Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Julieanne

totally exhausted

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone, Just wondered if anyone feels the way that i do?

 

I am totally exhausted and feeling really low as my son needs to be watched 24/7 and doesnt sleep until nearly midnight, and he goes to bed at 7 as he is 9yrs, and it is his routine, then we are up and down to him all night as he wants drinks, toilet, food, diff dvd etc. so the only break we are getting is when he is asleep, we are totally done in. It was the hardest 6 weeks of our lives. His behaviour has rocketted in aggression, pinching, anger and he has made me black & blue. We tried melotonin and it was good at getting him off to sleep but then he would wake at 1am and not go back!

over summer holidays we got so desperate that we ended up putting him on Ritalin he has 5mg twice day but it isnt really calming him like it should, so i will talk to the paed and see if we can ''up'' the dose tommorow.

 

Just at my wits end, i think that everyone else is sat about reading sunday papers and relaxing...i think what is that!? im losing hair through all stress, and i cant take much more...

 

anyone else feel like this?

 

Julieanne x

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So sorry your not feeling at your best, lack of sleep and stressed out on top of everything is going to be hard. I'm not sleeping well at the moment so can sympathise with you on that front. Hope you get the help needed to destress as it will be better for you and your son in the end. I also hope things settle down for him once he's back at school and back into a routine. Take a few deep breaths get a cup of tea and be kind to yourself we are only human after all.

 

Take care Teresa :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree with teresa lack of sleep will make things much more difficult for you all! I spent most of the holiday stopping arguements and trying to keep everyone calm, my house regulary feels too intense, i would love to sit calmly and read a paper on a sunday but no time for that. Its hard when you see everyone around you enjoying their lifes' so to speak' but its good to realise that people everywhere are all struggling in some way, ours may seem more extreme though. My kids go back to school tomorrow i am glad/ relieved as i dont think i would have handled much more. I personally think you need commending for coping so well, as teresa said we are only human! We sometimes just have enough and just want to give up, it will get better soon. Maria x x

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Melatonin levels drop considerablly after 4hrs, if he is going to bed at 7pm and has fallen asleep, then 1am would be 6hrs, you can give melatonin again if they wake up, it could be he requires additional dose.

 

My son takes a liquid type so do look into this as this is quicker too.

 

J does the same with toilet and drinks, so we have a set supper time and he goes to the toilet before he gets into bed and once in bed no more to drink, otherwise he will need to go to the toilet several hours later.

 

If his aggression is that serious where he is causing real harm I would look into some form of conflict resolution, such courses can be found on the british institute learning disabilites, or google conflict resolution in your area.

 

What time is his ritalin doses, if its twice a day, it could be that the doses are too far apart or too close to bedtime routine, also some children can react to what is called a rebound effect, this is where their behaviour is worse than the behaviour before taking it and it is to do with the timing of the doses and how often.

 

The last dose for a child who goes to bed at 7pm should be no later than 3pm, ive got a feeling he maybe takes his second dose around 4/5pm

 

 

I would look into a long acting course of treatment, one that steadily releases the medication over a period, one table a day basically, instead of two, three tablets.

 

It may also be that ritalin is not a suitable medication, and may need to try something different so his medication may need reviewing altogether.

 

Anyway there back at school this week, my advice would be to rest and relax as much as possible for the first few days and take it very slowly and maybe have a few pamper/treat days to restore you.

 

JsMum

 

 

edit to add, please see your GP/Consultant about the medication issues, do not alter or add doses until you have seen a proffessional.

 

 

Edited by JsMum

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can get slow-release melatonin, which will release it slowly over the whole night. If malatonin helped, this might be a better way.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

hi julieanne

sorry things are so hard. I know the feelings you are describing well. It really catches up on you when you don't get enough sleep and then have to cope with extremely challanging behaviour.

My son reacted badly to ritalin in that if really affected his sleep. Also his appetite suffered too and I must admit that I wondered how much the sleep loss and lack of nutrition contributed to his awful behaviour. He initially took the short acting doses but we all suffered as it wore off and then with the longer acting concerta version we found that it stayed in his system far longer than the 12 hours and he would be up until twelve and one. We persevered for a few years only giving the drugs during school terms and stiopping at holdays before finally deciding to stop. It's just wortha thought that increasing the dose might be making things worse. It is very difficult when you get lot of different advice too. Try and get time for yourself to go for a walk, or to meet up and have a moan with your friends. Hopefully once he is back into the school routine he will improve. He has probably beena little anxious with the end of the holidays and school return. I know it is hardbut it will improve.You are copingand just need time t step back and see that.

jessie

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi there,

 

I am at the moment doing a course to become a sleep practitioner for children with disabilities. I am only half way through the course, so am in no way qualified just yet.

 

I can not do a proper assessment from a distance, so can only give a few bits of general advice.

 

The first of this is, is that a child of 9 only needs 10-11 hours sleep a night. So if you are putting your child to sleep at 7, by 5 in the morning he will have had all the sleep that he possibly needs (unless he has additional medical needs of course).

 

The second is, do not give your child anything to drink before he goes to bed or during the night. Do not give him food or drink, or entertain him in any other way - so definitely no DVDs... It is perfectly normal for a child to wake up in the night, as a matter of fact EVERYBODY does this very regularly during the night; the problem is that your son does not go to sleep BY HIMSELF when he does wake; you will have to work on this. Waking up after 6 hours of sleep fits in exactly in the natural sleep cycle, so that again is perfectly normal, as I say, he needs to learn to self-soothe. This may take time but about 95% of children can learn/re-learn how to do this.

 

I hope this is of some use to you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

im comeing at this from a different angle.

 

 

 

I know youre son is only 9 but if youre up and down the steps to him when youre putting him to bed at 7 then theres no point he may as well go up an hour or so later say before the 9 o clocke watershed on the tv..............

 

My son is 15 now so i know im in a different position but he just goes to bed when he feals like it he normally goes at 10 but sometimes on a weekend he isnt tired at this time so we just leave him to it he normally wanders of to bed before midnight..............

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...