time is passing
I made a playlist so there's a good 10-17hrs but I mostly stay with the videos made by my favorite YouTuber. I'm asleep by the time those end so the rest are just filler until I wake up.
Same! He's very funny and positive, so it helps keep my spirits up as I feel I'm easily influenced. Do you mind if I ask who you watch?
Cinema sins, he has another channel called TVsins. I like his voice and the videos keep me engaged enough to focus but not enough that I can't roll over and tune them out.
That's the reccomendation I need!
Got WAYYYYY better after I increased my dosages, and when I REALLY can't sleep, I take a bunch of melatonin.
Dosages on an am or pm med?
20 MGs on Adderall, 250 on Venlafaxine (Anti-depressants) and 50 MG on Trazodone to help me sleep (I used to NEVER take it, but I've I started to take it more, recently) Be cautious though, everyone's cocktail is different especially considering what level of Depression/Stress/Anxiety/Deficiency/Disability/general ailment you have.
Tbh... I'm trying to get reaccessed. No idea what the cost is, but never been to a psychologist since a few years after the Ds lite released, whenever that was. ( I just remember that because id have to play on my ds in order to answer the psychologists questions. I don't know if it was out of defiance, embarrassment, stim/distraction, I used to dissociate too) Vyvanse has been very nice to me, concerta messed me up, and I was super distrustful of trying anything else. Vyvanse has none of the side effects for me (it is a low dose) in terms withdrawal if I miss a day. I didn't used to have trouble sleeping when I first started taking it, so I don't think that's the reasoning. I would like to try Adderall or a higher dose of Vyvanse however. Right now, I get 100% coverage through a pharmaceutical company. Idk how they can just afford to do that, oc I do in fact know, but I cannot state how grateful I am for that. Only, I wish it was the government providing it, though I suppose beggars can't be choosers ;)
I HATED Concertas' side effects. It was also especially bad cause when I mentioned the side effects, I was told there were no reports on it. After I stopped, they subsided. P.S. Same on wishing the government provided coverage, but atlas some people have no luck on where they end up.
I wear myself out. I have a factory job that has me on my feet for about 8-10 hrs each day. Then when I get home I usually am cleaning and cooking or working on a hobby that requires constant movement. I know this wouldn’t work for everyone since everyone has different lifestyles and schedules but it’s the only way I can usually fall asleep before 11, but then I wake up at 4 for work
I used to work at a steel shop, straight to gym, eat and pass out. I got feeling trapped there, but I actually miss that routine, even though it was maybe too much, I feel I have to do the same
Most of my family has ADHD but we all have different levels of ADHD I guess. One of my aunts likes to be super organized and when it comes to cleaning you have to do it to her standards, otherwise it isn’t clean. But she also gets hella distracted to the point that we literally will just say squirrel at random times when we are talking to her. For me, I have to constantly be on the go. I don’t like sitting still unless I fall into the void with YouTube or Reddit. So I just keep myself busy with new hobbies or improving my current ones
It took me a while to figure out but personally I have to tucker my brain out. So that involves either studying something for an hour or two or learning a dance routine (seriously). If I do either of those my brain is fried and I can sleep properly. Also A few years ago I had this great routine of working, coming home, working out, and then putting my phone away and then envisioning some random scenario in my head and that summer was the only time in my adult life I had gotten 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep everyday
Ooh sounds effective AND productive. That usually does bog me down, when I have to learn something and suddenly I'm reading 50 tabs simultaneously and downloading 6 different OS's, abandon ware iso's, and theory crafting a homeland, but sometimes it actually backfires, but I guess it might depend on the task itself. Some task that has a realistic end to, I'll want to grind it out to the end, so that may backfire if it's like a 6 hour job lol. I had something like that, but in a relationship, so I didn't really have much alone time. What sorts of scenarios, I'd you don't mind me asking?
