nightmare’s in adhd child | ADHD Information

No nothing, I took her off everything on for 2 days, unable to contact her md. started her back on vyvanse yesterday. Also she stayed up till 3am on both days w/o meds so had to put her back on clonidine & melatonin sos far so good, im thinking her system needed a break i dont know. however she is like a wound up toy that never winds down w/o any meds. would apprec. anymore advice. Also no nightmares for last 2 nights.I'm not sure how much advice I can offer you but I can relate.  Our DS8 has nightmares (more like night terrors) on a regular basis and has since he was a toddler.  When he was a toddler, the night terrors only occurred when he was cutting teeth, after that they seemed to go away for a while.  I can't pinpoint when they started again...we started him on meds when he was 5 has been on them since.  We've dealt w/the nightmares/night terrors for so long that I can't remember when they stated again or whether or not it was related to his meds.  It usually happends within an hour or two of going to sleep, he will come out of his room (or try to, sometimes he's so disoriented that he can't even get the door open) screaming bloody murder.  It is terrifying & he is soaked w/sweat and his heart is pumping like crazy.  We can usually get him calmed down within a few minutes & he's able to go back to sleep but it is frustrating that he is so scared.  We haven't been able to pinpoint if it's related to certain events or not, it's random.  Sometimes it will happen 3 or 4 nights in a row, other weeks we go many nights without any.  One thing that we have noticed is that he is scared of the dark and tends to pull his covers completely over his head when he sleeps.  We have a lamp in his room so his room isn't even very dark, but he is still uneasy about it.  I have started making his bed so that his covers only come as high as his chin so he can't pull them over his head and it seems to help.  It seems like the hotter he gets & the less he can breathe (cause he is totally wrapped up under his covers), is when these events occur.  Our son also has some sensory issues and we use the brushing technique at bedtime and he sleeps w/a weighted blanket, which seems to help calm him some.  Sorry I don't have any advice on how to cure it....but at least can tell you that you're not alone. epokey40672.4181828704My daughter had night terrors.  I'm trying to think back but I think they happened from abut age 4 to age 7.  She would wake up crying, screaming, sometimes clawing at her face.  We could not snap her out of them and this would last for half an hour.  Finally she would fall asleep.  I tried giving her a juice box, bringing her in the living room with the TV on and turning on the lights, but only time worked.  Thank goodness she had no recollection of these night terrors the next morning.  Like epokey, it always happened 1 or 2 hrs after first falling asleep.    She was not on any meds so they were not the cause.  I really feel for you because this was truly horrible.
I wonder if a fan in the bedroom keeping him cool might help.  My daughter has always gotten really hot when sleeping, often stripping down to her undies and absolutely can not fall asleep if it's not down right chilly in her room.  A fan has always helped. 

Yep, he sleeps w/a fan on and only sleeps in shorts with his sheet & his weighted blanket.  I think the problem for him is that he pulls the covers over his whole head & literally tucks them in around his head.  I'm sure he can't breather very well when he does this, which I'm sure would give the same feeling as suffocation & probably causes his terrors.  Like I said, I've started making his bed w/his covers pulled further down & we've convinced him to only pull them up as far as his ears...it seems to really make a difference. 

For spivey19, does your daughter get hot when she sleeps?  Or have any other issues w/being afraid of the dark?  Has she been dx with any sensory issues?  Perhaps some sensory diet exercises could help calm her, such as the brushing technique.  Just a though.

My child has been having nightmare's on a regular basis. She is 8yrs has been on meds 4 yrs, currently taking vyvanse 50mg, 3mg intuniv all given in am, also takes clonidine & 3mg melatonin for sleep. aWas also taking benadryl, however dr recomm stopping benadryl & increasing melatonin to 5mg. has been on this for about 3 days still nightmare's. I am a nurse & open to any other opinions or recomm.

Have there been any changes recently, either in medication or in something happening in her life?

My son was having nightmares if he had too high of a dose of melatonin.  In some people it will cause very vivid or bad dreams.  Sometimes it was only a small amount too much of the melatonin.  Like, we would give him half a mg and if it was a little more than half he was having nightmares.  Once we got the dose figured out, he seemed to be fine and not have them anymore. 

He also had them around the time that I upped his dose of guanfacine.  We are still not sure if that was the cause or not but it seemed to be in the same time frame and lasted about 2 months. Could have maybe been anxiety but we are not sure.  We put a night light in his room and if he was too worried to go to bed we would let him sleep in his brothers room. He is not currently having nightmares.  He is on Adderall XR 15 mg and 2 1/2 mg of gaunfacine.