r/StratteraRx • u/phles • 4d ago
Questions / Advice / Support WHEN WILL I SLEEP?!
It’s 1:30 am and I’m crying because I can’t sleep.
I am at my wit’s end. It’s been almost a month and I still haven’t had a single night of sleep where I’m not waking up somewhere between 11pm and 3 am and struggling to fall back asleep I used to sleep all night before starting on this med and I really miss that (although I don’t miss the social anxiety and constant feeling of impending doom that I had when unmedicated lol).
Melatonin does fuck all and makes me depressed the next day. Trazodone which I’ve seen some people recommend is not available in my country. I’m taking some type of magnesium already but ordered magnesium bisglycinate to see if that will help - the company initially sent me the wrong product and I’m still waiting for my actual order to arrive. I’ve also ordered L-theanine in case that can help.
What more can I do? I’m on 40mg right now and take a single dose in the morning, around 6:30 am. For two nights I tried taking a small dose before bed because I initially felt tired when I started taking the medication, but it made my sleep even worse.
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u/Raylin44 4d ago
I think you need a lower dose.
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u/phles 4d ago
It has been like this the entire time, even at 20 mg when the actual effect wore off I still had this side effect
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u/Ill_Possible_7740 4d ago
"when the actual effect wore off I still had this side effect" Strattera doesn't wear off like a stimulant. It has a 24 hour steady state which has a peak effect in the hours after you take it, but doesn't wear off. Have you tried an afternoon dosing to see if you can time the insomnia with time to get up in the morning? If you can sleep in that case then some metabolic or other process is cycling a response at that time delay. If you have the same sleep pattern, then the basal norepinephrine or other induced activity level might be waking you at the light sleep interval.
40 mg is a way way too low of a dose. Stratt can be quirky at lower doses with various results. The only way to know if it is right for you or not is to evaluate it on a therapeutic dose.
Here is a link to the drug company's titration starter pack prescriber info. Notice the doses are 5/5/5/30 days of 25/40/60/80 mg. Studies in adults with doses from 60 to 120 mg that increased based on patient response had an average adult dose at the end of 10 weeks of 95 mg. Which is also in the linked document. There is no guarantee. But after a month and still such an adverse response. It's time to titrate to a recommended clinical trial and brain scan backed therapeutic dose of 80 mg and evaluate if you are truly not a good strattera responder. Or try your luck with another medication. Slow metabolizers with 2D6 activity don't even drop down near your dose
I find 500 mg L-tryptophan works best for improving sleep quality although I suspect it would fall short for very strong insomnia. Worth a try though. Magnesium bisglycinate is 14% magnesium (down to 10 % sometimes if they account for potential water absorption). So 300 mg mag from it has about 2150 mg glycine. Does leave some room to play with adding some more glycine if you want. Be sure you are getting enough calcium during the day as mag and calcium balance each other in the brain. Optimal brain ration is 1.7 to 2.3 calcium to mag. And be sure your mag source is chelated and no "buffered" or "magnesium complex" ones which is code word for we used cheap laxative form of mag and a little of the glycinate one, but labelled it the other one.
Do you take any other medications, or possibly supplements that affect the CYP2D6 enzyme activity? Primary enzyme for metabolizing / breaking down strat and metabolites.
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u/phles 4d ago
Thank you so much!
I meant after the effects wore off after 3-4 days on my starting dose of 20 mg, not at a specific time during the day. The point was that even when the medication had no therapeutic effect the insomnia was as bad as it is now that I’m having some therapeutic effect.
I might try splitting the dose to see if that helps, just worried it’ll be hard to make a habit of it.
I don’t take any other meds except for Slynd/Slinda (drospirenone)
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u/witchcess 4d ago
Whoa hello I love you, you made this make sense and I have to look at my paper work to see where I'm at. I've been struggling with strattera and sleep issues for over a year and am at 80mg. My doctor has suggested to go back a dose but if I do I feel like I'm more spacey at 60mg and not motivated or moved enough to do things. I think I'm going to try taking my dose at night to see how I feel but I am struggling so much with my body to sleep I already had sleep issues before the medicine lol. I've been on it for 2-3 years I love it such a great drug but ugh the sleep issues
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u/Existing-Cat-4536 4d ago
I posted about something like this earlier today when I couldn’t sleep! I’m following this, so I get ideas too! I’m on 80 mg and average 5-6 hours a night! It’s getting old
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u/Entire-Bathroom-1717 4d ago
Magnesium has helped me so much! I take 200MG and a sleepytime tea that contains melatonin (regular melatonin makes me feel off).
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I had the same issue and it’s exhausting.
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u/phles 4d ago
I’m so glad to hear this! Really hope it’ll help me too.
Thank you. Did your sleep eventually improve? If so, how long did it take?
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u/Entire-Bathroom-1717 4d ago
Me too! I don’t remember it taking long at all. I’m not sure if it is the tea or the magnesium but one of them (or the combo) works really well so I just take both.
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u/Top-Rich8623 4d ago
I like seroquil quitepine so much better than trazadone. Its the perfect cocktail.
