Re: Sleep disorders and ADD

[Anonymous]

I’m still in the assessment phase for ADHD (#2 down, next meeting is the feedback meeting) but yesterday my ADHD specialist talked a little bit about narcolepsy (sleep disorder) and ADD. He says they can both co-exist and that he would treat the ADHD first and then deal with any residual problems from narcolepsy (if that’s what I was diagnosed with) or vice versa. Same with any other co-morbidity, I think, treat the main condition and then deal with residuals.

I had a sleep study back in 1992 but it was inconclusive and the doctor said there was no sign of narcolepsy. However my mother was diagnosed with it late in life and there is a genetic component so that’s why I got tested. The ADHD specialist suggested I might need another sleep study.

After the 2nd of two pretty sleepless nights in the last 5 days, I am desperate, so I’m calling my doc this morning to see what can be done for me. I’m pretty frustrated waiting for the outcome of the assessment process, but I can’t deal with this lack of sleep any longer.

I wake up 20 minutes to 2 hours after going to bed at night and then every hour or two hours I wake up again. I fall asleep during the daytime, not every day, but I usually feel like I’m dragging myself through the day and keeping busy keeps me from falling asleep. I can fall asleep watching a movie at home, reading a book, sitting at the computer. But when I go to bed to lay down, I can’t fall asleep. I make lots of notes of things to do, so it’s not as if they are following me to bed, I am not sure what the bleep is going on.

I’m tempted to try our portable DVD player with a very boring movie. I used to fall asleep late at night to tv movies and white noise as a teenager, but I don’t have the delayed onset disorder as far as I know.

REPORT ABUSE