I am new to the group. My daughter is 7 and was diagnosed with ADHD last spring.
We just decided to medicate last week, we started with Adderall per the recommendation of the doctor.
We've been having sleep issues before we even started the medication. She either can't stay asleep or wakes up throughout the night, or wakes up super early.
She goes to bed around 730-8pm school nights and maybe 9pm weekends. She just woke up at 1030 and said she couldn't sleep. I'm trying some melatonin tonight.
Or she's waking up at like 5am.
Does anyone else have this problem with sleep with their ADHD child? I thought being on the medication would actually allow her to sleep at night, but I'm not seeing a difference here. Her Adderall is out of her system by 1pm... (we're still titrating at this point).
Great question, Olive Yew. I'm a helper on this site, and I really don't know all that much about ADD (except that it can be such a difficult challenge) but I did want to say how much I like your screen name. :-)
I have 3 ADHD kids and only one with sleep issues. Various psychiatrists have recommended melatonin in high doses, or valerian (another natural product). The sleep clinic, on the other hand, recommended only 1mg of melatonin around dinnertime. When we used that along with a rigid sleep routine, it seemed to help substantially.
My 6 year old takes a very low dose of Adderall in tandem with Intuniv (non-stimulant) as well as risperidone (which seems to calm him down?). He also takes melatonin at bedtime, but has very little problem sleeping. That said, if he wakes up in the middle of the night to use the washroom, it may take him some time to go back to sleep.
Don't know if any of this is helpful. A sleep cllinic may be worth investigating though...
With my kiddo we found 5mg or so of melatonin was effective IF we took a holiday every few weeks to reset. More was NOT better, infact worse. (never underestimate what a Benadryl can do when YOU need some sleep)
The other thing that made a huge difference was working with the times he took his meds. We ultimately ended up giving him his time release at 6:00 AM and a fast acting mid afternoon to get her through the witching hour (right after school as you know) The other thing that helped believe it or not is we started a family wii time about 7:00, warm bath after and we all slept well (and I lost 30 pounds)
Routine is everything and has saved more than one marriage.................. That amphetimene crash after 12 hours or so can really create a crisis at bed time.
Never met a psychiatrist who met a pill he didn't like or didn't believe if a little was good, more was better....... (tongue in cheek)
My sleep doctor has me taking 0.5 to 1.5 mg of melatonin at 6PM to help keep my sleep cycle normal, similar to 3GKids reply, and a regular routine plus a cooler bedroom temperature at night. Good luck with the meds, too.
We have something we are trying called "Kid Relief Calm Syrup". It is all natural as my son can't take traditional meds. You can google it and check it out. I have heard mixed things about the melatonin so we have not tried it.
When she goes to bed at 7:30/8 and getting up at five she has had 9 hours which could be all she needs right now. My son is 12 and we found he has stopped waking up so early and wants to sleep all the time due to where he is developmentally.
Does she have to take more than one dose of her Adderall? Is it something she can take for school and not take a later dose so it is out of her system for bed time?
We are still in the titration phase with the Adderall. We started 10mg in the am, and 5mg at noon. So, I'm thinking we will just do XR if this continues to go well.
I really hate having to give my 7 yr old medications all day long, and now all night long.
These are some great suggestions. I'm happy to have a group to go to for more info/encouragement.
The not sleeping is not a consistent thing at this point. So thankfully its not every night.