I've long had problems with random, unfounded bouts of anxiety. I've been taking Strattera and it has partially helped with this: when it works (which is 80% of the time), I can feel it keeping me in a mellow headspace at moments when I would have previously had racing thoughts and mental tunnel vision. Specifically, the source of the anxiety is still there, because I can feel it spark into action and put adrenaline into my blood, but the Strattera seems to be blocking it from affecting my mind in any way. While this is a significant improvement, it's still not perfect because the adrenaline in my blood still tires my body out quite quickly.
Recently I went a whole day on 2 hours of sleep, and I realized the sleep deprivation stopped my anxiety more optimally than the Strattera. My brain was too sleep deprived for the unfounded anxiety/fight or flight to even be initiated, which meant there was no adrenaline to block from affecting my mind in the first place. What's more, my mind was just generally more chilled out and slowed down (no hyperactivity or hyperfocus or anything), kinda a bit like if I was stoned, and I felt far less inhibition to spontaneously blurt out thoughts that appeared in my head without thinking about them, which I actually quite enjoyed because it meant I was being my peak authentic self.
Whilst the Strattera helped stop the immediate effects of my anxiety, the sleep deprivation got me into the actual overall target state that I want to be in. Now I obviously can't go about being sleep deprived every day from now on. Does somebody understand the chemistry of what Strattera does vs. what the sleep deprivation does? Is there any medication that could create the same desirable effects as the sleep deprivation?
Honestly, the effects you are noticing. (Minus the sleep deprivation) are pretty much how I also felt taking Strattera. Honestly, it might be more the meds rather than the lack of sleep, making you feel that way. If you just started taking it, it has so weird little side effects that seem to go away after a week or two.
For me, not being on the medication made me not able to sleep, and being on it made it easier than ever to just fall asleep when I wanted. Which was something that I was never really able to do before.
But it affects everyone differently, so keep your doctor informed if the sleep issues don't go away as that is not healthy!
Ah interesting. I've been on Strattera for a good while now but I noticed this effect of sleep deprivation even before I got medicated.