ADHD

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A casual community for people with ADHD

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Relevant Lemmy communities:

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Chronic Insomnia (piefed.social)

submitted 11 hours ago by weimaraner_of_doom@piefed.social to c/adhd@lemmy.world

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Hi all! I was formally diagnosed with ADHD in my mid 20's. Currently taking generic Vyvanse and Guanfacine. Getting on meds was a huge quality of life improvement. One thing that I still struggle with is chronic insomnia, which is a common commorbidity with -- or maybe symptom of -- ADHD. The insomnia started around the time I hit puberty and I can count on one hand the number of great nights sleeps I've had since then.

I've tried a lot of environmental changes like:

Having a rigid bedtime schedule.
Wearing blue light filter glasses for 3 hours before bed.
Taking melatonin supplements.
Minimizing screentime.
Using a weighted blanket.

Those all seem to help somewhat but not to a huge degree. I still feel sleep deprived most of the time.

Apparently I also occasionally have jerking movements while asleep somewhat consistent with "Periodic Limb Movements of Sleep (PLMS)".

Has anyone else had a similar experience and found any effective treatments?

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[–] dellhiver@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago

I've got mild sleep apnea and most likely PLMS. My wife has restless leg syndrome. She also has a weighted blanket and uses melatonin. She listens to boring/calming youtube vids via an ear phone. She takes cold showers to numb her legs. She has to take naps during the day to function.

Both of us have ADHD. We also tried the things you did.

All I can offer are a few things I've started doing differently:

Using a sleep mask and wearing an ear plug (Loops is the brand) at night. Just one, as I sleep on my side. People with ADHD do suffer from sensory issues, so might not like sleeping with things on their face and in ears.

I found cutting off excess light and particularly random sounds (birds, traffic noise, voices etc) made getting to sleep a lot easier. Yes I periodically lose/drop my ear buds, but that's a different issue.

I bought extra pillows to support my body.

Another thing I noticed only last week, after almost decades of lying in bed stretching my legs half asleep, trying to get rid of aches. I found that the uncomfortable feeling was coming from muscles in my thighs. Massaging, stretching has made a difference. Tension in shoulders, neck and jaw can go unnoticed for a long time.

It's also very easy to lay in bed with loads of things on your mind. I created a set of stories/fantasies that I play out in my head. It helps me to down out unintrusive thoughts.

On a side note, I heard that an Ex-Top Gear presenter (also Adhd) imagine he's driving down his favourite roads.

The fact is, a lot of people's body clocks are different. If it wasn't for societal working hours and adult responsibilities, I know both me and my wife would sleep till late morning, work into the night. Maybe even nap during the day.