Sleep help....
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| Sun, 08-26-2007 - 1:53pm |
Hi all,
My ds has always had sleep probs. He doesn't seem to require that much sleep...but this is totally ridiculous. He has stopped sleeping. He goes to bed, but never goes to sleep. He stays up all night in his room, playing gameboy, looking at Pokemon cards, staring at the ceiling. The weird thing is the next day he's fine. He doesn't look sleepy, doesn't nap and will stay up the next night. I'm getting rather frightened that he's having some manic episode. He's always been rather hyper. I'll play with him and he'll start to pummel me and he thinks he's doing it lightly but it hurts. He gets so ramped up that he's very difficult to calm down. He'll run from room to room like a wildman. The staying up all night is new though. This is even with melatonin. I think last night he slept a 1/2 hour. I've never seen someone exist on so little sleep. Is this an AS thing or something else?
I'm not sure if this is allowed on Ivillage, but I'm looking for a good therapist for ds in Massachusetts. Anyone have any suggestions. Thanks
Jen


I think you might want to have him evaluated for a mood disorder.
Hi Evelyn,
I was thinking mood disorder too. You hit the nail on the head when you said that his behavior was like he was on drugs. That's what I say to my dh. It's like he's on speed.
I agree about the therapist as well. We do have a psychiatrist but he doesn't do much therapeutic work with us. He just prescribes meds. Is that normal? Billy likes him quite a bit, but he doesn't really seem to do much for us. Does yours do therapeutic work as well. Bill has massive anxiety along with this sleep thing & the manic behavior. I remember mentioning it to the pdoc when he was about 4 thinking he was bipolar and he nixed it. I'm still seeing the same behaviors that he attributed to the AS but they just don't look right. Thanks so much for your input.
Jen
Jen
Jen,
I agree with Evelyn that professional help is warranted at this stage.
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I feel for you! You must not be getting much sleep either! I take ds to a university hospital clinic, he sees a psychiatrist, but also a behaviorist. I would look into finding a behaviorist for your ds. The other thing is make sure that they specialize in child and adolescents. The behaviorist is a psychologist, so can't prescibe meds, but words WITH the psychiatrist. Not sure I'm much help but good luck!
Carey
Now a days Jen it is normal for the Physcologist to help with therapy, and the Pysciatrist to just help with meds. It used to be where the Pysciatrist did both, but not anymore.
Combining the two is the best bet for him.
And both will definetly help with sleep. My youngest doesn't respond at all to melantonin either, so the doc put him on clonodine (for rages and tics) and it makes him fall right asleep.
Good luck hon.
Lainie
Chiming in to say that we have Malcolm seeing a psychotherpist who does specialize in working long-term with children on spectrum and other neurological challenges. We also see a psychiatrist for meds and he has stayed involved with decisions, etc. all along.
Sending you (((((HUGS)))))
Sara
Thank you everyone. Things are getting worse as school rolls around. Ds is 8, will be 9 in October and I don't think he's attended one year of school without me having to either be in the classroom or in the building. Tonight we had to visit dh's father in the hospital and ds was calling my cellphone weeping because he misses me and is worried I'm going to get killed/hurt. His anxiety level is ramping up and his meds aren't doing a thing anymore.
I don't know if the sleep issues are tied in to this or if its a manic episode, but we've definitely need some help. My poor boy. It just breaks my heart.I've got a call into his pdoc ( who never calls me back) and his ped. who is awesome. Thank you all again for your replies.
Jen
Jen