Sleepless Nights | ADHD Information

 I have a son who is 6 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD at 4. He has a wonderful Pediatric Psychologist who, although hesitant, recognized my son's ADHD and suggested a multimodal approach to treating him. Part of the approach includes a presciption for adderall which he takes daily. This has certainly been a positive experience. However, his sleep patterns, before drugs and after, have always been very disruppted and it is rare that he sleeps more than two hours peacefully at a time. He is not experiencing night terrors, but a re-living of all the days experiences, specifically the ones that he seems to have a hard time with. He has tried melatonin and is now on a prescription which was used for high blood pressure patients. They have fould this drug to be beneficial to children like my son. This does not seem to be helping shut down his sensory system, which must be on overload, either. I guess I looking for any suggestions or experiences others may have had with ADHD and sleep(lack of it).  Sleepless in MN

Sleepless,

Unfortunately I don't have any help for you and your son, but I will pray for you.  I hope someone here on the board has a positive experience they can share with you that might help.

One thing that I have noticed with my son is that since he has started meds, he has to re-learn all the things that we take for granted everyday. He notices now that he is different from other kids in his thoughts and behavior.  His teacher told me that he has become some what of a tattle tale because he notices things like kids cutting infront of him in line and he can hear snickers when he does something that is not in the ordinary. 

If you have the time, have a look at some of these websites, they might benifit your son!

http://www.sensoryint.com/faq.html

 

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/ChildBehavior/messages/31843a. html

 

http://www.si-challenge.org/faqs.php

 

http://www.incrediblehorizons.com/sensory-integration.htm

 

Cindy38138.8541666667My son is ADHD and is 9  He has a hard time going to sleep every night. The only thing we have done is let him lay there he cant get up and with in an hr or so he will go to sleep. try putting something that glows on the walls something he can look at so his eyes will get sleepy good luck hope this works