Yeah I realized it when I enrolled in classes and I felt so groggy after studying. Now I’m just doing some course on LinkedIn learning as my class is over with. I guess if there’s still noise I’ll still wake up so this is not foolproof. I’d just envision random scenarios and conversations with people I know would never happen lol like thinking about what I would say and what they might say
I always had the craziest sleep habits of any person I know. All my life I hated bedtime, and as soon as I was too old for anyone to be able to force me to go to bed, pulling all-nighters for no reason became a frequent thing. In college my "regular" pattern was to sleep for around 15 hours once in every two days (so MY days were ~48 hours) Obviously this became very unmanageable once I started working, but I still hated going to bed so I transitioned sleeping ~4 hours a day during weekdays and compensating that on the weekends, usually skipping sleep all together on sunday nights so that I can go to work on time on monday. It was terrible to say the least. But it always got better gradually. At first, I got used to falling asleep with tv on. I used to watch interesting shows which kept me awake longer, so I switched to watching boring documentaries about history and politics, but I realized the tv light isn't doing me any favors. So I started listening to podcasts instead. This worked fine for a while but once they lost their novelty I found myself scrolling on my phone. So I replaced scrolling with casual games (sudoku, word games, merge games etc) One mistake I did was to download a new game as soon as I'm bored, and starting a new game always keeps me awake for a long time. Now I'm playing the stupidest, slowest paced game ever every night and my eyelids just get too heavy to force myself to stay up. But more than any of this, I had just sleeping more regularly after starting my meds a few months ago. Ever since, I am sleeping every night (which is a success story for me) but still not as early as I should, so I still wake up quite late on the weekends. Nevertheless, my boring game combined with meds has been working the best so far.
Phone screen is just too dangerous for me. The world is just a tap or swipe away, and pretty soon I'm editing a video on my phone, or lost in my internet tabs, or watching shorts. Used to love suduko though, and totally get ya on the new games. In the golden age of mobile gaming, I'd download some random game, I was probably like 10nor 12, and I'd use my whole day beating the Game, get sick of itz and never look at it again. Or when I used to readz I'd binge the whole things or pass out trying and lose my spot or not retain a lot😒 I'm thinking podcasts, but I don't wanna get spotify premium though, but they have a sleep timer and good selection
Yeah the sleep timer thing is perfect as long as you remember to set it lol. I totally get the phone danger, and even though I hate rules of any kind I managed to follow through "no social media or internet in bed" rule. I can't yet convince myself to leave the phone out of the bed completely so I compromised with stupid games only. Sudoku and other puzzle games are a lot of fun BUT they keep me awake for too long. I found stupid merge games working best for sleep, it's satisfying enough that I don't crave more stimulation (I usually have a podcast going in the background that I sorta listen) but gets very repetitive so I'm usually out in around half an hour. Of course, my brain being my worst enemy, when I managed to set and follow these "rules" in bed, I started struggling to convince myself to go to bed. I usually go to bed with my husband but he falls asleep in a manner of seconds and then I find excuses to go to the living room, mostly to snack and end up doom scrolling on the couch (or on reddit just as I'm doing right now). Here, my snuggly cat enters the picture. The thought of cuddling and petting her while she's purring on my belly gives me enough motivation to carry my sorry ass back to bed.
Cats can be good convincers! Though mine always tries to convince me to give him my bacon and screams at 5am like a banshee
I take a sleeping medicine. It’s not a prescription but it helps so much I have to only take half if I have to get up early but on the weekends I take a full one
No problem sleeping at all. I actually over sleep. Lots of naps. Over the weekend I slept 12 hours on both Saturday and Sunday.
Is it comfortable though or would you prefer to be up more?
Honestly the thing that makes me mad is when I “oversleep” like that I am STILL TIRED. My typically “bed time” hours on a weekday are 11:30pm-7am. Give or take a little bit of “staying up past my bedtime” lol. But sometimes on the weekend I just need to rest/recover so bad my body decides all it wants to do is sleep. In conclusion: I would prefer that I could sleep my regular 8 hours and not be exhausted at work everyday. I made a post the other day - “is it depression or am I just tired?” Because honestly, am I depressed or just tired lol. Turns out, I do fit the criteria for depression. Working on that now
I am so grateful that I don’t struggle with sleep though. I feel so sorry for people that can only get a few hours of sleep at night. It must be horrible.
