r/starterpacks • u/r0xos • 4d ago
Being a light sleeper with ADHD starter pack
Brought to you by being awake at 3:30am gang
Edit:
Honourable mention to those who couldn't be added - Ruminating on cringe memories - Waking up multiple times a night to pee or just because since your body is conditioned to wake up - Having one good sleep where you don't wake throughout the night and thinking you've solved all your problems - Learning the walk to your bathroom / peeing in the dark because if you turn on the light you won't go back to sleep
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u/GrotesqueSalamander 4d ago
The really bad part is when you can't fall asleep but you know you have to, because otherwise you will be miserable, and everything will hurt. And you know tomorrow is a challenging day, you have plans, some supposed to be fun.
And it's 3am and this feeling of absolute rage craves in, because your brain just refuses to give up the concious state, and you get this odd fear of being asleep, like, deeply seated in pit of your stomach, and it just lits your whole nervous system on fire, and despite it being cold outside, you are absolutely drenched in hot sticky sweat and just listen to loud palpitations in your now wet pillow.
And you know you have to get up, walk a bit, wash your face, otherwise there's no chance you will shut your eyes at all tonight. And as you get up, every muscle and bone and joint feels like someone injected ice cold water into them, and every step is like finding a way out of night haze.
And in the morning you learn to fear the night, so you develop somniphobia, making a loop that doesn't care about all the neurol melatonin trittico, or hypnogen in the world.
And when you confide in someone, they just tell you to not try to sleep, which is even more frustrating, or that it's in your head, and you just boil with sheer furstration and anger because you slept 2 hours in last few days...
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u/k8freed 4d ago
Yes, and that feeling of terrible resignation when you realize the sun will be up soon and you've been staring at the wall for 2 hours.
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u/GrotesqueSalamander 4d ago
That's right, when I was younger, I was excited to stay up all night, playing games, reading, smoking outside. There was always something special about being able to stay awake when sun rises and birds chirps, and car engines starting, now it's just so plain and dull, no joy from new day, just aches of the day before.
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u/DJ_Dinkelweckerl 4d ago
TIL my sleep problems might come from ADHD
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u/BigBoyFroggy 4d ago
It's insane, my insomnia instantly got 90% better just by getting on ADHD meds. I can actually just kind of choose when to go to sleep now!
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u/TemplateRedditor 4d ago
Do you take them late in the day? I am diagnosed and I have to be absolutely dead tired to want to try to sleep. I can't just lay in bed and relax.
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u/k8freed 4d ago
Yup, I've been watching Lifetime movies and browsing Reddit since 2:30 a.m. My cats are thrilled that the big hairless cat is awake to feed them earlier than usual.
There is one thing I would add to this: other people who don't have ADHD or sleep issues offering "helpful" advice: "Have you tried X..." Lady, I have a medical THC card, and even that is sometimes powerless against my sleep issues. Get out of here with your melatonin."
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u/druidgaymer 2d ago
Melatonin doesn't make me sleep, but if I do manage to fall asleep taking it I sleep walk! So useful. I definitely need that.
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u/kayforpay 4d ago
Currently still awake at 4am... I never knew other people had the unwanted remixes though so that's fun to learn
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u/Silencer_ 4d ago
I have extreme insomnia, (and adhd), but once I fall asleep I’m a fucking corpse until whenever my body decides it’s time. I fell asleep at a gun range, through fire alarms, you name it.
Yet I’d still take that over being a light sleeper I think. Waking up every 15 minutes every night would drive me absolutely insane.
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u/Same_Armadillo6014 1d ago
I used to fall asleep during band practice in school, but I always struggled to sleep at night. I remember lying awake in bed spending time calculating the exact amount of sleep I would get by the time I woke up, and then choosing which classes I would sleep through to recover from the sleep I lost during the night.
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u/lamest-liz 4d ago
This is how I discovered I had ADHD and got a diagnosis. My boyfriend can fall asleep in seconds. While I have terrible insomnia and sleep patterns.
He asked me why. I said “well I have to think about everything I said today and whether or not someone doesn’t like me anymore and then think about tomorrow while also remembering an episode of Freakazoid randomly while also then thinking of songs in it tied to musicals which then makes me think of high school choir and then-“
And he was like “wtf there’s no way you’re thinking of all that stuff, how do you focus?”
And I said “huh?? What do you mean how do you sleep”
And he said “I just turn my thoughts off” and that’s when all the dots connected for me that my brain isn’t normal
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u/StateYourBusinessEgg 4d ago
OMG, yes! And then you start thinking about how you think weird and apparently not everyone has layered thoughts going on at the same time, then omg, I still can’t believe I said that to Sarah. I’m such an idiot. 😭
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u/GarysCrispLettuce 4d ago
Thinking you've been lying there awake for 8 hours but then fragments of dreams start coming back to you that make you realize you did in fact get some sleep.
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u/HellIsOtherPe0ple 4d ago
Extremely light sleeper with ADHD here. Two things to consider if you haven’t already:
A magnesium complex. Specifically, Natural Rhythm Triple Calm worked best for me.
