How do you survive a child that doesn't sleep?

[wethreepeeps]

difficult child is on the following medications: Seroquel 400mg (100 am, 100 lunch, 200pm), Adderal 20mg XR (am), and Depakote 750mg (250 am, 250 lunch, 250pm). We've been titrating the Seroquel up for a couple of months, started at 25 mgs, and didn't see any difference until we hit 400. His aggression at home is better and he's stopped narrating out loud all the time. He slept great for about two weeks after we got to this dose, but now after a month he's back to waking up after 4-5 hours of sleep. If he would play quietly on his bed I wouldn't make an issue of this, but that's not what happens. He sings at the top of his lungs, he jumps on the bed, he complains for me to get up and make breakfast. In short, he's not satisfied until the entire household is awake. After waking around 3am, by 10am his mood has gone from giddy to grumpy, tired, and extremely angry. If he's not at home where he can crash, this is the main window of time where he gets in trouble at school, spitting, cursing, hitting, etc.

I'm exhausted, my ten year old isn't getting enough sleep, we're all grumpy and miserable. Anyone have any suggestions? I'll talk to the psychiatrist on Wednesay, but if there are any ideas I can bring up to him, I'd appreciate it.

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, gawd, I feel for you. I don't know... especially with-all those medications. Hugs and wishes for sanity are all I can offer.

 

[needabreak]

i feel for you.my son is up at the crack of dawn.i even tryed keeping him up later at night but he is still up early.and he is not happy unless i am awake to.i hope you find something that works cause i havent yet.good luck

 

[wethreepeeps]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: needabreak</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i feel for you.my son is up at the crack of dawn.i even tryed keeping him up later at night but he is still up early.and he is not happy unless i am awake to.i hope you find something that works cause i havent yet.good luck</div></div>

Yes, I tried that, thinking that as he got older, maybe he just doesn't need as much sleep. By 7pm in the evening he's really out of it, euphoric and crashing around the house, laughing and breaking things, so that used to be bedtime. I figured out that a bath every evening keeps him from getting hysterical, so moved bedtime to 8pm, and then tried 9, with the same result. On weekdays we get up at 6am to get ready for school.

 

[Janna]

Dylan used to wake through the night too. At one point, we had considered having him tested for Sleep Apnea, because he was waking so much.

Have you tried Melatonin? I know nothing about it, have never used it, but I know alot of people here have used it with great success.

FWIW - the Seroquel really didn't do anything for Dylan sleep wise. Made him a little groggy, but didn't hold out for him through the night. Now he's on Abilify, and it's GOOD NIGHT DYLAN, straight through. Not saying that it would work on your difficult child, but just a thought.

Janna

 

[jodyice]

I wish I had some advice for you also, my difficult child can stay up till midnight and still will wake up around 3am, luckily at that time I can usually get him back to sleep. although it usually means he sleeps in husband's and my bed and I sleep downstairs.. (can't fight that early in the morning.. lol) But even after that he will be back up between 6 and 7am on weekends, during school week he's up at 6am (bus arrives at 6:30). psychiatrist even increased his Trazodone to no avail, he's also been on Remeron.
My thoughts are with you and I hope you find something that helps soon. ~sending hugs your way~

 

[busywend]

I was going to suggest the Melatonin as well - never used it, but have heard alot of success on the board.

 

[needabreak]

Whats melatonin and what is it suppose to do

 

[totoro]

Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland I believe and helps with sleep.
Someone else posted that it could cause an increase in night terrors... We use it but I decreased the amount to 1.5 mg for difficult child I take 3mg about 1/2 hour before bed. It helps... It took about 1 week or so for it to really work for us.

Could "March Madness" be kicking in??? I have read it can start in February... my difficult child 1 has been climbing the walls and waking earlier... her cycling has increased as well. I blame it on her medications as well as the " March Madness"

She is delerious by evening also... so tired but can't sit still. We have found yoga really helps, and I read this on another forum that a mother had her daughter do headstands when she got wound up, we started this against the wall, and it really works, it helps calm her and she loves the way it feels. We do the forward and the backward headstands, sometimes I will hold her up when she is tired.
This also falls under some of the sensory stuff, we do compression and pillows on top of her, really helps calm her at night, wieghted blanket as well.

Good luck

 

[needabreak]

thanks for the info. :smile:

 

[wethreepeeps]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Janna</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Dylan used to wake through the night too. At one point, we had considered having him tested for Sleep Apnea, because he was waking so much.

Have you tried Melatonin? I know nothing about it, have never used it, but I know alot of people here have used it with great success.

Janna</div></div>

We've tried Melatonin, and L-Tryptophan, and both of them have a very negative effect on him. He's a snarling, enraged kid the next day. It's very dramatic and frightening. We used to use Clonidine for sleep, but that stopped working a couple of years ago.

 

[timer lady]

Might I suggest a couple of things that helped the tweedles finally sleep through the night.

Every night when I tucked them in I would swaddle them. It was very cocoon like & really settled them in for sleep. I also invested in bed tents - for some reason it helped them sleep through the night.

http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)-Racer-Bed...=toys-and-games

This is the tent wm had on his bed & worked for a good 2 years.

Good luck - I remember how very exhausted we all were before the tweedles got into a decent sleep pattern.

 

[Steely]

You might talk to the Dr about giving more of the medications at night. For instance when my son was on Depakote and Seroquel we gave all 750mg of the Depakote at night along with 300 of the 100 mg of the Seroquel, and with that combo he finally slept through the night.
If that does not work, you might switch from Seroquel to something that works better for him, because on those doses of medications he should be able to sleep through the night. I do know that stimulants like Adderral made my son revved up to the point of sleeplessness, so you might also talk to the Dr about that. Also, you might look at his diet and if you have not already done so eliminate all sugar and caffeine.
Good luck - I have been there many times, and it is SO not fun! But it will get better. One time in the state of mania my son stole 20.00 from my wallet and went to 7-11 and bought 5 Red Bulls.........he slammed them all...........and was up for 2 days like a crazed madman! It was a horrible episode but now, years later, we are able to joke with him about it - "remember the time you slammed all those Red Bulls?" - and we all laugh.

 

[Steely]

Post deleted by tiredmommy

 

[Wiped Out]

My difficult child used to stay awake and not fall asleep until 11 or 12 at night, then, if he slept through the night he would be up around 5. We finally had to go with a sleep medication. It helps him relax to get to sleep. He used to take Trazadone but now he takes Clonodine. Each child is diefferent and I'm not suggesting medications-it was just the route we had to get-we got no rest with him awake all night and it wasn't good for him.