In the beginning I had the same problem. I slept quite a bit on the patch. I didn't get the sleepies as you call them but I was drowsy all the time. I think it didn't help that I took very hot showers in the AM because it helped with the pain. But because I used them on my arm, using heating pads weren't an issue. But I did have a problem with heat because at the time because of meds my body was a little heat source on its own. My husband used to call me the human heater.
I stopped taking them a long time ago when the 50s didn't help anymore and my doc wouldn't up the dosage at all. So I just had enough and ripped it off my arm and never used them again.
I hope you have better luck on them than I did.