Can't Sleep, things going to shit and I don't know what to do - Lemmy.world
Sorry for being dramatic, but I feel absolutely awful right now and things seem
to be moving in the wrong direction, I genuinely don’t know what to do next. So
please forgive a long rambly message to people who struggle with just that! I
got ChatGPT to make a TL;DR, which I found quite amusing: > * The poster is a
27-year-old who was diagnosed with ADHD this year and has been taking medication
for the past 6 months, with a stable dosage for 3 months without issue, and
generally positive outcomes. > * Following that, they have experienced disrupted
sleep patterns for the last 3 months, finding it difficult to fall asleep before
3AM even when going to bed at 1AM, which is negatively impacting their routine
and work schedule. > * Despite struggling with sleep and consistently waking up
late, they manage to maintain productivity at work, which they value greatly.
However, this is leading to further sleep deprivation, exacerbating the problem.
> * This disrupted sleep pattern is making them feel constantly tired,
disorganized, and slow but they still seem to function effectively during the
day. > * Their work-life balance is skewed as their hours are shifted back,
finishing work later, and they continue to be active until late at night, often
forgoing relaxation time for themselves to deal with personal admin, projects,
and other work. > * They have devised a new strategy to cope with the situation:
> * They acknowledge that their biggest challenge will be stopping activities by
12PM, given their heightened productivity levels at that time. > * Despite the
plans to manage their situation, they are feeling increasingly stressed out and
overwhelmed, fearing the consequences on their health and personal
relationships. > * They are seeking advice from the ADHD community that goes
beyond typical sleep hygiene tips. I’m 27, diagnosed this year, on meds for ADHD
for around 6 months. All was going well, and was stable on my current dose for
3+ months before this became an issue. I take 20mg dexamphetamine at 7AM when I
wake, then take 70mg of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate at the same time or a bit
later. I’ve tried halving the 70mg for a week or so, but no change. (on sleep)
Over the last 3 months, my sleep pattern has completely gone to shit. I’ve
always been a night owl, and naturally gravitate to a 3AM-9AM sleep pattern when
I don’t have to be up. But I’ve worked a full time job for years, which means me
waking up at 7AM. So I will usually go to bed at 1-ish, sometimes later. This
has always worked quite well. However, recently I’ve found it hard to get any
sleep before 3AM. Usually, one I’m actually in bed, I’ve always fallen asleep
quickly. My job is fairly physical, so I’m usually at least physically tired.
But even when I’m going to bed at like 1AM, I’m literally just lying there
unable to sleep. It feels unnatural, like trying to sleep at noon. I have
energy, thoughts, and a nice sense of calm and quiet. It’s gotten to a point
where I haven’t had more than 4 hours of sleep in the last couple of months more
than a handful of times, and in the last two weeks, on two occasions I’ve simply
opted to stay awake, because it’s 0430, it’s basically daylight (I bloody hate
Summer), the birds have been at it for hours. Maybe the worst thing is that I
can generally get by okay. Morning is hell, always has been, but after about an
hour I’m feeling the same as almost any day. I’ve been struggling to wake up,
and have gotten progressively later at work over the last 12 months, where I’m
now showing up 30-60mins late as standard. Nobody really cares, I have always
worked lots of overtime, so I don’t take lunch and work an hour or so later
until my work is done. But my work is both important to me, and important to my
colleagues. As much as walking away from it for a while may be a good idea, I’d
be leaving everyone in the shit. It’s a small business, if they had enough
redundancy for nobody to be essential, none of us would have jobs! When I get
less than 5 hours, I notice it, but I don’t think anyone else does. I feel slow,
disorganised and very typically ‘ADHD’. But I’m very functional. I’ll do a full
day, do overtime, come home, work on some other things, get caught up on the
bare minimum, look at the clock, and see that its 1AM, and I haven’t even done
any ‘relaxing’ stuff for me yet, so that is, of course, the right time to playa
few rounds of intense competitive games… Even 420 doesn’t seem to be able to
calm me down enough to help. I’m writing this after getting less than an hour’s
sleep again. I’ve come up with some ideas on how to proceed, I’m just worried
that it’s the same kind of approach I always take that rarely works, basically
schedule everything, ignoring the fact that the schedule will feel miserable,
unnatural and that I can ignore it. I’ve tried to make this a bit more human.
Current planned changes: * Must finish work by 6PM, unless we are truly in
crisis mode * I will not eat anything after 11:30PM * At 12PM I will have a
shower, which I hope will prepare me for bed * No computer after 12 (sorry me) *
Reducing morning lisdexamfetamine to 35mg. I don’t think it’s the medication,
but it can’t help! The hardest bit for me is going to be stopping at 12. I have
lots to fit in, and not a lot of time, plus I feel really awake and productive
at 12. So just walking away from whatever I’m in the middle of is going to be
hardest, when I know I could just not. I may shift all of this forward an hour
for the first week, otherwise it may simply be too much at once. I’m hoping
that, by resting better, I won’t have things I still need to do by 12. But
mostly, I just feel like shit. I hate being late every day, I hate days like
today where I don’t even know what to do, should I go in to work? How to I make
sure everything will be okay without me on such short notice? I know this is
awful for my health, I feel very ‘thin’, and my heartbeat is so much more
noticeable when I’m on no/little sleep. My BP was fine when I checked after a
month of this. To be honest, I almost don’t want to check again, because it will
be high, and I don’t know what I’d do with that, I already know I need to fix
this. Everything just feels like a chore at the moment, every nice plan with my
gf is just stressing me out more, because all I see is even less time, more shit
building up, and I don’t even know how to prepare for a holiday when I’m living
like this. I’ve never really engaged with the ADHD community, even after my
diagnosis, which is pretty dumb. I’m sorry to just dump all this at you, but I
really need advice from people who realise that just repeating the same cliches
about ‘sleep hygiene’ may not actually be helpful in this case.
