Sleep strategy

I had an appointment with my doctor to discuss the problems I've been having with the Vyvanse. Or what I thought was being caused by the Vyvanse anyway.

At one point I had gotten up to a 50 mg dose. After I passed my comprehensive test for my degree, I found that was too much. A few weeks after the test, I went down to 40 mg. That became too much as well. So I started adjusting the dosage between 40mg and 30mg. That is still too much.

So, I am now down to 30 mg. The headaches are pretty much gone but the insomnia remains. My doctor put me on clonidine at night to help me get to sleep. My wife also went out of town for a week so there was no one in bed to keep me up.

And guess what? The insomnia is still there. I even forgot to take my Vyvanse yesterday and still had problems with sleep. I was asleep by midnight (early for me even on normal nights because of my evening work schedule) but woke up at 3:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep for more than 2 hours.

So the 30 mg seems to be working. The insomnia is still here and I'm working on doing relaxing things at bed time.

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I am so freaking tired

I'm still having problems with the Vyvanse. Switching up on the dosages has helped the headaches. The insomnia is back though. Last week I had two night in a row of getting only four hours sleep. That is a killer for ADD. When that happens, it doesn't matter what meds I take, it won't help.

Two nights ago it happened again. The lack of sleep was so bad I felt like I was drunk. I literally could not walk straight. I had to take the day off from work.

Drinking orange juice or cranberry juice before bed hasn't been working for me either. I have also tried taking vitamin C but the insomnia is as bad as I've had since I started.

Last night, I was able to go to sleep by 12:45 am. That is actually early for me. I woke up at 3:45 am and haven't been able to get back to sleep. It is not coming up on 6:00 am and I see the sun is up. I am so screwed. I have stuff I need to do but I already feel mentally exhausted.

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Mixing it up

My doctor says the morning-after headaches I'm having with Vyvanse are not unusual. Could be a hydration problem. Vyvanse is known to dehyrdrate people. Steady intake of water is import. Dehydration might be the cause of the headaches.

The headaches could be from a buildup of Vyvanse. He told me that research has found out that Vyvanse does not all digest as quickly as originally thought. That means over time, it is staying with me and could be why I only get the headache after 5 days or so. Skipping a day or lowering the dose helps my body get rid of it.  

The problem with skipping a day is that I am totally inattentive that day. The pattern is so clear that my wife has gotten pretty good at telling when I missed a dose (on purpose or not). 

So my doctor and I came up with a new plan. I going to stick with the 40 mg dose. When I get to the point of getting a headache, I will go down to 30 mg that day. I take the dose with protein usually a couple slices of deli ham. My doctor also says drinking it with a bit of a protein shake would work but I don't care for those.

My other problem is getting to sleep. I do tend to get insomnia. Exercising during the day is one way to help with that. The doctor also suggested drinking something with ascorbic acid like orange juice, cranberry juice, apple juice, or even lemonade a couple hours before going to bed. A vitamin C tablet would work too. The ascorbic acid neutralizes Vyvanse which is why you can find information warning you to avoid those drinks while taking it, unless you want it neutralized - for instance when trying to go to sleep. 

Thing is, I went for a pretty long walk/run before going to work today, so I got my exercise. I also drank orange juice and later cranberry juice before going to bed. Now it's 2:00 am and I'm still awake. Apparently the neutralizing didn't work tonight. 

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Med struggle

I am still working to get my medication right. In April I went up to 50 mg per day of Vyvanse. It did help me get through my graduate exam. Not long after that, I noticed it seemed to be too much. As 40mg had been too little, I struggled with it.

By May, I realized it was definitely too much. My biggest side effect when I get too much Vyvanse is something I started calling the Vyvanse hangover. I would get a splitting headache the following morning. I noticed that when I missed a day, the headache would not be there the following morning. It got to the point where I was missing more days. Not really on purpose, but I didn't mind if I missed because I knew I wouldn't have a headache the following morning and could start again.

At the beginning of June I spoke with my doctor and he agreed that I should go back down to 40 mg. The headaches have gotten better, but I did get another after about a week. Yesterday I took a 30 mg Vyvanse I had left over from a previous prescription. I did seem to have a little trouble focusing that day but not as much as if I missed a dose and I did not have a headache this morning.

I was told there was a protocol in taking ADD meds to skip one day a week but that protocol is not recommended. I now understand why it was used. For me the Vyvanse seems to build up to a point where the morning-after headaches begin and I have trouble sleeping. Taking a day off or at least lowering the dosage for a day seems to help that. I'll talk to my doctor about that on my next appointment.

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Getting organized

Organization is the bane of those with ADD. I know that the key to overcoming the problems of ADD is to get organized but the catch-22 is that it is because I have ADD that I have problems with organization. Medication has helped. It stimulates my brain so that I am able to focus on the work of organization. The next question is how to get organized?


The self-improvement industry has a number of competing systems to help get people organized. One of the most popular right now is David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD). He uses a bottom up approach that involves collecting and a processing all information. Essentially, write everything down and makes lists of what you need to do.

This is different than older top down approaches like Stephen Covey's method (think Franklin-Covey planners) that begin with determining your values and goal and then setting priorities for the day that support those goals.

There are problems with each system. The GTD way can lead to improper prioritization. When you make lists of everything you want to do, everything has the same priority. The Covey way has its own weaknesses. For example, I may need to pay the electric bill, but that doesn't directly come from my goal of getting promoted at work.

Any system has to be personalized. There is no one-size-fits-all system for organization and I'm still trying to get a working system for myself. I'm using a Franklin-Covey planner and was able to convince my employer to send me to one of their seminars a couple of months ago. My work day doesn't really fit into their system that nicely though because my job duties don't have much that can be planned ahead. I supervise a contact center. My job function is to be available for whatever situations may come up that need to be elevated.

There are still goals to set and tasks to complete aside from my daily grind at work. I have been better at planning lately, although I still find myself changing between tasks too often. At least I've been able to come back to tasks I got interrupted doing and finsih them. That's been an definite improvement.

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Passed it

Today I passed my comprehensive exams and have completed all requirements for my Master's degree.

Next up, setting goals for a career change and getting some home improvements done.

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Still living

Not a whole lot has happened since my last post. I have increased the Vyvanse to 50mg/day. Still trying to figure out if that is the right dose or if I need to go back down. I'm not getting headaches on it, but I think I am being too serious. 

This week is big for me. Last Friday I had the first part of a comprehensive exam for my graduate degree. I have the second part of the exam on Tuesday. Getting past that is my big priority right now and the Vyvanse is helping me focus on that. After I get past this, I think I my try going back down to 40 mg and see what happens. 

In the meantime, I'm celebrating Easter today. 

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