Trying to reduce daytime drowsiness

To cut back daytime drowsiness my pdoc first wanted to try cutting my temazepam dose in half for four days. Well today was day two and I felt like I was going through withdraw so I broke down and took the second dose. Now I have to cut my Vraylar in half. I am worried about doing it because it has helped my mood so much.

My daytime drowsiness is so bad I fell asleep driving one day luckily nothing bad happen because when I drove off the road I woke up and corrected myself. But everyday driving I fight to stay awake. My pdoc told me to drink caffeine.

Anyone else have this bad of daytime drowsiness? What do you do to fight it?

I have the problem of sleeping only 4-5 hours at night, despite taking temazepam & klonopin before bed, so I can relate to daytime drowsiness. My solution (& it's probably not the best one) is to drink 4-5 cups of coffee throughout the morning. The downside is I sometimes get the shakes (& have to pee like a race horse, BTW ). When I have nothing going, of course, daytime naps are a decadent luxury! Your pdoc's advice is the course I take, but it comes with its own issues. If you're driving off the road, however, you've got to do something to nip this in the bud. Good luck.

I have the issue for multiple reasons. My solution is coupled with my ADHD treatment. I take a stimulant (Vyvanse) twice a day. Totally nips the drowsiness in the bud, incredibly more effective than caffeine.

May or may not be a solution for you, but it works for me.

I drink an ENORMOUS amount of caffeine and I talk to someone during my whole (very long) commute to and from work so I don't nod off, which I was for a while. I also cut down on my Seroquel, with my pdoc's reluctant blessing, though I don't think it has made much of a difference. That's all I've known to do. I wish I had better ideas...

Wellbutrin was doing this to me but thankfully I didn't drive off the road.what really contributed though was lithium giving me hypo thyroidism. That's a tired I hadn't known for a long time! I take meds for the thyroid now.

When I was working and needed to get up in the morning I took nuvigil or provigil and was pretty successful with both. I just set an alarm for a few hours before I wanted to wake up, took the meds, went back to sleep and woke up when they were working and I was ready to get up.

Omg I have this issue too. I think it's the daytime Latuda dose.

I'm at church laying on an old pew listening to my son play the piano while waiting for other choir members to arrive.

Modafinil has helped me with daytime sleepiness. It's also apparently pretty safe for people with BP.

the only thing that has helped is better and longer sleeping .... and yes I have had many sleep deprived driving issues ... all caffine does for me is massive headaches ....

please do not drive if you are impaired ... I know it is very inconvient but do you really want to wake up in the er and being told you just killed someone ... driving impaired is not in most states an excuse but a crime ...

I have daytime drowsiness every day. I just do my best to get though it. If the sleepiness is really strong I lie down and rest for 1/2 an hour. Even if I don't actually nap, I find the lying down helpful.

Crook32, I can relate to this. I am currently experiencing the same kind of problem after a Seroquel increase. Yes, it's always made me kind of drowsy in the morning, but it's a problem now that I often have to be somewhere early, and I drive.

I like the suggestions here. For me, I don't think stimulants would really be a good idea since it makes me worse off, but maybe mild stimulants (i.e. a few cups of coffee spread out throughout the morning) does seem to help a little bit.

Maybe going bed to earlier, but also setting your alarm a little earlier so your body can adjust to waking up would be helpful. Having coffee before driving is ideal. I've noticed on some days that helps. Some other ideas: foods that help with an energy boost/vitamins, and if you can get by with a decrease in meds and still remain stable, then that may help. I don't think it's much of an option for me right now since I need my sleep as well as stabilization on a higher dose, but maybe with time I can reduce again or add something on, in terms of meds.

Hi there! When I read that you fell asleep while driving, I knew I had to respond, b/c that happened to me alot when I was working, along with other near danger situations. I was diagnosed with CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), and was actually put on Ritalin to help me stay awake, which does work. Has your doctor checked your iron levels and Vit D? Low counts of those can also cause exhaustion. My daughter is now struggling with the extreme fatigue, even tho we have increased the Vit D and the iron. I am considering filming her as she sleeps, to see how restless she is.....might be part of the problem. Hope something I said helps at least a little.

When I was working it also helped to use a dawn simulator. That helped me wake more naturally and I had one with dusk simulation too so that it wound down and helped me fall asleep.

My pdoc has mentioned these but said insurance probably wouldn't cover it. We may have to give it a try.

Haven't heard of Modafinil, I will have to look it up.

I paid out of pocket most of the time I was on it. That sucked but since it made me able to work it was worth it. My dr wrote the scripts for the maximum dose and I broke pills to decrease the cost a bit.

Even when I have time and try to sleep longer I can't. I wake up early in the morning no matter what.

That's what I was like as a kid. Of course I went to bed at 8.