Side effects - Tricks to get to sleep

[HorseBucket]

Swim doesn't like taking Ritalin in the morning cuz it makes him drowsy for a few hours and doesn't wanna deal with the unholy crash while hes out and about. Instead he takes it 2-3 hours before he goes to bed and like this he avoids the crash and it leaves him with beneficial after effects the next day which is all he needs.

At first swim had no trouble sleeping but nowadays he does have a bit of trouble. He finds when the Ritalin is in full effect he can fall asleep easy but if he wakes when the effects are wearing off he can't get to sleep the rest ofthe night.

Can anyone share some good tricks to getting to sleep? Melotonin works sometimes but it takes a long time usually about 2 hours. He bought some bullshit in the pharmacy called rescue remedy which doesn't work at all. Alcohol seems to work like a charm the only problem is if he drinks a few bottles of beer to get to sleep he'll wake up needing to take a piss a few hours later. Thats all swims tried so far

[doggy_hat]

Wow, SWIY gets a crash from theraputic doses? SWIM takes concerta and there is no crash at all, the come down is so gentle that he barely notices it. Concerta is time released but even with Instant Release, having a bad crash from theraputic doses shouldn't be normal.

Maybe SWIM could ask for a lower dose that isn't strong enough to cause drowsiness or a crash? Or ask to get switched over to concerta, as it'd last long enough to stay in SWIY's system during an entire night of sleep.

[HorseBucket]

Well swim isn't really a therapeutic dose kind of man. He doesn't space his daily dose out as recommended he does it all at once and more often than not he goes a little above his recommended dosage. He also got into the habit of snorting the stuff and he discovered that that seems to play a big part in this crash because when he takes it orally he does not feel any initial euphoria but at the same time he doesn't get the crash that follows that euphoria.

It isn't normal that swim gets this crash though because no recreational drugs give swim anything that can be considered a crash at all its only Ritalin that does it to him. Its a petty doctors are reluctant to prescribe Adderall in swims country because that would probably be 10 times better. Swims done meth before and it makes him feel good, optimistic, clear minded and the meth crash for him is barely noticible (well given he didn't abuse it too much). Extreme insomnia though thats one of the downsides of meth.

BTW Swim wouldn't need to ask for a lower dose he could just start taking lower doses and save his Ritalin for a rainy day. Maybe swim will start doing that and see how he fares out.

[Rottenfruit]

According to swimmy mixing valium or other benzos and imovane can do the trick to sleep. Swimmy said that difenhydramin (sea sickness) makes him sleepy.....

[doggy_hat]

Originally Posted by HorseBucket

Well swim isn't really a therapeutic dose kind of man. He doesn't space his daily dose out as recommended he does it all at once and more often than not he goes a little above his recommended dosage. He also got into the habit of snorting the stuff and he discovered that that seems to play a big part in this crash because when he takes it orally he does not feel any initial euphoria but at the same time he doesn't get the crash that follows that euphoria.

It isn't normal that swim gets this crash though because no recreational drugs give swim anything that can be considered a crash at all its only Ritalin that does it to him. Its a petty doctors are reluctant to prescribe Adderall in swims country because that would probably be 10 times better. Swims done meth before and it makes him feel good, optimistic, clear minded and the meth crash for him is barely noticible (well given he didn't abuse it too much). Extreme insomnia though thats one of the downsides of meth.

BTW Swim wouldn't need to ask for a lower dose he could just start taking lower doses and save his Ritalin for a rainy day. Maybe swim will start doing that and see how he fares out.

Oh, sorry, I thought that SWIY had ritalin for increased productivity and not recreation because SWIY said that he wanted the beneficial after effects.

With snorting/eating multiple ritalins at once, a crash is inevitable. All things that go up must come down. SWIM usually just deals with crashes when he has them. He thinks of it as a price to pay for the high. Crashing should be taken as a sign that SWIY is doing something harmful and should ease up, but that's SWIY's choice. SWIM has heard that benzos are great for dealing with crashes from any stimulant. Although SWIM has found that saving a little bit to be taken orally when the drugs are wearing off works well, as it slows down the process of sobering up and isn't a sudden crash.

If SWIM were you he'd probably try just taking one Ritalin each night, and just save up the rest for the weekends. Or maybe just keep an extra Ritalin for when SWIY makes up in the middle of the night. Although I don't know how good it is to always sleep on ritalin. SWIM doesn't get drowsy with Concerta, but when he was on Vyvanse he could sleep on it easily, but the sleep was never very high quality.

