ADHD and Sleeping

When my son was taking a higer dose of a stimulent drug, the Dr. put him on a very low dose of Clonidine 30 minutes before bed. There are options - but you'll have to talk to the Dr. about what they are. I suggest, rather than adding another drug to the mix, trying to find a drug thats better suited to him - these ADHD meds aren't one size fits all - we went thru many of them before we found the right combo for my son.

I also had a kid with ADHD who was on stimulant drug during the day and a low dose of Clonidine right before bed... it did help him sleep - he had a horrible time getting to bed. When they took him off of the Clonidine, he had a hard time sleeping again... I didn't know if it was the stimulant drugs or just his ADHD. We tried Stratera for a while at night... now he's 18, out of high school and works nights and sleeps in the day so it doens't matter anymore... I would document times and behavior you notice and take to the psychologist or med review person and discuss options... good luck!

Give them a little time before you consider changing the meds, if they have only been with you a short while. Could just be adjusting to a new situation, and facing fears at night. Just keep track and let the doctor know for now. When my daughter first moved in, she fought sleep and had PTSD, so also had nightmares. Now she is still ADHD, but sleeps like a rock.

I totally agree with Peggy - There are side effects to many of the meds that may only cause more problems. Document and talk to the doctor, but also try to be as educated as possible about the different medicines available... Clonidine is an aweful drug in my opinion... it made "A" more moody, too groggy, and just not himself... he didn't like the way it made him feel. The first day he took it he fell asleep in class, turned a gray color, and drooled all over his schoolwork... very unlike him as he was usually a bundle of energy and the class clown!! Clonidine did cause him to be hungry - where the stimulants severely reduced his apatite causing him to loose weight when he didn't need to. Good luck!

We decided not to medicate our son for ADHD or sleep issues. The possible side effects of these drugs are really horrible. And we just didn't feel comfortable giving them to a child who at the time wasn't even 40 lbs. Our son's pediatric neurologist suggested melatonin, which has worked well and is something the body naturally makes, to help with sleep issues. We also use warm milk, as funny as it sounds it seems to work. Instead of stimulant drugs we opt for coffee. Almost 2 years later it's working well. There are so many options out there. -LeenaB

If you are not getting the results you want, you may do better talking with a child psychiatrist, rather than a pediatrician. The child psychiatrist will be more comfortable with other treatment options and be more up on the latest. For example, there are not stimulant medications that are very effective for ADHD, such as Strattera. good luck

I do agree that a psychiatrist would be 100 times better because that is their specialty. Personally I was a very hyper child and used to be a semi hyper adult. I discovered that my hyperactivity was actually a serious sleep disorder along with some anxiety. My body doesn't get enough of stage 2 or 3 (forgot which stage) sleep, which is so important. Due to this, I wake up extremely tired and for some reason it made me very hyper as a child. I believe a lot of children who have been dx as having ADHD actually have sleep problems or are just very anxious...I noticed this testing children in the schools, at least the anxious part. As far as the sleep problems, I have only noticed that with myself because that is not my speciality. I have read some articles that correspond to this hypothesis.

...I have found Clonidine to be a very effective drug with certain individuals. Everyone is so different. Unfortunetly as most of you know, medication is a trial by error method and often takes a long time for an individual and psychiatrist to really know what drug works for them. It's difficult to know what is really out of whack: domamine, seratonin, etc....so many neurotransmitters come into play..Other meds do effect sleep although they make you fall asleep quickly. I realized that some of the meds actually made me fall asleep but highly affected the stages of sleep I was already lacking, so I woke up feeling more groggy although I felt like I slept a lot...again everyone is just so different.

We have our son on 500 MCG of chewable melatonin and it's been wonderful for him. He now goes right to bed and falls asleep quickly instead of the 3 hour fight to keep him in bed prior. He told us before that his head is thinking so fast that he can't sleep. He wakes up happy and a lot less grouchy. I have felt that if there is a safe alternative to medicating him I will try it. Becki

I completely don't know if this is true or a fallacy...I should do more research. I too like melatonin as it has helped me as well. I really hope you can follow this...it is very hard to follow and try to explain what I am trying to say...I do remember reading or hearing, however, that as you get older, melatonin naturally slowly decreases which is the reason why most older people don't have the need to sleep as much. Along with that I read or heard that the manufactured melatonin that we give ourselves or kids to fall asleep could actually affect are natural melatonin in our system and make it so it will become more difficult as we get older to fall asleep naturally. The manufactured melatonin does something to our natural melatonin in that it kind of replaces it and makes our natural melatonin decrease quicker, thus making it even more difficult to fall asleep. This could be a bit different then being dependent on medication to fall asleep (again, I don't know really - I am not expert and am just trying to get answers really). If anyone can actually follow what I am trying to say, have you heard of this or is this just completely a fallacy??? Perhaps what I heard or read is completely wrong. It was a few years ago. I know that I heard it somewhere and no longer use it out of fear. Can someone please clear this up or direct me to some good research articles that can help me or a reputable med website that can help me.. I have just been curious about this for such a long time.Thanks for bringing up melatonin!