Why don't we need "the" in "from lack of sleep"?

From lack of sleep

Since we're talking about a specific lack, namely lack of sleep, it seems that the article the should be there. That is,

From the lack of sleep.

Compare:

I had been refreshing EL&U for 48 hours straight. I think that the lack of sleep was the cause of those hallucinations.

Hallucinations are a common symptom of lack of sleep.

The first one regards a specific lack of sleep (definite article), while the second one regards lack of sleep in general (no article).

Thinking about it, I believe that the answer is that "lack of" is treated as a quantifier, like "lots of", "too much", or "three hours'". (This is from introspection, and I have no references for the analysis)

What is confusing is that "lack" may also function as a noun taking a complement "of sleep", so in that construction it can take an article "from a lack of sleep". (It would not take "the" because contra Anderson Silva, it is not specific: "of sleep" distinguishes it from other kinds of lack, but not from other individual lacks, I think).