A year ago, I was referred to the sleep studies clinic. What you're recommending was done. It was discovered that I was severely anemic. That was addressed and remedied (with intravenous infusions of iron.) I've been closely followed medically, since. I'm not sure I know what you mean by a "full" panel of tests. Doctors don't typically send someone to the lab to have every-test-known-to-man done. But I have had reasonably comprehensive lab work done in the recent past. Generally speaking, I am quite healthy.

I have a lifelong history of very pronounced sleep irregularity. (My mother tried giving me some sweet port wine at night when I was a child. It didn't help.) I am post menopausal, which often heralds the beginning of significant sleep disturbance for lots of women. I think I took hormone replacement therapy long enough. (Though you've caused me to wonder, if going back on it might improve things for me.)

I've never been diagnosed with ADHD or ADD. However, in the past, when I was being treated for major recurrent depression, I was prescribed Ritalin by a psychiatrist. From what I read on the forums here, it's not rare at all for people diagnosed with depression to be prescribed stimulants. I know they are in the category of "controlled substances" and are addictive and dangerous.

What's really going on is that I have chronic depression, currently aggravated by the stress of being a caregiver to my S.O., as well as the decline in energy that comes with getting older. I am very lethargic a lot of the time, which is pretty common in persons with depression, especially when they don't sleep well. It lifts in the late afternoon and is often completely gone in the evening. So I have this daily pattern of needing a good deal of the day to pass before I can shake of the sluggishness that most people shed an hour after getting up in the morning. I feel absolutely desperate to break the hold of this cycle.

I've been awake now since 4 a.m. I went to bed last night at 11 p.m. Five hours of sleep does not leave me feeling well rested. I am tired, but I was not able to fall back asleep. I have a bunch of paperwork to catch up on (mail, filing, check books to balance, material to read.) Focusing on that seems overwhelming with how sleepy I feel. (Maybe I do have a problem with channeling my attention, like folks with ADD.) I thought perhaps a stimulant might help me use my wake time more productively.