Insomnia from quitting vyvanse/adderall/dexedrine?

[duffman]

First time poster here. I quit my vyvanse/dexedrine combo a little over 2 months ago after being on it for 5 years (a dose of 140 mg vyvanse at one point, legally prescribed..somehow, though admittedly I would take the occasional extra, so that figure could very well be 210+mg somedays). I can't say I feel much better yet.. in fact, I feel as if my mind is stuck in a tar pit throughout most the day. I am however beginning to experience real emotions and human connection again, so that's always nice. I've experienced the usual/expected effects of quitting such as anhedonia, slowed mental processing, lowered sex drive, anxiety and fatigue, but there's something I did not expect that has ended up being the worst problem: insomnia. I cannot go to sleep at night. If I do fall asleep at night, I usually wake up at 3-4am. It's like my day and nighttime wake/sleep cycles are inverted.. I feel a lot more awake at night than I do the day time. I've pretty much exhausted all techniques on sleep hygiene, such as working out in the morning, not looking at a bright computer screen after 10, taking melatonin, keeping my room dark and cool etc. but nothing has helped. 

 

Has anyone else experienced this when they kicked their stimulant medications to the curb? If so, how long did it take till you were on a reasonably normal sleep schedule? I'm currently in grad school and if anything were to cause a relapse, it would be this daytime fatigue from getting 3-4 hours of sleep.

[PD5]

I’ve been experiencing this too. Takes me forever to fall asleep (3/4 am often), but I’ve woken up at 8am every day since I quite a month and a half ago and haven’t been able to fall back asleep. No help from any sleep aids. A big part of it for me is anxious thoughts seizing my mind as soon as I wake up. Hasn’t shown any sign of improving so far.

[sirod9]

Hi duffman (cool user name, btw). Good work on quitting such a high dose. Tomorrow marks 11 months off of 90-200 mgs of adderall for me. I have only experienced intermittent insomnia, and my last "bout" I began taking L-Theanine (200 mg) every night. I used to only take melatonin, but it seemed to make matters worse some nights. The L-Theanine actually works for me, and I don't take melatonin every night any longer. However, everyone is different. You MAY be a night owl, or your brain is used to staying up  at night. when I was using, I still went to sleep at night, and awoke in the a.m. (I'm naturally a morning lark :). anyways, it would not hurt to try L-Theanine, so I would give it a try with an open mind. 

Again, good job on your quit!