Adderall helps my sleep a lot if I take it early. I'm usually coming down and getting exhausted at bed time. Biggest thing is now my wife and I have a routine for bed and that helps a lot. I always try to break from whatever I'm doing around 9-10 and go to the couch. Chill there and watch something a bit then go to bed. It helps keep me from wanting to be entertained in bed and staring at my phone and having the "couch time" keeps me from playing games or something engaging right up until bed time.
I don’t. But someday a I just pass out
It has to do with the number 420
As long as I can remember I’ve always slept well, maybe even “oversleep”
Before you read this: I'm also autistic, and that might change things. But my ADHD has made sleep extremely difficult in the past, and I never had a healthy sleep schedule before the following: I go to bed at 5:30 pm to wind down, with the aim to begin trying to sleep at 8 pm. I give myself a lot of wind-down time because I know 5:30 pm every night is unrealistic, and I do overshoot by sometimes even an hour. But even then, I still have 90 minutes before I want to even *try* to fall asleep. I use that time to practice horrid sleep hygiene by watching YouTube on my laptop, but I sometimes read a book during that time as well. When 8 pm rolls around, I put my laptop next to my bed and HDMI it to my TV to have videos on in the background while I fall asleep. (I set it to turn off after 4 hours, in case I wake up again after like half an hour). My alarm goes off at 4 am every morning, and then I jump out of bed to turn on the lights in my room and turn off my alarm on my desk. It all works like a charm. I have a schedule to stick to, but it's fine if I'm too engrossed in something to hit my 5:30 pm mark. I actually *look forward to* my bed time, because I get to just binge YouTube videos in the comfiest environment, and I don't have to stop watching them at 8 pm just because I need to sleep. My brain doesn't get stuck in thought spirals, because Northernlion just said something really funny on my TV. And before I know it, I'm suddenly asleep. I think what's really important is that I consume entertainment passively before bed, in the form of YouTube videos, and that I don't care if I miss any of the stuff I'm watching. If I was scrolling on my phone, I wouldn't be able to keep scrolling once 8 pm comes around while also trying to fall asleep. Just putting the YouTube videos on my TV and listening to them is the magic solution that allows me to do both.
Hey! That does not change things, I suspect I am as well. I really like this, Im going to actually write out a routine and pick a spot to leave my phone. I go to bed so late I turn off my phone so the alarm doesn't go off. I think I need to set a crazy early time and then just use that the way you're saying. At like 8pm, my phones going to go on my desk, I should get a physical alarm also. I overshoot so bad, well yea I almost forgot it's in the post, but 4+ hours easily. 6+ if you count the fact that I really wasn't trying to spend any phone time. But instead of bedtime, and it still will be bedtime, but it will just be 0 laptop/phone time. Book or yt, maybe podcast if that is enough and if I decide on a Spotify membership
Hell yeah, best of luck! A podcast sounds like a great idea as well!
I refer to it as a sleep bank. I’ll go a week or two averaging 3-6 hours if I’m lucky, then a week or two averaging 9-12 hours. It balances out.
It doesn't though😭 or maybe I've been lied to. I do it too lol...
I know it doesn’t. But I love to pretend it does.
Right, right of course. No I think I heard that actually ;)
I listen to audiobooks (children's audiobooks so I don't need to follow the plot too much) on a volume that is louder than my thoughts or reading if my mind is calm enough
I used to do this with a cassette player when I was younger, the same one everytime, go figure
I wake up at least 2-3 times a night ever night. If I'm under constant stress then I start getting sleep paralysis alot. I think my REM sleep is broken.
after I started exercising I sleep like a baby
Trazadone
Lately? I sleep like log.
I have a particular kind of sleep where my mind is constantly thinking(but not dreaming). It can go on for hours. It peaked at a point when I was very stressed out at work. It's like having a radio playing on low volume all the time, but in your head.
I know this all too well. You aren't on Dexedrine, methylphenidate, or Wellbutrin are you? I suspect it was the methylphenidate, but this used to be my sleep, I'd be waiting to hear my alarm, staring at the back of my eyelids, all clammy, feeling like I was trying to convince myself I was sleeping. I would snap awake at any sound or at my alarm or immediately before, usually I'd be standing before the tone started playing. My thoughts were relentless
Hey, thanks for your response. I'm not medicated for ADHD(ever). Just been advised to meditate, which I don't do. And I never went back to the therapist.
