My 7 yr old daughter, Olivia, is currently taking metadate cd for ADHD, which i mostly attribute to her sleeping issues. She goes to bed at 8pm and gets up at 6:30am but wakes up around 1am or 4am every night for a short time. She has literally slept through the night 3 times in 5 months. Her pediatric developmental doct has prescribed trazodone and this weekend we are switching to Elavil. We've previously tried per doctor advise-melatonin, benadryl, and a syrup Rx but nothing is helping. Any experience or advice? Thank you kindly.
Hi, Dancermom,
You replied to me once about my sleep issues. I wanna update you on my recent experiences. While not on medicine and 51 years old, I have found taking a long hot bath before bed makes a big difference. It helps because you do get sleepy after that because your body temp. is lowering. Even stayed asleep overnight many times.
The other thing is a medicine called Doxepin, which is not addictive. Elavil and Trazadone have more difficult withdrawal symptoms. I am waiting for the Doxepin and have never tried it.
Third, ADDITUDE magazine, ADDITUDEMAG.com, is a great resource for working with ADHD kids.
Good luck.
Eric
Actually, we have altered her diet and tried several natural approaches, as well. I do not like that we have to medicate her for adhd, but it is necessary in her case, mainly for school at this time. And those stimulants have side affects, but also a "traumatic" event is playing a part in the sleep issue, too...it's not a cut and dry problem we're having here. She woke up from a nap one afternoon and couldn't find her dad or I (we were outside) and so from that point on, couldn't be anywhere in our house w/out knowing where we were. and starting this horrible night time routine of crying and not being able to fall asleep without me beside her. I would do anything for my daughter and am just trying to get advise from anyone who's had a similar experience. The Rx night time meds do help her fall asleep faster and sleep better when she is asleep, but hasn't helped with her waking up in the middle of the night. We do a nightly routine of bath, brushing teeth, quiet lullaby music, read book, prayer, bed. It's getting a little better after 5 months...I just had no idea it would take this long to get slightly better and we all need a good night's sleep to function the next day. Her sleep issues affect me, my husband and her little sister. It's just frustrating, that's all.
How is your daughter doing now, khcbhc? I hope she is sleeping better. Have you found the right mix of medications?
Hi, Eric, I am glad the baths help. Whatever works, works, right? Thanks for the update, and sweet dreams!
Bunny said:
Hi, Dancermom,
You replied to me once about my sleep issues. I wanna update you on my recent experiences. While not on medicine and 51 years old, I have found taking a long hot bath before bed makes a big difference. It helps because you do get sleepy after that because your body temp. is lowering. Even stayed asleep overnight many times.
The other thing is a medicine called Doxepin, which is not addictive. Elavil and Trazadone have more difficult withdrawal symptoms. I am waiting for the Doxepin and have never tried it.
Third, ADDITUDE magazine, ADDITUDEMAG.com, is a great resource for working with ADHD kids.
Good luck.
Eric
Dancermom, still giving her metadate and Elavil , she actually slept all night alone last night (rare occurance) but have a call into her developmental doctor this week. Not sure what we'll try next. Will probably ween off that and see how sleeping is. I don't want to keep her on that if she still is waking up. Back to trying a reward system...
dancermom said:
How is your daughter doing now, khcbhc? I hope she is sleeping better. Have you found the right mix of medications?
What happens after she wakes up? Is she scared? Or just wakeful and wanting to turn on lights, etc.? Or, awake but wishing she could go back to sleep because she feels tired?
She would yell out for me when she woke up and wanted to sleep with us or in our room. She was scared and fully awake, but would fall back asleep pretty quickly once someone was with her. Finally, after a year of that, she is now able to sleep all night. Her little sister sleeps with her now (which she wouldn't allow before). and recently we put them in twin beds in the same room, since I'm expecting another baby this Fall! I attribute Olivia's sleeplessness to a triggering event of not being able to find us one afternoon after waking from a nap--she has a brain injury and so she just couldn't get over that for the longest time.
dancermom said:
What happens after she wakes up? Is she scared? Or just wakeful and wanting to turn on lights, etc.? Or, awake but wishing she could go back to sleep because she feels tired?
As I read through this thread I came to that same conclusion - an attachment disorder from mom and dad not with her when she expected them to be there. Glad the sleep issue is presently taken care of. If it reappears I would recommend she see a psychologist (not meds - not psychiatrist) and described that old incident and reoccurance of the sleep problem (if there is one). If sleep remains reasonable after the new one arrives (and for the first year or so) then nothing to do on sleep issue. Good luck.
Thank you DrMarc, I'm relieved to say the least that she is doing much better now. For awhile we even put a twin mattress on the floor beside our bed and told her to just come there if she woke up and not yell out to wake everyone up...and that helped a LOT! But that is over and she's doing great in her own twin bed now. If this issue reappears, i will definitely seek help with a psychologist!