My son (8) has to take Melatonin to fall asleep at night which is around 8:30 or 9pm (some nights a bit later) and he wakes up SO early!!! Like 5 or 5:30am!! I am so exhausted today from this. He wakes up and comes in our bed and then will play on the computer and come back in again, he will be loud, hyper, etc.. I don't give him is Concerta until 8am and since it already does not last as long as I want it too I dont want to give it to him at 5am either!! UGH!!!!!
My doc said to try Strattera in the evening to see if that helps him sleep longer and help with the Concerta in the day which I see no help with that either.
What to you do think?
Marie
DS 8 ADHD, PDD/NOS, OCD, ODD, SID
My son also uses melatonin to help him sleep. I understand yopur problem. He is also on Concerta and it doesn't last long enough for us. Strattera is a serious med that requires much knowledge to be on that. and more bloodwork. I would educate yourself about the Strattera then make an informed decision. I have it work well with low dose stimulants together. Our doc has yet to recom. Strattera.
good luck on your journey
Neither of my boys are great sleepers.... shoot, my nearly 7yo didn't sleep through the entire night until he was nearly 4years old!! My other son rarely slept through the night until this past summer.
My DD (5yr ADHD) has always fallen asleep very easily and quickly (5-10minutes) However she wakes 2-4 times a night every single night. Rarely will she sleep in her own bed the whole night. Instead she camps out on our couch in our room.
Concerta kept her awake until midnight. We switched to short acting Dex and give it only in the AM and lunch with half at 4 if needed (she is edgy, grouchy) She also takes Respiral .5mg which increases her appetite and helps her fall asleep (takes it at 6pm, and more than ready for bed at 8pm)
Still wakes in the night. We have mentioned it to every doc we have ever seen and not one of them seems to think it is a big deal. Compared to her other issues, this really isn't at the top of the list.
I would pay for a decent nights sleep!!!!
My 6 year old son is ad/Hd and pdd/nos ... takes 36 mg of Concerta EX in the morning. We just added 1mg of tenex in the evening(at dinnertime) to help with the swing at betdime. We have never had problems with bed time or sleeping as we have always been fairly consistant with the routines. Up at 6:45am, Bath, story/reading time, prayers, and in bed with the lights out by 8pm. (9pm on non school nights)
But since upping his meds and adding the tenex, now we are having some nightmare issues. at first it was several days in a row, and since we are off track currently, have not been as consistant with bed time, and he is sleeping in too boot, so first thing we did was get him back to his regular sleeping times. that actully helped and now its maybe once a week we have him waking up. We thought it was the Tenex though.
The psychiatrist asked what time he was taking the concerta. Well hes off track now so not untill 8:30 or 9 in the morning. She said oh no you have to give it too him no later than 7am every day. During school, he has to have it by then as school starts at 8 and it takes an hour to start working. that way it is pretty much worn off come 7pm and the tenex and bath relax him enough that he sleeps.
We dont allow him to do any activities that will get him excited( no computer or video games, no rough housing etc) from about an hour before bedtime too, the lesser amount of stimulus helps him transition I think.
So maybe look into the Tenex? I had never heard about it before and so far the benefits of it have far outweighted the occational nightmare!
good luck!
My nine year old son has always been a poor sleeper since he was a baby. So when we put him on stimulants it was a nightmare. We switched to strattera about 5 months ago and he has been doing much better. He still has some nights that are rough, but it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. In fact when he first started it it made him sleep, but that side affect wore of in a few weeks.