This has to have been one of the worse days ever! As you know Ryley has severe ADHD (yes that is one of his labels!) and he started medication to help him focus and to be less impulsive because he is a danger to himself and others.
Well one of the side effects he has experienced is insomnia – severe – as in as soon as his medication wears off in the evening he is wild again and unable to sleep until about 3am – NO KIDDING! Of course once the morning rolls around he is so tired and doesn’t want to get up in the morning.
Finally today I was sick of the drama and torture (for me) in trying to get him up and ready for school so I said “Forget it! No medication today so hopefully you will sleep tonight!” What difference would one day make? HUGE! OMG!
At around noon I get a phone call from the school office informing me that the principal was in Ryleys classroom and she was requesting that I come to the school. Shit! Really!
Lucky for me my father in law was here so I didn’t have to drag out Thatcher and Tanner but I was not impressed.
When I got to the school I waited in the principals office for her and Ryley to arrive – all I could hear was Ryley laughing hysterically and shouting as he ran down the hall. Ugh!
Once they got into the office I could tell that Ryley was completely off the wall and wired. What exactly had he been up to all morning? Here is a quick list:
Running out of the classroom and doing cartwheels down the halls
Being a menace during carpet time and disturbing everyone
Roofing his brothers hat onto the portable during recess
pulling the fire alarm
talking back to the teachers and principal
Apparently the Principal had to stay with him for almost the whole morning because they were afraid of what he would do.
I called the Doctors office to see what we could do – obviously he cannot be off the meds but we need to fix the sleep. Tonight we tried giving it to him before bedtime so we will see what happens but it is now 11:43pm and he is still up……. sigh………
Have you ever been called to your child’s school to come and get him or her because they were misbehaving or out of control?
Until next time
Chantel,momof8crazymonkeys
Hi. My son has ADHD and an anxiety disorder. We tried three different ADHD meds before we found one that was the least disruptive to his sleep schedule. One of them kept him up until all hours of the night as well. Have you tried different meds? My guy regularly has trouble sleeping. He can’t turn his brain “off” at night. I was thinking of trying relaxing music (sound of rain or ocean or something?) and melatonin. I’ll let you know if that works for us. Good luck, I hope you get it sorted out.
I have 5 children and all of them have ADHD. Life before they were put on medication was hell for both them and myself. The schools would always centre them out and blame them for something. Once they were diagnosed it became a different story. Programs were altered, teachers were more understanding, what a load of crap. All children should be treated the same regardless of whether they have a medical problem or not. Teachers today don’t seem to be able to handle them. There was no such thing as ADHD when I was a child now it seems every child has it. Teachers used to be able to deal with behaviours and still teach, don’t know what happened.
You can definitely notice a difference in my children if they miss their medication. Although the school doesn’t seem to be as ready to call. As for the sleeping, my one daughter had Clonidine perscribed, this did help her with the sleeping and she continued to take this until she was a young teen.
I was going to suggest melatonin as well. My daughter with severe anxiety takes it before bed and all her doctors have said it is quite safe. Usually we give her 5mg but she has had 10mg before when she’s really wired and/or perseverating and can’t sleep. Never had any ill effects and some of the folks in the parenting support group I’m in give their kids 10mg regularly with no ill effects.
Don’t have any personal experience with ADD/ADHD meds so can’t comment on that one.
Thanks Jlie my fingers are crossed:)
Thank you so much! My older son takes it at night and it helps him sleep (he is ADHD / aspergers / bipolar) so I did try it on Ryley but it didn’t help at all. Our Dr. spoke to me today and told me to try him on 6mg instead of the 3mg so we will see if this works tonight – fingers crossed:)
Ask your physician about Melatonin. It is generally safe and effective for helping with sleep and is sold over the counter at your pharmacy. Two studies also show a small dose of stimulant med just before bed sometimes works.
agh, i’m so sorry. i don’t think i’ll be on “that” side of the call but it has happened in my daughter’s class and it was kind of like your situation. she talked to me about it and (thanks to you and your experiences) i talked to her about what the situation could be and not that the “bad kid” was actually being bad.
honestly, i don’t know what her situation was but, i think, without me reading your column i probably would have said that maybe hanging out with her was a bad idea.
i hope you guys find something that works for you!
Hey Chantel,
Yep! Emma missed one day of meds and that was not fun for her at school. We did get a call, but we didn’t have to pick her up. At the time, she was attending a private school and had a teacher that worked with her about 75% of the time, so she had things under control. Emma just gets very unfocused and silly, usually resulting in her making poor choices and being disruptive when the other kids are trying to work (like erasing someone’s math work). Even if we are a few hours late in getting her the meds in the morning (like a weekend), the morning does not go smoothly and usually involves lots of yelling.
I am sure you have done this, but have you asked the doctor about changing the meds or dosage. When Emma went on her meds, it actually helped her sleep better, however, we did change to another one because her anxiety increased (which was a side effect). Keep your chin up! You are a GREAT mom!