Adderall and sleep problems?

My daughter, age 8, has always had sleep problems even before the Adderall. She takes 1 mg. melatonin each day. We give it about 1 hour before bedtime and she goes right to sleep. It seems to have no side affects and she is rested for the next day. When do you give the effexor? I take it and I am sleepy about 6 hours after I take it. Maybe you could give it in the afternoon and help him sleep. Hope you get it worked out. Pam

Thanks Pam, my son gets his Effexor in the morning along with the Adderall. I called his doc today and, apparently, this is a common side effect which is supposed to go away. Thanks for the good wishes…

I am reassured that someone else is seeing a connection between sleep problems and Adderall. My 9-year old son in on 10mg Adderall and the biggest side-effect has been sleep problems. His doctor tells us that the medication should be completely out of our son’s system by bedtime and thinks there must be some other cause of his insomnia. We are due to try cutting back to 5mg but are a bit relunctant to do so since his teacher this year is not as cooperative about monitoring his performance as his teacher last year. In addition, the Adderall has made such a tremendous difference in his academic performance.Another person responding to your message mentioned using Melatonin. My husband is generally opposed to any medication (trying Adderall for our son was a last ditch effort) and regards Melatonin as potentially habit forming.I’d be interested in any other discussion about Adderall and sleep problems, if you’d be kind enough to post future messages about your progress in addressing this problem. Thanks.

PASSWORD>aaI221mi7wL3IMy 15 year old son is on 10mg of Adderall. He doesn’t have sleep problems or appetite problems. However, he only takes one a day and at 6:00am. When he gets home by 3:00pm, he is ravenous. He goes to bed around 8:30 to 9:00 pm. He is also Add-inattentive and adderall has made a tremendous improvement on his ability to pay attention, buckling down and concentrating. I hope in time that you will be able to find a suitable dosage for your son so that he won’t have trouble with sleeping.

Just wanted to let you know that I checked with our doc (pediatric neurologist) who said that the maximum stimulant effect, as far as helping ADHD, of the 10 mg. of Adderall has worn off in eight hours, but is not completely out of the system for about twelve hours. He compared it to the caffeine jolt you get from a cup of coffee after dinner which can keep you from sleeping several hours later when you go to bed. He also said that this should ease off after a couple of weeks on the meds, even if we don’t use it on weekends. Hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail [email protected].

I have a 9 year old night owl on Adderall (20 mg. AM and 15 mg. afternoon) every day, weekends and holidays. About two years ago I found a vitamin supplement Twinlabs GABA Plus, which is GABA (an amino acid) and two B vitamins, inositol and niacinaminde. It relaxes him enough to sleep. GABA alone puts me right out, so if you can’t find that specific product GABA alone might be enough. I give him 2 capsules about 2 hours before bed. You can get this at any health food store. To my knowledge (and I have checked with my doctor), there is nothing habit forming or harmful in this vitamin supplement but it might be worth checking with your doctor too.Good luck to you and your son.: I am reassured that someone else is seeing a connection between sleep
: problems and Adderall. My 9-year old son in on 10mg Adderall and
: the biggest side-effect has been sleep problems. His doctor tells
: us that the medication should be completely out of our son’s
: system by bedtime and thinks there must be some other cause of his
: insomnia. We are due to try cutting back to 5mg but are a bit
: relunctant to do so since his teacher this year is not as
: cooperative about monitoring his performance as his teacher last
: year. In addition, the Adderall has made such a tremendous
: difference in his academic performance.: Another person responding to your message mentioned using Melatonin.
: My husband is generally opposed to any medication (trying Adderall
: for our son was a last ditch effort) and regards Melatonin as
: potentially habit forming.: I’d be interested in any other discussion about Adderall and sleep
: problems, if you’d be kind enough to post future messages about
: your progress in addressing this problem. Thanks.

Just wanted to thank Acrowell, Julie, and Pattim for your information and advice. My husband and I are due to meet with our son’s pediatrician and your kind messages will really help us.We’ve cut back on the Adderall dosage (from 10mg to 5mg) for our 3rd grader this week. On the home front, the switch seems to have improved his sleeping and eating (although the trouble he had falling to sleep was the major problem). He also seems more cheerful at 3pm than before. We’ll be meeting w/ his teacher next week and are hoping that the decrease in the dosage hasn’t had any negative effects on his school work. If it has, we’ll probably go back up to 10mg and try the vitamin supplement approach for his sleeping problems.Thanks again.

PASSWORD>aaI221mi7wL3IWe know how hard it is raising kids with ADD. I tutor many kids with ADD and it can be really draining for me but my being ADD myself I can relate to how they think and what they feel. Many times I come close to losing my patience but I have to realize that tomorrow will be another day.

Hi!~ I read your message - my son is 8 and on 20 mg of Adderall a day. 10 mg per dose. Morning and Noonish. The adderall does not affect his sleep. And he eats better on this one than on Ritilan.But…I can tell you that from personal experience that the Adderall affected my sleep. Took two 10 mgs in the morning and two 10mgs about 5 hours later. I wanted to see what my son was experienceing on this medication. Could not SLEEP for anything that night! But, I cleaned my house from top to bottom :)Effexor messed up my own sleeping. Also if you skip a dose of it you will have Flu-like symptoms. Withdrawel like symptons. Did not like it all! I had several suicide bouts when traveling without this med! I would NEVER put my child on it. Zoloft or Welbutrin would be my suggestion for an anti depressant along with the AdderalGood Luck - Tyree

My 12 year old son was diagnosed with ADD in the second grade and began to take ritilin which really helped his ability to concentrate, be more responsive to others and have less emotional outbursts. He took 10mg. 3 times a day.In the fifth grade he began to develop a tick moving his jaw in a sort of involantary biting motion. The Docter said it was the ritilin and we tried dexadrine which was worse. We switched to adderall; one 10mg in the morning before school and then a 5mg when he gat home from school so he could concentrate on his homework. His appetite has dropped to scarry levels, he has sleeping problems and the jaw biting tick is returning.We tried dropping the medication alltogether to aliviate the sleep and appetite problems and he has come to us with tears that he can’t concentrate or get things done so I guess we have to return to adderall.Has anyone tried 2.5mg doses with any success? The only medication we have’t tried is Concerta. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. We are desparate as this poor kid is suffering.