Staying Asleep with AuDHD
I’m going to make this as succinct as possible, but some background information is required for you to get the full picture. I’m a late diagnosed AuDHD woman (33f) and can’t seem to sleep more than 4-6 hours a night. I’ve had this problem for years, but as I’m getting older the lack of consistent sleep is starting to get to me.
I’ve tried to do some research on the specific issue I’m having, but what I consistently find is people having trouble falling asleep, while my issue has always been staying asleep. I typically fall asleep between 9pm-11pm with no issues whatsoever. I work Monday-Friday, so my alarm is set for 5:20am on those days. Every single day of the week I am awake before this time for no reason at all, some days it’s as early as 3:20am, then I have to function at work for 8 hours and go about my day afterward until I can finally try to get some sleep again that night. Some days I can function perfectly fine with a small amount of sleep while others I do not and I hate the inconsistency of it, it makes my day too unpredictable with what I’m going to be able to handle. On days when I’m extra tired I do try to go to sleep earlier, but those nights I just end up waking up earlier, as if my body has a limit on the amount of sleep it allows me to get.
Some relevant background information on my sleep habits: I do take stimulant meds (Mydayis) for my ADHD, but that has no effect on my ability to fall asleep. I could still fall asleep at any point throughout the day if I really wanted to and this sleep issue has persisted since before I got prescribed stimulants. If anything, I fall asleep much easier once my meds wear off because I always have a crash that hits around 8pm-9pm so then I’m fighting to stay awake usually. I’ve tried melatonin before, I had horrible nightmares all night, so it didn’t help; I do take magnesium though because that’s supposed to help with sleep. I do have sleep apnea and sleep with my CPAP machine every night religiously. I don’t do screens right before bed, I usually lay in bed for an hour or two before I actually go to sleep so I can read and when I wake up I usually stay in bed reading for a bit before I get up for the day.
So my question is, does anyone have this same problem, not falling asleep but staying asleep? And if so, have you found anything that helps you at all? I’m open to all suggestions at this point. Thanks!