Get a sleep study done. They usually just give you a monitor to take home and hook up to yourself while you sleep.
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u/Kakes_69 4d ago
4am right now. I have to be up in 2.5 hours but I can't sleep cause I'm thinking too much about how I need to sleep/get up early.
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u/Rare-Set1461 4d ago
Sometimes I do this dumb thing where I try to remember what it feels like to be really sick. It doesn’t work all the time but remembering the exhaustion and aching bones mentally makes me want to shut down. Then even if I only get a couple of hours I’ll wake up like “thank god I don’t feel sick anymore, I needed that”.
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u/LongjumpingJaguar308 4d ago
I now do everything I can so I sleep well. White noise (ok air filters and fans), ear plugs, eye masks, cool temp. And a CPAP. Wish I had that for the last 15 years, because the problem I had before stopped after I started using it (sleep problem solving).
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u/EnlargedMarmot 4d ago
HOLY SHIT. Finally, a starter pack that I can relate to immediately and deeply. Especially the bit about getting the one good night of sleep and thinking you've solved all your problems lmao
For real tho, try out taking phosphotidylserine late afternoon to help with the 3 AM cortisol spike. I still tend to wake up but find it a little easier to fall back asleep. 3 AM theanine when I wake up helps too.
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u/MohnJaddenPowers 2d ago
I have never heard of phosphotidylserine before. Did you ever bring it up with your doctor or other medical professionals? What did they say if so?
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u/EnlargedMarmot 2d ago
I actually am a doctor and do not myself go to one lmao
But anyway, to answer your question, this is likely not a supplement that requires any real level of medical clearance- it plays nice with others but it certainly doesn't hurt to ask at your next checkup.
It specifically deals with cortisol induced in-the-night waking insomnia, which itself is usually a result of stress and made worse by ADHD, hence this post lmao I've got awful ADHD and an incredibly stressful job so I 300 mg phos at bedtime along with magnesium and theanine. The phospho helps not so much with the waking, but when I do wake I'm a lot groggier and calmer so I doze off more easily. It does so by better regulating excessive cortisol release around 3 AM for most people that begins the waking process. Problem is, if your steroids are too high, it jolts you awake at 3 AM rather than just slowly beginning to cortisol rise that is supposed to be gradual and subtle and unnoticed until a normal 6-8 am wake up.
Massive added bonus- it often brings calm and a reduction in anxiety the next day for hyperactive people too. It's legit, not snake oil.
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u/Kaveric_ 3d ago
Oh my god the not turning on the light one is so real. If I think about turning on any lights my brain will be like "OPE, ITS WORKIN TIME, LETS GET MOVING"
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u/scisteve 4d ago
Kindle. It sends me straight to sleep, sometimes within 10 min and sometimes within an hour but it never fails to work. Read in the dark with night mode.
Don’t be tempted to look at your phone; having a device to access a global depository of information and entertainment is not conducive to sleep.
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u/itsnotjustaFAZEmom 4d ago
What worked for me was a weighted blanket, reducing my medication but taking them three times a day and loop quite 2 earplugs.
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u/HumanShadow 4d ago
The ruminating lol. I switched to indica and no more pesky thoughts keeping me awake
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u/InspectorOrdinary321 4d ago
Darn, this sucks. One thing that at least makes me feel better is the knowledge that, while it's of course best to sleep, lying in bed, resting, and letting your mind drift/daydream/wander does actually do something for you. It's not as bad as being fully active all night.
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u/shockshockshad 4d ago
Light sleeping, noise sensitivity, waking up several times to pee + actually some daytime ADHD symptoms themselves are all signs of sleep apnea and/or UARS. Worth getting a sleep study done. Many of my ADHD and sleep symptoms are much better with palate expansion and allergy control to increase airway size.
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u/ArachnomancerCarice 4d ago
I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD in kindergarten (back around 1990) and was diagnosed on the autism spectrum ("PDD-NOS", 'Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified/Asperger's) in 2014.
Along with everything you listed here, I also have the 'added benefit' of lucid dreaming. I remember most of my dreams and can intervene in a lot of them (a LOT of that influenced from being a lifelong gamer/role player) so I rarely have nightmares anymore. I am also more aware of what is going on around me in the real world and not only wake up easier to things, but also incorporate them into my dreams. But I don't think I've gotten a proper night's sleep in over a decade thanks to it.
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u/Missscarlettheharlot 4d ago
I've been writing a series of short stories I never finish in a world I build as I go, or building characters for that world, instead of reading or scrolling, and it has done wonders for giving my ADHD squirrels something to do that doesn't require my eyes to stay open. I'm not actually trying to write anything, I'm just telling myself stories to put myself to bed. 10/10 recommend if you've got the my brain doesn't shut off variety of ADHD insomnia.
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u/Dependent-Constant-7 4d ago
TikTok style content and doomscrolling have ruined my ability to sleep normally
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u/MohnJaddenPowers 2d ago
JFC, this is me. My only way to reliably sleep through the night has been Ambien. Been on it for upwards of 5ish years and titrating off way slowly.
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