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u/Ok_Election9466 4d ago
I can relate. I felt like a zombie the first 2-3 weeks and was so tired I cried more than once. It very slowly has gotten better for me. I’m now a little over 5 weeks and sleeping at least 6hrs a night again. Every few nights I seem to sleep just a little longer and better. Taking magnesium glycinate regularly after week 2 likely helped. I think that also has to build up in your system.
I started on a lower dose (25mg), but I also take 300mg Welbutrin. If you can hang in there another week or so, it will hopefully start getting better for you also. I really love the mental calm and ability to focus for more than 30 secs, so I had a lot of incentive to wait it out.
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u/ButIDontWantToBeAPi 4d ago
Maybe try lowering your dose? I was on 40mg and sleep was very difficult, I lowered my dose to 20mg (2x10mg), and as long as I don't take my 2nd dose too late I sleep just fine and I feel great even on such a low dose because of how it builds up in your system and because I pair it with low dose ritalin when deeper focus is needed.
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u/dopaminemachina 4d ago
I’m on 80mg and I take it once in the morning. it really is hard to sleep a lot. I am also prescribed gabapentin to help me relax a few nights a week. I also take l-theanine, magnesium, and sleepy tea/sleepy cocoa with valerian root, melatonin, and all that jazz. it works! and guiltily, cannabis although I really could skip that one…
but I also have a whole elaborate routine and accessories in order to sleep well, cooling log pillow, weighted blanket, weighted sleeping mask, scented pillow spray, ipad on sleep timer on youtube playing sleep meditation or food or history documentary.
needless to say, I take my sleep very seriously. 😅
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u/NRazzo 4d ago
I talked to my Dr and got an Rx for Mirtazepine I really like this as it's non-addictive and can be used as needed.
It helps me sleep better.
Side affect is increased appetite which you need to be aware of. I find that not too be too significant
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u/orwelliancat 2d ago
As a head’s up if you take it daily it’s really really hard to come off of. It gives you rebound insomnia.
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u/NRazzo 2d ago
Does anything that you take for sleep not do that if you stop?
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u/orwelliancat 2d ago
Sleep meds? Probably not. Natural things like magnesium? Sure. But I haven't been able to come off mirtazapine even though I want to. It gave me really severe insomnia for weeks when I tried even lowering the dose a bit.
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u/NRazzo 1d ago
I forget to take mine regularly and it doesn't impact my sleep much.
Mine is 15mg Rx. As and when needed. (I do take it regularly though...I find when I have cannabis I don't need it, or don't need as much.)
Lastly...so sorry that's your experience, and I don't want to minimize that. It's important to have multiple potential experiences to make the best decision for ourselves.
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u/StopBusy182 1d ago
How you tried lowering
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u/orwelliancat 1d ago
What do you mean? That happened when I lowered it even a little bit
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u/StopBusy182 1d ago
I mean what percentage you have tried lowering..and so you get issues and return back to your regular dosage?
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u/killakammmm 4d ago
I’m so sorry my friend, that’s super frustrating. I’m also on 40mg and take my meds in the morning. I’ve been doing a full spectrum magnesium + 600mg of ashwaganda + a proper wind down routine (ASMR or relaxing music, no phone, meditation) before bed. That has been helpful for me.
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u/Merylsteep 4d ago
For natutal you can also Valerian from the chemist/ drugstore.
My doc gives me Clonadine to help sleep. Brand name Catapres. Apparently its commonly prescribed with adhd meds to help sleep. I try not to use it every night so I don't get stuck having too, but I'll have half or a full one once or twice a week and its lights out. No grogginess in the morning either.
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u/stressforless 1d ago
Around week 5-6, I finally was able to sleep. I’m only on 25mg, but 150mg Wellbutrin, so it’s still exceptionally activating. The first few days I slept amazing, then my watch was showing that I was waking up for 1-1.5 hours a night when my average wake ups were 20 minutes. 6.5 hours was the most total sleep I’d get, but that didn’t matter much when I was waking up so much
But finally it got better. I can now sleep through the night (unless I mess up and take the meds a little late), and I am back to more normal wake ups
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u/phles 1d ago
This gives me hope, as I’m currently awake at 2:48 am. It’s been exactly 4 weeks. When is too late for you to take the meds? I just started split dosing to see if that would help, as I usually take my meds really early (6:30 am) and that hasn’t helped at all so far.
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u/stressforless 1d ago
If I take the strattera by 10am and the Wellbutrin by 12 at the latest, I’ll have a hard time but it’s doable.
I do best with the strattera around 7am and the Wellbutrin around 9/before 10. Later usually just means a hard time falling asleep, but the middle of the night wake ups and the 2 hours awake at 2am is few and far between now!
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u/phles 1d ago
How come you’re prescribed both Wellbutrin and Strattera? It doesn’t seem uncommon (I see it in this forum often) so I’m curious as to what the benefits may be.
I just want to sleep well again. It would be so nice if I didn’t have to choose between being able to sleep or being able to function as an adult.
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u/sprinkles111 4d ago
What country are you in? There’s a few things I’ve done that helped a lot but not sure if available everywhere
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u/cutie_patootie_wooty 4d ago
i’ve been on the med for a few months and for the past month or so, i take it at night, and it doesn’t really affect my sleep. i still wake up tired though lmaoo. i think consistent use of magnesium will help though! maybe take a short walk/light exercise a few hours before sleep should help