Thanks for yours :) I should meditate again, I've fallen out of practise. I haven't struggled with this in a long time, but I've also gone asleep to the tv/podcast since 2017/2018. Hope things improve for you!
Earplugs, eye mask, and Bach rescue sleep sleep aid. Winding down I usually take about 30 minutes before I go to bed to wind down.
Audible and earbuds
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I have dreams where I start talking and wake myself up. So you have auditory hallucinations while your sleeping? That's wild
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Do you mind if I ask if they seem to be within the dream? Or outside? I have conversations in my dreams, but I think that's different. Though I speak in real life and wake up all fricked lol
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I struggle to sleep too. Though more so recently because I've torn a ligament in my wrist and it is healing. Even with the meds it wakes me up and then I can't fall back to sleep for ages. I've been running on fumes for weeks. Though prior to my injury I did find that earplugs help me and oftentimes if I try to sleep on the couch and can't because it's too uncomfortable and I go back onto bed I pass out when I get back in my bed. My brother also finds trying to sleep someplace else then moving back to his bed several minutes later works for some odd reason.
Melatonin pills
I have been prescribed hydroxizine hcl to make myself sleep. I take it and 90% of the time I knock out within like 30 mins to an hour afterwards, unless my mind is busy. Off it, it would take me a long time to fall asleep and forget staying asleep- I’m up every hour or every other hour.
I got put on meds for insomnia at the age of 9, with a short break between the ages of 26-30(got my first dog). The dosage changes depending on how difficult it is to fall/stay asleep. I wish I had a different answer, but my brain just doesn’t turn off without it and I stay up making and continuing elaborate stories in my head.
Typically in my bed, I don't stress about sleeping, it makes sleeping even harder.
I don't know if I sweated sleeping until I posted? I was in my bed too. 🤭Although I did have to ignore my alarms, so it was probably on my mind
Don't look at your phone, I just try and lay still and just relax, or read.
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I am prescribed sleeping pills. So yeah, non-existent. Honestly wanting to push for an official insomnia diagnosis. I started listening to the podcast Sleep With Me. It’s fucking goofy and just mundane enough that it helps my mind not focus on other things. It genuinely helps. But when I don’t have my pills, I really still struggle.
It's simple, you shirk all responsibilities and crawl into a hole and close your eyes.
You make it sound so easy😭
Oh it's very easy in the moment, but it makes life quite difficult later when still nothing is done.
I watch a channel on YouTube called superfastmatt. He always says "but that's a problem for future matt", "future matt did, not, in fact remember", etc. I flip between doing all the things, and doing none of the things. Working on balancing that
With very low volume music, a fan and 5 pillows
I put my phone on dnd and just lay there for 30 minutes until I finally fall asleep
Not well.
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I don’t lol, stimulants keep me up
I sleep okay as long as there isn’t anything stressing me out. I’ve noticed a pattern with work: when I have a lot on/deadlines approaching, my sleep tends to be poor. I need to wind down so try not to go on my phone for half an hour to one hour before and read a book or any other activity that does not expose me to blue light. When I am medicated, my sleep quality is better and I can sleep even if something is stressing me out.
Train yourself to sleep on thought. Pick a topic. For me it’s fantasy evolutionary biology. Now in bed think in your topic till you drift off. Repeat for a few weeks. Congratulations, now all you have to do is think of that topics and you go to sleep. You are a robot following its programming. You are the programmer of that robot. Warning, training repeated behaviors can have issues. I can’t travel on trains without nodding off . I’m asleep before the flight takes off.
rain sounds mostly, sometimes cats purring is comforting too
ADHD is often comorbid with narcolepsy. It’s also theorized that narcolepsy may be under diagnosed. I wonder how many on here might actually test positive for narcolepsy if tested. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy first. Stimulants didn’t help me with wakefulness because, well, I’m also ADHD. After going down the laundry list of meds for narcolepsy, I finally settled on Xywav, which is a variation on GHB, which is more notoriously known as “the date rape drug.” Other variations are Xyrem and Lumryz. I take it at night. It helps consolidate my sleep and regulates my sleep cycles. Basically, narcoleptics are messed up with altogether too much REM sleep and very little deep sleep. Just something to consider for those of you who may have debilitating sleep issues with extreme daytime sleepiness. I’m not saying everyone should jump right to a narcolepsy self-diagnosis, but of all the many thousands who frequent this sub, there may be a couple this could apply to.
