< =text/>_popupControl(); My son very rarely sleeps through the night. He almost always has to get up to go to the bathroom, and since he's freaked out about the dark, that means he bellows until my husband gets up, too. HOWEVER, when my husband is gone overnight for work, I let my son sleep in my room and he ALWAYS sleeps through. I think that he just can't get back to sleep if he wakes in his room alone. We're working on it and it has gotten better in the past year, so we'll be patient...YAWN.
Maybe your son would benefit from a common room, if a common bed creeps you out. Put him to bed in his own room, then move him to a cot in your room when you go to sleep or have had whatever privacy you may need. We have a king sized bed and I sleep with a body pillow, so we get our own space when he's by me. I don't know, it's just a thought.
I haven't been here in about a year now. My son, Maddox (5), was diagnosed at 3-1/2 as ADHD and I had some negative comments on this website about how he was adopted and traumatized, so I didn't spend much time here. We tried adderall and ritalin, but it worked for a couple weeks, then he'd turn into a clingy, emotional mess. We continually doubted our diagnosis, but I was reading a book on herbal supplements for ADHD and the first chapter said, "if your child has these symptoms (xyz) and is young, it could be something else: bipolar, food allergy or sleep apnea"... OKAY... he's NEVER slept through the night. So we left here and explored the sleep thing. Got huge tonsils and tons of adenoids removed, which, we were told would be life changing.
That was over six months ago.
Maddox is still not sleeping through the night. He's still a royal pain in the ass to put to bed at night and he's still hyperactive, crazy and irratable during the day. If he were my ONLY child, I'd feel like a TOTAL failure of a mother, but my older child is practically perfect, so he's the only thing keeping me going right now.
We've decided that Maddox is definitely sleeping BETTER than before the surgery, but still not sleeping like a normal child should. We went back to another specialist and were again given the ADHD diagnosis. This time, I was much more confident, as the psychologist spent about 2 hours with him and spent hours reading through our file, my behavioral journal, my desperate emails to the psychiatrist, etc. He just cannot calm down or wind down at ALL at night and even when he does finally fall asleep, he's up 4 hours later looking for us.
Lately we tried Seroquel to help him sleep at night, which helped a tiny bit. Our psychiatrist now believes if we can help solve the sleep issue, his daytime issues may be tolerable without meds. It's been 6 weeks now and I finally had to get him off this. He's SOOOO iritable during the day, that I cry almost every day.
He's super easy to anger, has to have things his way or he throws the BIGGEST meltdown - today it was 2 hours because I didn't think he should play with his brother and the older friends (who really didn't want him around). He throws things, he wets himself, he says things like, "I want to kill you" or "I hope you DIE", he scratches, he hits, he kicks... he's MISERABLE to be around. I've tried staying calm and just letting him "rage it out" but he can't even remember what he's upset about in the end. When it's over, he's super lovey. And he's VERY sensitive when we try to talk about this later.
Does anyone have ANY advice for me? The sleep thing is HUGE for us, because neither my husband nor I have slept through the night in FIVE YEARS. We are exhausted and crabby and have trouble handling this without adequate sleep ourselves. But even during the day, his impulse control is HORRIBLE, he's embarrassing, hyperactive and just overall OBNOXIOUS.
Oh, and by the way, I tried the marble thing, but Maddox doesn't seem to have any interest in any motivators. He doesn't care about stickers, marbles, toys, candy, or ANYTHING that normal kids do, and timeouts only make him MORE violent.
Please help!
First, let me say that I'm sorry you had a negative experience on this board the first time you were here. I missed what happened, but don't let a few individuals chase you away. There are so many kind and helpful people here!
My child also has had issues w/ waking up approx. 4 hours after falling asleep. The dr. has determined it's an anxiety issue. We put him on a combo. of Zoloft and Tenex to control it. My child can tolerate only very low doses of Zoloft or his impulsivity shoots through the roof. The Tenex helps w/ anxiety, and it also helps w/ hyperactivity and impulsivity, so we also get some ADHD control from it (though he still needs a stimulant). This combo. put a hault to when things were really bad, when he was waking up nearly hourly. It got him sleepnig through the night again. After visiting grandparents for a week and sleeping on their floor (on air mattress), he started having anxiety issues when we returned home about sleeping alone in his room. Dr. told us to give him Benadryl. I questioned him b/c Benadryl works only 4-6 hours, so how would that help us get him sleeping through the night? He said that you enter a light phase of sleep when you've been sleeping about 4 hours. The Benadryl should put him in a deeper sleep, so hopefully he could make it through the light phase of sleep and move back into deep sleep w/o getting up. Lo and behold, it worked! We ended up increasing the Tenex dose and then were able to eliminate the Benadryl.
Jump to a little while later. Something set off another round of anxiety during overnight sleep (not worth going into what, this is long enough!). The Benadryl wasn't working anymore, so dr. suggested doing a melatonin/Benadryl combo. Again, I questioned dr. b/c we had tried melatonin before attempting the Benadryl last time, and the melatonin made no difference. Dr. repeated same concept, that melatonin/Benadryl combo. might work when neither is working by themselves. I am so happy w/ my dr. b/c he was right! We've been doing this for 3 weeks now. We'll soon try lowering the Benadryl and seeing what happens. Goal is to eliminate both Benadryl and Melatonin, but we'll see what he can do. I should mention in case you want to try this. Since your child has issues w/ awakening overnight, if you try melatonin, make sure you get sustained release so it'll keep releasing throughout the night. The regular one releases it all at once.
Your child's issue may not be anxiety, but Benadryl and/or melatonin still might help. It also may pay to explore whether there are anxiety issues.
I hope you figure out a way to get him sleeping. I know how huge of a toll poor sleep takes on everyone! I also hope that, once you get him sleeping, you'll see the behavior issues disappear. There might be more to it, but maybe it's a manifestation of poor sleep.
Melatonin works for my son, and counteracts the sleeplessness sideWe had tried Melatonin about a year ago and actually had reverse effects. It was horrible! He would sleep about 4 hours, then be wired for another 4, usually right around the time we were trying to go to sleep. So I'm desperately afraid to try that again.
We did have the sleep tested before the surgery, but may not be a bad idea to ask for another sleep test now. I'll read through all these great responses again tomorrow morning! Thanks so much!
I recall you getting a lot of heart warming, emotional support and advice on this messge board. There were many that reached out to you in the spirit of being helpsul and supportive. I'm sorry if something said here uspet you
I recall you stating that your child was on Dexadrine for 6 months and doing well at the time. If that has changed perhaps you should get second opinion and also address the sleep problems. Those with ADHD do have problems sleeping but there are also those with a sleep disorder that they are unaware of. A second opinion wouldnt hurt and it would be best to get a definitive diagnosis rather than just treat the syptoms due to the inability to fall asleep. You need to find out why if its not clear. Also, getting asleep study done would be very wise. Good luck.
The regular melatonin releases all of it at once, and it lasts about 4 hours. Try the sustained release and see if it makes a difference. Also, why not try Benadryl? An antihistamine is benign.
hi,