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September 8, 2008 5:25 AM

I need some sleep advice: I a 37 year old man and on this past Saturday night, I pulled an all-niter to finish a project (haven't stayed up all night for 7 years). I took a ~2hr nap Sunday afternoon, and then couldn't sleep all night. I also just upped my dosage of Vyvanse. There's also more detail inside. Please help me get back through today and back on track.

It is like I have given myself jet lag. Lately, I've been staying up too much anyway, sometimes until 3am and then getting up 4-5 hours later and going to work. This was going on for a couple of weeks, then last Thursday I felt awful, got the kid to the bus, and with a couple of 1.5 hour breaks, slept until the next morning.

Clearly, I need a better work/life balance, and I've already started making some clear and serious changes. However, I need some help in the short-term.

Right now, I'm just doing the kind of dumb things sleep-deprived people do, like forgetting what I was just thinking about, walking into rooms and completely forgetting why, getting out pen and paper to write a reminder and forgetting what it was. While writing this question, I even capitalized common nouns in the middle of sentences.

Around 1pm on Sunday, too tired to make lunch and suffering from sleep-deprived queasiness, , I decided to have some cereal and milk, which I actually referred to in that moment as "breakfast soup."

I went to bed around 9pm last night and slept OK until 11p. Then I was really restless, the kind of sleep where you feel like you aren't sleeping at all, but probably are, but not well. Around 3am, I just gave up and I've been up ever since (it's 8:15 am as I write this).

I also feel slightly chilled sometimes and slightly hot at others.

I've been on Celexa for almost a year, which I take at night and which makes me a little sleepy during the day. I go through periods where I awaken a few times a night. I've heard that this comes from getting older, so it may be that.

I've also, within the last week, gone from 40 mg of Vyvanse to 70. I've never had any side effects from either medication that I'm aware of, and I believe both have helped me a great deal. Also my caffeine intake is one of the big cans of Red Bull each morning, and that's it.

After writing all this, it does sound like I probably need to talk to my GP, however, I'm wondering what any of you would suggest I do for the rest of the day/evening. Right now, I feel tired, but surprisingly awake.

Thanks, as always.

posted by 4ster to health & fitness (8 comments total)

Tried melatonin? Works great for me, sometimes.
posted by Coventry at 5:50 AM on September 8, 2008

Thanks, Coventry.

I think I should update my question: I no longer feel surprisingly awake. I think it all just hit me.
posted by 4ster at 5:52 AM on September 8, 2008

Most likely your GP will first look at the recent increase in medication.

Until you talk to them: don't drive. Don't operate machinery, etc. On preview, I see that you do now feel tired, but in case you start feeling 'awake' again: you're not. You're probably operating at the same level you would if drunk. I recently saw a study where people who hadn't slept were rated as 'significantly impaired' in testing, but rated themselves as doing fine.
posted by jacalata at 5:57 AM on September 8, 2008

Did you see the hunger-clock reset research from Harvard this year? Worth a shot.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:02 AM on September 8, 2008 [2 favorites]

I spent a lot of last year sleep deprived after all-nighters, and I only really discovered one sure thing: drink lots and lots and lots of water before, during and after. It helps with the queasiness, the awakeness and the not-feeling-like-death. I found it better than caffeine for keeping me awake, although the sleep deprivation was still evident and I did have some stupid, near-scary injuries from working with a knife at the time.

Going to bed at 9pm is exactly the right thing to do - a bit early but mostly on a normal schedule. For the restless sleep, the best thing I've found is listening to something on my iPod, something soothing and relatively steady in tone, like an audiobook or This American Life. I have had success with melatonin and other times it's made me feel like I've been hit with a mallet, if I have to get up before I actually wake.

Sometimes just grabbing sleep when you're on a downward curve is better than nothing, though. If you can go to bed, go to bed - feel human first and figure out getting back on schedule next.
posted by carbide at 6:02 AM on September 8, 2008

Oh yeah, I had a friend get pretty messed up in a sleep-deprivation related car accident. Don't do that; no sleep is mind altering.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:03 AM on September 8, 2008

Insomnia is a common side effect of Vyvanse
posted by watercarrier at 6:05 AM on September 8, 2008

Insomnia is a common side effect of Vyvanse

Yes, of course it is, because Vyvanse is basically a special extended release amphetamine. Nearly doubling the dose might be expected to reduce sleepiness and sleep hours.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:57 AM on September 8, 2008