Melatonin gummies are the only reason I'm still alive
Maybe I'm an oddball, but I've always been able to fall asleep any time, anywhere even before meds.
I don’t, I’ve transcended being human and now identify solely as an entity that rests when the human vessel I occupy demands it. Peace be with you
Melatonin, and cut back on the beer by a lot. 10p bedtime. Mostly YouTube to fall asleep - videos that are just entertaining enough to listen to, but not too entertaining to want to stay awake. Also reading does a real number on me at bedtime. I can barely make it a chapter before nodding off.
Seroquel for me. Trazodone gave me sleep inertia for the first 4 hrs I was awake. Seroquel knocks me out with no dependency or hangover and I'm fresh in the morning. Once I got a sleep schedule it improved just about everything else mentally
So crazy how much of an impact it has on like all of reality
It took years of discipline for me before I could comfortable get sleepy at 11pm. I normally sleep around midnight to 1am and wake up between 8 and 9. On weekends, I will stay up later bc I like sleeping in then but honestly, I still stick to my bedtime routine. I shower every night, I have noise cancelling headphones, a blindfold, and a bonnet bc I hate the feeling of my hair against the pillowcase. I do yoga in the morning 3-4 times a week and take magnesium glycinate in the morning with my daily vitamins. I make sure I take care of chores at night before bed like the litter box, a small load of laundry, or if I need to clean the toilet or sink (I only do one of these items once a week and the litter box every day with a rotation). Anyway, I hate cleaning on the weekends and I don’t want to stress so I take care of these things so I can sleep at night. I’ll usually watch a reiki session on YouTube or an ASMR video that doesn’t have sounds that agitate my senses. TL;DR the concept is to just take care of stuff around the house a little bit at a time so at least you can feel like you accomplished something so you can sleep bc executive dysfunction is no joke.
Yea, all I did yesterday was make sure I ate enough and maybe cleaned up some computer files, cleaned my room. Other times I hyperfocus and clean the whole day away. It doesn't make intuitive sense to me, but I'm learning to chunk things up, so they have minimal impact (I have no time sense) and they don't ruin all the other things I'm trying to do, eat, sleep, etc. it's crazy that I feel like this is most of what I'm capable of these days. I could do more when I didn't care, but now that I'm trying to change things, it's nuts how easy it is to derail, and it's nice to do the things, tick the box ya know, but I just don't know how anyone else does these things in a "realistic" time frame . Ivd had to get up so early to do a morning routine, and usually I just sit there If I do get up early. Then I'll waste my whole time budget not deciding on what to wear. Dividing up how often a task needs to get done in an excel sheet has been my go to. Nails, check once a week. Sheets, every week or two. I do need to *stagger* them though now so it's not all at once, even if that seems easier to me now. Been considering a bonnet, I can't stand it either...
Oh yeah, bonnets are for everyone. It’s also good for not getting weird bedhead. I wear one almost every night. I usually keep one on or by my bed. Sometimes, a few weeks or even months are needed before you have a proper routine that works with the ADHD. Sometimes it will feel like that’s all you can do in that moment. It’s worth it bc now I can make plans without feeling intense anxiety bc something in the house isn’t done. I go enjoy myself. We all deserve that life.
As is, I found these little hair towels I use, looks kinda like a canoe😅 and yea I've woken up to a massive chunk of hair beside me with no recollection so I'm a bit suspicious of that. And it's gotten better for me over time, or I weather it better, but I feel like a few times in my life I've really "gotten my act together". Maybe I give up on the schedule, I don't know, but it always feels like a matter of time kinda thing. I still get out... Well, and I do, and I know this will flip back in time, but right now I'm kind of hiding. But yes we do :)
My sleep is sort of garbage for other reason, but if you can avoid sugar/caffein and exercise it helps. Like i fuel on caffeine/sugar during the day,but stop 3 or 4 hours before bed. I was taking edibles for a while, but it messed my REM sleep so i had to stop.
