Sleep medications and dosage levels ?'s

[AllStressedOut]

How much rozerum is normal for a child? I can't find a weight chart for it.

Are there other types of sleep aides for kids besides rozerum and seroquel? Rozerum seems to work most of the time on my oldest difficult child, but my middle difficult child who usually falls asleep quickly is awake all night now and my youngest difficult child is too. He's always been this way, but my middle difficult child usually falls asleep fast, but wakes up.

Any suggestions on medications I can talk to the psychiatrist about?

Thanks!

 

[DammitJanet]

Never tried rozerum because it is new but I have tried seroquel. I take 25 mgs of seroquel and there is a trick that most docs dont tell you about. For the sleeping quality, less is more. You can probably get just as good sleeping effect out of 25 or even 12.5 for a kid as you would a 50 or 100 mg pill. In fact, the sedation effect wears off once you get over 400 mgs I think. I know many people who take 12.5 mgs for a sleeping pill.

Others take melatonin, clonodine, klonopin, and things like that.

 

[busywend]

Many have used Melatonin, a natural supplement - over the counter, to help kids sleep when a rx keeps them up at night. I believe the starting dose is 3mg. You can ask the pharmacy about it. It is sold at our local drug store and also at the Natural Foods store.

 

[Steely]

Never tried Rozerum, or know anything about it - sorry.

It seems like we have tried almost every sleep medication out there because of my son's bi-polar. Some work well, some not so much - it is kind of trial and error. Seroquel always worked pretty well for us, as did Risperdal. Mat started Ambien about 4 months ago, and that has worked the very best. He gets a solid 8 hours of sleep and wakes up refreshed, unlike with Seroquel where he woke up groggy and cranky. I know some doctors are hesitant to prescribe Ambien in kids though.

Benadryl has always worked extremely well for Mat too, and his psychiatrist suggests that as an over the counter PRN when he is having trouble sleeping. I have heard good things about Melatonin, but it does not work for Mat.

Good luck.

 

[Sara PA]

You won't find a dosing chart for Rozerem because it isn't approved for children.

From the prescribing information:

Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness of ROZEREM in pediatric patients have not been established. Further study is needed prior to determining that this product may be used safely in pre-pubescent and pubescent patients.

 

[AllStressedOut]

You've got to be kidding me! I didn't see that when I searched! Geez, where is this doctors head? Grrrrrr.....thank you for sending me that.

 

[Steely]

Well, the problem is that most psychiatric medications are NOT approved for children. Prozac and stims are some of the only ones. The reason is not because the medications are, or are not safe for kids - but because there has not been any money, time, or research devoted to proving the efficacy in children. It is really scary - but, yet, the doctors and parents hands are tied when dealing with a really sick child.

So don't freak out too much........BUT, because this medication is SO new, and there is less research on it than other more well used sleep aides, you might want your doctor to try something different.

 

[TrishaBC]

I'm all about Melatonin. My difficult child has been on it for 6 years, he started with 3mg and a couple years ago we noticed it was not as effective and we bumped him to 6 mgs. He has a great sleep through the whole night, and wakes up refreshed. I recommend buying it from a reputable health food store, versus a drugstore or grocery store.

I don't know how difficult child was even functioning before Melatonin, he was getting no more than five hours of sleep a night, and even those hours were very broken.

 

[AllStressedOut]

Trisha..thats how mine sleep, broken up, and thats when they actually fall asleep. I don't know how they function either.

 

[TrishaBC]

Melatoniin is fairly cheap, give it a try and see.

 

[AllStressedOut]

I have to go to GNC today to get weight gain shakes too, so I'll ask about it there. Thanks so much!

 

[nlg319]

I take Trazedone for sleep. Actually I have no trouble falling alseep, it's staying asleep that is my problem. Trazedone is an antidepressant that is not very effective treating depression but helps with sleep. I know of 2 difficult child's(not my own) that take it at night.

difficult child#2 used Melatonin for a while and it helped him!

 

[Sara PA]

The stims are approved for kids over 6.

Prozac is for MMD (though there is some thought that it wouldn't be if submitted today). Zoloft , Prozac and Luvox are for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). No other SSRIs are approved for use by children an adolescents (and Wyeth has stated that Effexor is not recommended for children and adolescents).

None of the antipsychotics are. Abilify has been submitted for approval for use by children 13-17 with schizophrenia.

All of the mood stabilizers are -- lithium, Depakote, Tegretol/Trileptal, Lamictal -- if not for bipolar, for epilepsy.

 

[susiestar]

Melatonin is a good place to start for over the counter medications. Benadryl or other "old fashioned" antihistamines are also effective. I know one mom who swears by dramamine.

I use a medication called "calm tabs" sold at Vitamin World. I use it with melatonin and get a pretty good result.

Normal sleep is a cycle, some periods heavier than others. They say kids need to learn "how to get back to sleep" if they wake up, but for my oldest it never worked. Nor for me.

Good luck.

Susie

 

[AllStressedOut]

Well, I bought the melatonin, but it came in 300 MCG is that micromilligrams? I hope so.

I tried it lastnight, I didn't have the normal trouble I do of falling asleep, but it still took some time. Insomnia runs in my family, brother, bio-father, bio-aunts and I all have it.

I gave it to my two oldest easy child's too because they've been complaining of not being able to fall asleep. It didn't help either.

Tonight I'm giving it to my 3 difficult child's and we'll see how it goes. I'll ask them tomorrow how it felts. Does anyone know how dosage works beyond 3 MG? Can you increase it as needed or is their a max? I want to be sure whatever I'm giving them is safe.

Thanks!

 

[TrishaBC]

I don't know what the "max" is, but my difficult child takes 6 mgs. His P-doctor approved that, he's pretty small only about 65 lbs. difficult child takes it about an hour before bed time, is that what you did?