[HorseBucket]

Yeah Ritalin does bizarre things like other drugs when you go to sleep on them. Last night swim had one of those weird experiences were he was fully conscious of himself drifting off to sleep but he keeps getting stuck in transition and its so uncomfortable in that transition state (since he always feels things jabbing into his back for some strange reason) he has to pull himself out of it which isn't easy cuz he's paralyzed at that point. Its a vicious circle cuz when he finally starts drifting off to sleep he forgets whats going on and pulls himself outta sleep then wakes up and realizes he's been trying to get to sleep for hours so drifts back off to sleep and the exact same thing happens again. This happens to swim when he goes to sleep on opiates too.

Anyone else here know what swims talking about? That weird shit that happens when you start drifting off to sleep but your fully conscious of it then you feel things jabbing into your back which is real uncomfortable? Sometimes swim toughs it out and he drifts into a lucid dream but fuckin hell its uncomfortable when theres things getting jabbed into your back. Something insane that swim noticed last night is once he went into that sleep transition state he could hear the news. He could hear this woman broadcaster and it sounded just like the news he found it real interesting so just lay there and listened and he was dead set on waking up and writing what he heard down but the second he woke himself up he realized nothing that the broadcaster was saying made any sense whatsoever although it seemed like it did at the time.

[doggy_hat]

I think SWIM can relate. When he's slept on stimulant, he finds that it feels like sleeping when he is sleeping while he has a high fever, but in a very pleasant way. He'll drift between dreams and wakefullness, never quite sure which one he is in. all the while he feel very fuzzy and as if he's spinning(like he does when he's sick and has a fever). SWIM feels no jabbing in his back, although he can still feel his permanent back pain.

SWIM hates lucid dreams though. Whenever he realizes he's in a dream, he all of a sudden can feel his real body, and for a moment he'll know that he's in a bed but his vision will still be that of the dream, and then all of a sudden the dream snaps and his body jolts and his in the real world.

SWIM's heard the voices in the transition state too. That's probably normal though, SWIY's head is most likely just starting to dream before SWIY completely falls asleep.

Hmm, the thread seems to have gone a bit off topic.

[decay66]

New to forums!!

I would imagine if someone was up for awhile after heavy ritalin usage and didn't want to deal with the come-down, or needed to get to sleep, he could try other drugs for that. But sometimes that's not possible.
I know of someone who went to a GNC store (all natural pills and stuff) He bought some over the counter "Melotonin". This is a chemical that your body releases naturally that makes you tired. (this may not be medically or scientifically 100% accurate but thats basically the case)

This Melotonin is great. Like I said its all natural and its just like taking a prescribed sleeping pill such as Ambien, but its over the counter at your local drug store. Its only like 20 bucks a bottle, and theres no age discrimination. Its like most sleeping pills though, where it takes about 1/2 hour to hour to kick in, and if you don't get 7 to 8 hours of sleep on it you may be a little drowsy in the morning for an hour 2, but its great for those that don't have loads of prescriptions to fall back on after a long day or night or don't like smoking to calm down.
If you have any pain killers, like vicodin you could combine the 2 for a little easier of a time. Maybe even a beer or 2 if you have that available.

All in all it seemed like someone could just pop a Melotonin and a couple of vicodin when he/she was ready to chill and end the day, and that would bypass having to deal with any unwanted effects from a long day or evening and couldn't sleep.

decay66 added 3 Minutes and 50 Seconds later...

sorry..... I just re-read your whole post and saw that you have already tried the melotonin.. disregard the post, unless another reader finds it informative

[Laszlo1]

Swim finds that even if one can't sleep, lying down for a few hours really does wonders. Just close swiys eyes (if swiy can... swim sometimes finds himself unable to), and rest swiys head on a pillow. Give it maybe 2 or 3 hours, and swiy should actually feel considerably rested. Swim 'discovered' this while he was crashing after maybe 40 hours of substantial use, and he literally felt RETARDED... he couldn't follow the plotline of a family guy episode, and he just decided, eff this, I'm going to pretend to sleep.... lo and behold, sometimes ideas produced in semi retarded delirium turn out to be nuggets that swimmers keep with them into sobriety.

[mykeamine]

Originally Posted by Laszlo1

Swim finds that even if one can't sleep, lying down for a few hours really does wonders. Just close swiys eyes (if swiy can... swim sometimes finds himself unable to), and rest swiys head on a pillow. Give it maybe 2 or 3 hours, and swiy should actually feel considerably rested. Swim 'discovered' this while he was crashing after maybe 40 hours of substantial use, and he literally felt RETARDED... he couldn't follow the plotline of a family guy episode, and he just decided, eff this, I'm going to pretend to sleep.... lo and behold, sometimes ideas produced in semi retarded delirium turn out to be nuggets that swimmers keep with them into sobriety.

or, or, or!...

could this be the power of the mind?

