Meme: Screenshot of microblog post by @alanjack replying to @fotchi.
Caption: I still don’t know why part of autistic/adhd diagnosis isn’t putting you in a room with someone already diagnosed and seeing how quickly you bond.
When you gave up caffeine did you experience rebound insomnia?
I gave up caffeine a month ago on my neurologists orders and it’s been easy, no obvious withdrawal symptoms, no cravings, I just replaced all my tea and coffee and redbull with herbal tea and lemonade.
But I have not gotten more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep in this month, and I’m missing the relaxation and quiet that a refreshing 9pm redbull used to offer, I’ve got plenty of other relaxing rituals, but none so easy as just drinking coffee.
I started drinking coffee at 15 and religiously relishing redbulls at 21. Now in my 30s, this is the first time I’ve had true insomnia symptoms.
My mother has been an insomniac her whole life, my dad is narcoleptic, I was previously diagnosed with N24CRD and my brother has DSPS, so I come from a family of fucked up sleepers, but this is a new symptom set for me and it appears directly related to giving up caffeine.
I’m hoping it’s just an adjustment period and my brain will sort itself out and get some sleep soon.
I did not have that issue. I actually overslept A LOT when on caffeine, I think I just wasn’t getting very restful sleep so I would sleep for 20-30 hours if I did not set any alarms. When I got off caffeine I started going to bed a earlier (still a “night owl” but going to bed at like 1 or 2 am instead of 5 or 6am) and sleeping without alarms gets me 10ish hours. I used to regularly sleep entirely through my “weekends” off work… Life was very stressful without any usable free time.