Adderall and lack of sleep (health issue, doctor, prescription, symptoms)

[mmckenna]

Does anyone know of an over the counter med that will counteract the sleeplessness that occurs from Adderall? My friend is hesitant to take any other prescription drugs, but she feels better on the adderall and doesn't want to have to stop it due to lack of sleep. Thanks!

[brandosgirl]

Oh i have experience with adderall. I hated it with a passion!!!!!!!!! All i ever wanted to do was sleep. I have adhd pretty bad and the doc gave it to me and it sucked big time!!! I will tell you this to help your friend. If you want the adderall out of your system orange juice is the way to go or citracel pills. Anything with citric acid will get it out 70% faster. I take dexedrine now which is similiar to adderall but instead of taking 25mgs at once i take 5mgs 3 times a day and so i dont build a tolerance for it i do the oj and citracel thing. If your friend is a guy though i dont suggest it. Thats another story we probably shouldnt get into though. Good Luck

[karen_s]

When my son was on it, he used melatonin to help him sleep. It worked well for him. Hope that helps!

[girlygal]

The oj thing or citric acid thing works. About 3 hours be-4 bedtime it leaves the system pretty quick. If you dont like oj ,citracel is fine. I also heard vitamin c works. I guess that makes sense.

[Mattie Jo]

Why is your friend on adderall?

[GLS]

Originally Posted by mmckenna

Does anyone know of an over the counter med that will counteract the sleeplessness that occurs from Adderall? My friend is hesitant to take any other prescription drugs, but she feels better on the adderall and doesn't want to have to stop it due to lack of sleep. Thanks!

If you are going to recommend that your friend take one medication to counteract another one, you might want to post on the thread entitled, "Is America Over-medicated?"

If you want to help your friend, first answer Jessaka's question. Why is your friend taking Adderall. i.e. what is the diagnosis. Second, have your friend keep a diary of his/hers sleeping patterns and bring this data to a discussion with their physician. This including other symptoms, and when they were first noticed, that may be drug side effects.

The physician MAY switch medications. However, the solution MAY be as simple as switching to the controlled release form of the same drug (Adderall XR) vs "immediate release". Another common approach is to move the dose to early mornings only. Yet another option is dosage adjustment. You didn't specify dose, but Adderall comes in 5mg, 7.5mg, 10mg, 12.5mg, 15mg, 20mg, and 30mg strengths. This serves to illustrate how carefully a dose must be individualized as well as the RATE at which doses are increased. The higher the dose and/or the faster the dose is advanced, the higher the risk of insomnia.

I hope the above illustrates that the complexity of your question is beyond the scope of this post. However, your friend's physician has many options that are both more efficacious and safer than adding one drug to chase away the problems caused by the first drug. Good luck!

[austinsmom]

My son has ADHD and takes Adderall XR. He's on 20 mg and does wonderful on it. Although, if we didn't give him melatonin, he'd never go to bed. HIs pediatrician recommended it because it is what the brain secretes naturally to tell us we are tired. My husband uses it to sleep during the day since he works at night. It sucks that he has to take medicine everyday and then something to help him sleep but it helps him to be successful. If the sleep problem is severe, your friend needs to talk to their doctor. If they take it for ADHD, there may be another medication that doesn't affect them quite as bad and still works for the symptoms. Melatonin is the only thing I'd tell your friend to take without contacting their doctor. ADHD meds are not something that should be messed with lightly.

[Mattie Jo]

Maybe I am wrong, but I don't believe in ADHD or that it needs to be medicated. I think it is just a human condition that we all have, and that we just have to learn to concentrate, and for that I would recommend meditation. But I could be very wrong here.

[austinsmom]

Originally Posted by jessaka

Maybe I am wrong, but I don't believe in ADHD or that it needs to be medicated. I think it is just a human condition that we all have, and that we just have to learn to concentrate, and for that I would recommend meditation. But I could be very wrong here.

You couldn't be more wrong! You can believe what you want but when you have a child that can't sit still or stop fidgeting or goes at overdrive speed no matter what he tries, talk to me then. When he gets in trouble every day at school and tells you he really tried but just couldn't sit still or stop talking and he cries because he wants to be like everyone else. When that child can tell you he feels normal when he takes his medicine b/c he can do what he needs to do, you know that no matter what people like you think, you are doing the right thing for your child. Are there many cases where parents just give medicine and it's not really ADHD? Absolutely and those parents shouldn't have had kids if they don't want to deal with them. But we tried everything with our son and I cried so hard when the doctor told us he would need medication. He's doing great....the star of the basketball team, doing very well in school, has tons of friends. All the things that most kids with ADHD struggle with, he is succeeding.

Don't be so quick to rule it out as something you believe or don't believe. BTW, have you ever tried to get a young child to sit and watch a movie, let alone meditate???? I don't even want to do that.

[Mattie Jo]

I can see that I was wrong. What you describe sounds very hard to deal with and certainly is a problem. I am sorry to hear that your child has to deal with this health issue. Just that I had friends that believed or their doctor believed they had ADHD, and while they were not on drugs, I didn't see a problem. What they described sounded normal; what you describe doesn't. I wasn't thinking of a child meditating, but the person who started the thread has a friend. It was just a suggestion for her. I can't imagine a child learning to meditate with the problems that you are presenting, much less watch a movie.