Hi there,
My daughter is 10 and on Ritalin for 2 years and has great difficulty falling asleep.
Any sugestions? The doctor said Benedryl but that doesn't seem to work anymore although I only gave it to her a couple of nights a week
A doctor giving a 10 year old something to help them sleep is a bit odd, and in my opinion not a good idea!
Ritalin is known for upsetting sleep. What dose do you have your daughter on? Is it long acting or short acting?
I seriously urge you to see another doctor about this, using Benedryl to help your daughter sleep is basically using a side effect of a medication to serve a purpose. And I may be mistaken, but is frowned upon by doctors!
Our ped told us to try and stay away from stuff like Benadryl and cough syrups. She said that once or twice is ok if she is sick, but otherwise try not to do it becuase it can react differntly every time.
Melatonin helps too, but you'd have to get doctor approval even though it's an herb. Can you give her the last dose earlier? Good luck.
Cindy, I agree with you opinion on using Benedryl that way, but I have seen numerous posts from parents who say their dr. advised this.
Fergie, We used meds for awhile and had this problem also. Some things you might try:
-Give a calcium/magnesium supplement about 30 min before bed. We use one that has 200 mg of each and our ds takes 2 at bedtime.
-There are essential oils that some advocate dabbing on the pillow that encourage sleep. I think it is lavendar oil; haven't used this but have read that it works for others.
-To try to re-establish her sleep cycles, you can use melatonin. We used the 1 mg sublinguils by Source Natural. These worked like a charm for us. He would get visibly sleepy within 30 min. (You take it 30 min before bed.) Some drs say you can use this long term. I don't think that is a great idea. We used it for several weeks to get habits established and sleep cycle set. It brought welcome success when we really needed it.
Others may have some suggestions too; these are just some ideas for you to consider. Good luck (and sweet dreams).
Hi, I have never been on Ritalin, however I did have a sleeping problem when I was younger. I guess the problem existed because of my "overactive" brain. I learned to sleep by snoring while flooding my mind with calming images. Basically what I do is i close my eyes and relax to slow my breathing. I then snore on inbound breathing cycles (slow, methodical, and evenly timed). While i do this I flood my mind with images and concentrate on the details of the image. (i.e i like to fish and it relaxes me so i imagine a lake with fog and trees and all sorts of details and i concentrate on the details). I believe the snoring vibrations/ echos break my "focus lock" and within 5-30 minutes I am sound asleep depending on how many things are on my mind at the time. The only sleeping problem I have now is that I have to sleep alone :) I'm not sure if this practice is "healthy" and since I have never gone to a doctor about my adhd "gift" you may want to seek professional advice before trying it. Good luck, hopefully everything will turn out well for your daughter.
I have read everyones posts here and a few things came to mind. One of the biggest is how do you know that he is just a kid that is having troubles sleeping at night like many others? My daughter doesn't have ADHD but I have a hard time with her getting to sleep... if I gave her benidryl to help her sleep at night, would that be ok? I don't think so! It would be the same as giving her nyquil or any other medication that has a seditive side effect. So why is this ok to use on children with ADHD?
Paul is completley right with his post saying that you don't want to build up some kind of resistance to a medication that your child might need in the future. His and the other posts in this thread made me realize something! I use a method for getting everyone to sleep easier in my home including myself! We have used it for so long that I don't even think about it anymore.
I have a simple fan in every bedroom including my own. The white noise and the movement of the air is very calming. I can't sleep without it.
In my humble uneducated opinion, benadryl which is an antihistamine should only be used on a selective bases. You never know when you'll need it to counter an allergic reaction (bee stings, allergic reaction to some food, etc) so I would hate to have built up some kind of resistance.
I've discovered that though well intentioned, that my son's pediatrician reached a knowledge ceiling when treating our guy's ADHD. Fortunately, at that point he willingly admitted his shortcoming and referred us to a psychologist who only dealt in pharmachological solutions (he had no couch in his office). I'm not saying one is better than the other, it's just that after much testing and several opinions there was no doubt that meds were going to be part of our son's immediate life. With that in mind, I felt that having a pharmachological expert on my son's team was the way to go. So far it's worked, especially considering that 'med stabilization' for an ADHD child is only a transient state that needs to be managed as the child's phsically grows (weight, age, puberty, etc. ).
Paul
I have been taking Ritalin for 11 years now and have had a problem getting to sleep for as long as I can remember. Melatonin worked good for me, but someone told me to try warm milk, and as much as it sounded gross, it helped me fall asleep.