Re: irishdrought - your thoughts on stimulants: I sleep all the time

[Guest guest]

--- This got bad for me back in 1987.

I have had sleep studies and I would sleep like I had narcoplsey.

If I didn't take something I would just sleep 24/7.

I can't drive far and I even keep some things in the car incase I

just have to park and sleep.

Through the years I have had times that it got better and I would

think I was ok.

Then it came back.

In infections , " "

<usenethod@...> wrote:

>

>

> > I have to take a stimulant to stay awake. I don't have

narcoplsey

> > but do feel brain dead and so sleepy without it.

>

> I have been having the same problem, especially this summer. Humid

heat

> seems to magnify the problem (even if I am in an air-conditioned

room).

> However, retrospectively it seems that more subtle sleepiness may

have

> been a problem for me thruout the last year (which is the amount

of

> time that I've been running 3-6 miles again, recovered from

> depression/malaise/brainfog, and generally highly recovered from

severe

> CFS, all apparantly thanks to antibiotics).

>

> What have you tried and what worked/failed? I've been taking

caffeine

> liberally all year but that was not fully effective. I started

> amineptine at 150-200 mg on tuesday. It had superb effects which

seem

> to have mostly worn off even tho I am still taking it. So today I

added

> adrafinil at 300 mg. (I have no opinion on whether this combo is

safe;

> I just went for it pretty blindly.) Again, tremendous effects - I

am in

> doubt whether they will persist very long even if I work up to the

max

> dose, but hope abideth. I've also experimented with thyroid, so

far

> without lasting success, but I will try again when I obtain more.

>

> My vague sense is that amphetamine and methylphenidate are

probably

> stronger than amineptine and adrafinil, but to obtain those I'll

have

> to do a song & dance for a doctor. Anyway, I cant go around being

very

> sleepy quite often, falling asleep in the afternoon, and averaging

9.5

> to 10 hours of sleep per day. This problem has been easy for me to

> underrecognize, as I was desperately insomniac during my time of

severe

> illness.

>

> I also fear the possibility of long-term diminishment of

effectiveness.

> Have you experienced that with stimulants? For me, tho I do build

> caffeine tolerance, the tolerance seems to max out at a reasonable

> level. That gives me hope that I could find a constant dose of

some

> stronger stimulant that could be both fully and permanently

effective.

>

> I didnt get good grades last year, tho I learned alot anyway. I

think

> low activity drive is the primary reason, and it seems the

> norepinepherine and dopamine systems may often be blameable for

this.

> Its usually pretty easy for me to work furiously on stuff related

to my

> own ideas, but hard to do homework. I also notice a decided

preference

> for walking places over riding my bike, contrary to my pre-illness

> habits. Now I've graduated and am taking two graduate courses

(Biochem

> and Microbial Pathogenesis). Kind of my last shot to lay down a

good

> record and get into a good PhD program.

>