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nittenlass

Melatonin

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Hello everyone,

I hope someone can tell me if they have had this happen with Melatonin? My son is 14 and is being "investigated" for possible Aspergers and/or possible ADD so appropriate support can be put in place in High School. Since the beginning of this year, he has been sleeping a lot to the extent that he will not wake up for school. The CAHMS clinic prescribed 3mg Melatonin to try and sort out his sleep cycle problem as one of the first steps. First week, marvellous, it was my son's first complete week at school since March - great! Then the second week was not so good, missed one day at school, then we had the school holiday week. Last weekend my son and his friend were "mugged" in broad daylight and he had his wallet and phone stolen. He is very stressed as a result, so last week was a nightmare for him. He missed school on Monday all day, missed Wednesday and Friday mornings. He just can't waken up. He's totally out of it. He missed school today again. Only woke up long enough to eat a little pasta around 12 noon and fell asleep on the couch again despite my efforts to keep him awake and readying him for school. He woke up eventually at 3pm. He gets really upset at missing school but we don't know what to do to help him. I wonder if the 3mg dosage is too much, or maybe Melatonin has this effect once it builds up in the system? Or perhaps his stress levels being high, it could be working against the Melatonin? We're seeing CAHMS again on Friday. We wonder if we should stop it altogether or give half the dosage. Has anyone had experience like this?

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I'd speak to CAHMS before changing it, we thought that had happened with my son, over affective, but then realised after a week he must have a had a bug or something as the being too drowsy soon wore off after just over a week. He doesn't tend to tell me when he's ill, but he does sleep more. Also took us a while to realise when my son needed it, he now takes it at 6pm, in bed by 7pm, as it takes a good hour to kick in with him. We were giving him it at 9/10pm after struggling to get him to bed but he was grouchy the following day. Hope you get it sorted >:D<<'>

Edited by lil_me

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i did experience a little of what your going through , c was like a zombie in the morning .

c is 6 and was prescribed 2mls at first, this was great to get him off to sleep but he just didnt like to stay asleep so he was prescribed the 2ml as usual and then 3ml slow release when he woke. i found this to much for him and hes been recently put on 2ml instead of the 3ml slow release so hes on 4ml at the mo

 

http://www.autism.org/melatonin.html

 

this is good insite into melatonin ,hope it helps

good luck

micixx

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my son is 14 and has used melatonin for about 2 years now, he has 3mg of a slow release one and is fine on it, if I see he is needing more I stop giving it to him for about a week then start him on the 3mmg again.

 

Try giving it to your son earlier than you've been giving it. Perhaps now he is getting a good sleep he is catching up, then again maybe he is hibernating a bit because of the shock of the mugging, gathering his strength again so to speak.

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J has 7.5mg about half an hour before bedtime - this was the dose he started on and has been on for just over a year.

 

Just a thought:

We get ours from the hospital pharmacy as the paed said that over the counter stuff can vary in strength - where do you get yours from?

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Hello Everyone,

Thank you for all your very helpful replies, they are much appreciated. Apologies that I've not come back on to reply before but we're going through a sticky patch right now - our son missed three days at school last week. We had our clinic visit on Friday and we're going with the half-dose, that's 1.5 mg. Holding our breath - he got up for school this morning and was in early - yay!!

Mother Eve - The clinic wrote a prescription for Melatonin and we got it from Sainsbury's pharmacy. It's in white capsules that can be separated, with powdered Melatonin inside. There wasn't a "medicine guide leaflet" of any sort with it. I seem to remember the pharmacist asking me if it was the slow release we needed when I phoned them. They had to order in extra supplies to make up the full prescription. Our local Boots told me they couldn't supply it as it was not on the recommended list of medicines.

I'll keep you posted on this week's progress - see, I'm thinking positive!!! :)

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i dont know about the fact that its too strong, but yr poor son. I feel for him so much, hope all is better soon. :wub:

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As information for anyone with kids suffering with sleep problems I thought I'd revive this old thread as William has been taking Melatonin since the beginning of January. He is on 5mg and it is working a treat. For the first time in 12 years he has been sleeping through the night (which means I am too :dance: ).

 

He was originally on an anti depressant and respiridone but they were hardly touching him and if anything he was getting worse. I read up on Melatonin and asked his psych if we could give it a try. He's now off all his other meds and taking 5mg of melatonin a night. So far I'm delighted with the result.

 

Lauren

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How young can children start taking Melatonin?

 

I ask this because my 2 year old nephew is a terrible sleeper. He's been with us 7 months now and he was 8 months with his foster carer before that and he hasn't slept well with either of us. His birth parents said he slept fine with them but it's more likely they just didn't hear him and he was cot-bound then :wallbash:

 

Although he does go to sleep around 8.30pm when we put him down he's up and down all night and wears us out.

 

He's NT (we think) and is also a very active sleeper - kicking and thrashing throughout the night

 

I've had 4 kids of my own and although my AS son is a bit up and down at night he at least stays in bed eventually, once 10.30pm comes around.

 

I've never had one like this before!

 

Any advice please?

 

Daisy

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Hi Daisy. I don't know the age that Melatonin can be prescribed. Although I'm sure it's available for toddlers. It's available over the counter in the states. GP's can't prescribe melatonin initially; it has to first be prescribed by a consultant.

 

Sorry I can't give you any more info but I'm sure if you google melatonin you'll find something.

 

Lauren

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I don't know what age either - sorry :( . You could ask the GP and see what they say - even if it means a referral ...

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Its not licensed for children which is why a consultant has to prescribe it. I think it all depends on the consultant if he would prescribed it for such a young age. I think the child also has to have anxiety levels not just sleep difficulties before they precribed it

 

 

Jen

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Daisy. My youngest has occasional sleep problems, particularly in the Summer months. I occasionally (when it gets too much) give him piriton, which works a treat. Vallergan is great; but a word of caution, I once gave it to my eldest son when he was 2 and he did not go to sleep until 9.30 am the next morning (in the car when I was driving my daughter to nursery); phenergan has the same affect on him. You could try piriton, particularly if he's a bit hyper.

 

Lauren

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