[runitsthepolice]

Originally Posted by HorseBucket

Swim doesn't like taking Ritalin in the morning cuz it makes him drowsy for a few hours and doesn't wanna deal with the unholy crash while hes out and about. Instead he takes it 2-3 hours before he goes to bed and like this he avoids the crash and it leaves him with beneficial after effects the next day which is all he needs.

At first swim had no trouble sleeping but nowadays he does have a bit of trouble. He finds when the Ritalin is in full effect he can fall asleep easy but if he wakes when the effects are wearing off he can't get to sleep the rest ofthe night.

Can anyone share some good tricks to getting to sleep? Melotonin works sometimes but it takes a long time usually about 2 hours. He bought some bullshit in the pharmacy called rescue remedy which doesn't work at all. Alcohol seems to work like a charm the only problem is if he drinks a few bottles of beer to get to sleep he'll wake up needing to take a piss a few hours later. Thats all swims tried so far

Swim cant see how taking a dose 2-3 hours before going to bed has any beneficial after effects. If a beneficial after effect is that you were up all night and are now braindead and tired as fuck swim understands. Taking swiys ritalin in the morning makes him drowsy? Swiy can fall asleep while on full blast ritalin? Swim has been able to fall asleep on it but only after days of no sleep. This does not compute.

Swim isn't trying to argue with you. Swim is interested to find out if this is the norm.

[HorseBucket]

Originally Posted by runitsthepolice

Swim cant see how taking a dose 2-3 hours before going to bed has any beneficial after effects. If a beneficial after effect is that you were up all night and are now braindead and tired as fuck swim understands. Taking swiys ritalin in the morning makes him drowsy? Swiy can fall asleep while on full blast ritalin? Swim has been able to fall asleep on it but only after days of no sleep. This does not compute.

Swim isn't trying to argue with you. Swim is interested to find out if this is the norm.

Swim might not have explained these beneficial effects so he'll do it now. Lets say swim takes some Ritalin a few hours before going to bed he usually conks out cuz he's tired and sometimes he sleeps all the way till morning but other times if he needs to take a piss he wakes up and can't get back to sleep. In both those scenarios even if he only gets 5 hours sleep he wakes up the next morning feeling refreshed, optimistic, has a deep urge to learn things and feels good for the whole day. This is unusual for swim since when he's stone sober he's drowsy, lethargic, and extremely restless and can hardly read a sentence out of a book without giving into his mental restlessness and jumping to another task.

Swim does feel good when he's sober but that restlessness combined with the bouts of drowsiness make it real hard to learn and Ritalin solves both those problems for swim.

[agnieszka]

Give Zolpidem (Ambien) or Zopiclone (Imovane) a try. They induce the sleep and their half-life are quite short (Imovane's is a bit longer); none of them are going to make you dizzy the day after like Flunitrazepam (the famous Rohypnol) would do. They work quickly and are made for this, while benzos are very very good for many other purposes, but not necessarily for a good night's sleep.

But when picking a benzo, Swim would go for Clonazepam (Klonopin/Paxan/Rivotril) instead of Diazepam (Valium). Seems like it's the one that combines better with Ritalin users (and I'm not even talking about the recreational ones).

[HorseBucket]

Originally Posted by agnieszka

Give Zolpidem (Ambien) or Zopiclone (Imovane) a try. They induce the sleep and their half-life are quite short (Imovane's is a bit longer); none of them are going to make you dizzy the day after like Flunitrazepam (the famous Rohypnol) would do. They work quickly and are made for this, while benzos are very very good for many other purposes, but not necessarily for a good night's sleep.

But when picking a benzo, Swim would go for Clonazepam (Klonopin/Paxan/Rivotril) instead of Diazepam (Valium). Seems like it's the one that combines better with Ritalin users (and I'm not even talking about the recreational ones).

Thanks for the advice. Swim will look into ambien and zopiclone. Are they prescription meds or can they be had OTC?

[agnieszka]

Originally Posted by HorseBucket

Thanks for the advice. Swim will look into ambien and zopiclone. Are they prescription meds or can they be had OTC?

They're prescription meds... if you want an OTC drug that works, I think some antihistamines can help. Oh, and there's always Dramamine