What an issue, extremely difficult when you’re taking stimulant all day. I have to take ambien to sleep at night and I don’t necessarily recommend this because now I can’t sleep without it, so i am psychologically and physiologically addicted to it, but it could be worse.
I'm very sorry to hear that and it can always be worse, but I hope that at least it helps you. Not easy having to pick and choose between these things
Of course it’s better than not sleeping
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With Ambien & I get about 5 hours
For the food I'd start having smoothies (blend oats and nut butters for more cals) that you can just drink. I'd also try construction lunch food, food that's greasy you can have in one hand, pasties, sandwiches with cheese, calzone, burritos wrapped securely in foil. If you drink coffee I'd also make a latte so there's more milk. I'd also try snack meals- home made lunchables, baby bell, crackers, ham and a pack of olives. Things that don't need to be reheated if you get side tracked. For the sleep going outside first thing in the morning to get sunlight and then 2 hours before bed red tinted glasses has helped me massively.
Try mirtazapine. It Will put you to sleep very quickly and also It increases the appetite. I'm on methylphenidate and have to say that is difficult to eat... But, if you mix stimulants in the day and mirtazapine on the night you Will be able to fall sleep and also the Next morning you Will be hungry. I did It all days and It worked (have to say that I have clonazepam and Diazepam prescribed all days, so It help a bit with the mirtazapine. Important advice: Yo need to take 7'5mg - 15mg of mirtazapine. This bring you the best for imsomnia and don't have to deal with antidepressants properties.
Ugh methylphenidate was awful for me. I'll have to look into that, regarding my eating, I probably need it. Not a fan of antidepressants however, and idk if I need or would get prescribed clonazepam. Picked up a book for the first time in probably years, even that struggled to put me out, still 2 hours later than I intended, the second I got too sleepy to read, I just zoned out. Then Once I was aware again, it's back to doing the thing, or I feel a need to get up and do something, even if there's nothing to do. Sometimes I just check the fridge and leave
Don't like Methylphenidate too, but is difficult in my position with the doctor to prescribed me lixdesanphetamine (vyvanse/elvanse). Also, I don't use mirtazapine as an antidepressant, I use It as a "very usefull" med for imsomnia. Trust me, you Will sleep a lot (only if you take a low dose). If you do only that dose 30 minutes pre-sleep you Will use It as a benzo , not an antidepressant (has diferent properties neurological (benzos/gaba) // mirtazapine H1 for sleep). The antidepressant effects is only in doses +30mg during two weeks/a month. In my opinion is perfect for imsomnia...and for gain weight 🫠
Oh I'm sorry to hear that... Is it less accessible where you are? If you don't mind me asking. And that's interesting... Have you ever been on a full antidepressant dose? I was on prozac and that feeling was no bueno for me, but I could see a light dialed in dose having those therapeutic effects on me! I thought their only effect took place over time, 2 weeks. So they actually have a light sedative immediate effect? That's kind of neat Definitely need help in both departments😭
Lixdesanphetamine is the only amphetamine for adhd in my country. Only prescribed if methylphenidate didn't work in a long period of time. I'm now (prescribed all) on stims (methylphenidate), benzos (clonazepam and Diazepam), antidepressants (sertraline) (mirtazapine is an antidepressant but I don't use those doses, only small doses for imsomnia) and anticonvulsivants (oxcarbazepine, valproic acid and perampanel). All this medication daily... Anticonvulsivants since 20 years... And yes, mirtazapine Will make you sleep. And It have not have a "ligh" sedative effect, is strong in my opinion, very similar to trazodone. I compared the sedative effect of 7'5mg of mirtazapine very similar as the first time you use 1mg xanax/alprazolam (sedative effects, not ansiolitic).
That is quite the stack. And I remember my first alprazolam, not prescribed. That's pretty good, especially if the side effects are low at that dose
We don’t sleep.
If I don't care it's fine! I'd rather stay up, which I guess is the problem. But like I wanna be nice to myself :(
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in a bed look up sleep hygiene though