Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Tarver, Hi. Welcome to this site. It is so helpful for us all. My daughter (dd) has always had trouble falling asleep...or wanting to go to bed. She has NEVER fallen asleep in front of the TV, even with 105 degree fever. It used to take her a long time to fall asleep, and thus, the anxiety began. I remember early on her saying that she couldn't get thoughts or songs out of her head. At night there was time to think of all these things. SInce being on medication, bedtime is much better. IT is just the rituals around getting ready for bed which are challenging now. It is frustrating. Over the years we tried everything to get her to stay in her room and go to sleep. Being the first child, we didn't realize for a while that it was kind of " pathological " . Anxiety comes out at night for lots of kids. Currently, besides her SSRI, we give a different med before bed to help relax her and make her tired. Lots of luck. ELlen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Thank you so much for your timely reply, I can relate to almost every point...so how did you know it was OCD as opposed to an anxiety disorder or is OCD part of an anxiety disorder.....here are a few things I have started doing to ease the bedtime issue: 1. When he gets in bed I give him a 2 minute heads up that I will be in to tuck him in. He takes a sheet of paper and writes down all thoughts/things he needs to get out of his head. 2. I come into his room, sit on his floor and set a timer for 6 minutes. He has the full 6 minutes to get everything out, this includes a bedtime ritual or two that we do together. 3. When I leave out of his room and the thoughts pop into his head that he feels he MUST tell me, he has 3 choices. A. Deal with it himself, think it through, organize the thought and try to file it away in his head for the next day. (I encourage this, because it teaches him that he can deal with these things on his own)...Doesn't happen too often, but when it does he is very proud of himself the next morning. B. Write the thoughts down in a journal he keeps by his bed. He has a variety of different color pens and pencils to try and make this option appealing. This works well sometimes. He then brings his journal into my room while I'm getting ready the next morning and we discuss his thoughts/questions or sometimes the next morning the things we wrote down don't interest him and we just turn the page in the journal ready for the next night. C. He can get up and come and get me, however he looses his TV privledges for a minimum of 1 day maximum of 3 days. This process has really worked well for us, it is also very encouraging for him to have options on how to deal with his anxiety. There are some nights that writing it down works and then there are some nights that he absolutely must come tell me something...he says its like a broken record in his head and he can't get it out....and on those nights it's worth it to him to lose his TV privledge to come tell me " I can't sleep " even if he has only been in bed for 5 minutes. Another tip we use is the good dreams process: My son is a critical thinker, During our night time ritual I give him good dreams, which are actually just things for him to concentrate on instead of concentrating on the fact that he thinks he can't go to sleep. Some examples of these things are: Pretend your in a grocery store with an empty basket, fill the basket up with groceries starting with the letter A and going to the letter Z (i.e. apples, banannas, coke, donuts, so on and so forth)....other good dreams I give him are things I call story starters....Once Upon a time a little boy and girl went into the forest and found a huge treasure chest, they worked to pry the lid off and they found the most unique thing inside......(and let him make up the rest of the story while trying to fall asleep)..... Anyway, Its is good to know that I am not alone and that are other parents out there going through similar experiences..... Thanks, Tarver --- musicgirl9395 <musicgirl9395@...> wrote: > Tarver, > Hi. Welcome to this site. It is so helpful for us > all. My daughter > (dd) has always had trouble falling asleep...or > wanting to go to bed. > She has NEVER fallen asleep in front of the TV, even > with 105 degree > fever. It used to take her a long time to fall > asleep, and thus, the > anxiety began. I remember early on her saying that > she couldn't get > thoughts or songs out of her head. At night there > was time to think of > all these things. > SInce being on medication, bedtime is much better. > IT is just the > rituals around getting ready for bed which are > challenging now. It is > frustrating. Over the years we tried everything to > get her to stay in > her room and go to sleep. Being the first child, we > didn't realize for > a while that it was kind of " pathological " . > Anxiety comes out at night for lots of kids. > Currently, besides her > SSRI, we give a different med before bed to help > relax her and make her > tired. Lots of luck. ELlen > > > > __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Thanks for the good dream tips!!! My 5 year old has a real hard time falling asleep because this is the worst time for his bad thoughts. I will try your ideas!!! Jodi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Hi Jody and list, here are some other bedtime tips for OCD kids: read a chapter book to them, a little each night, even if they are older and readers themselves. Also there are several tapes and CDs available of either calming music or bedtime stories read in a monotone LOL that may distract your child from thoughts/anxiety and allow him or her to drift to sleep. Older kids may drift off from listening to soothing music over headphones--no rock and roll though! Warm bath or shower (unless OCD infested), carbo snack before bed, no TV or gameboy before bed; some have had success with lavender oil on the pillow. Someone else had her older daughter shower using a baby bath wash promoted to be calming, with lavender and ? another soothing scent or herb. For those willing, Benedryl given about an hour before bed worked well for my child, it made her sleepy and so she fell asleep, obsessions and anxiety and all. Others have given melatonin, which is available OTC as well. Both of these should be cleared by your docs though. If you know your child's ssri or etc. med makes her or him drowsy, ask the doc if it can be given at bedtime to take advantage of that side effect. Also there are several rx meds that pdocs may prescribe to help with sleep. Sleep disorders and difficulties are common in OCD and many brain disorders. Our kids more than most need to have regular bedtimes and wakeup times, even on the weekends and during school vacations. Basic good sleep hygiene is helpful. Your child may benefit from a sleep study if a sleep disorder is suspected. Take care, Kathy R. in Indiana ----- Original Message ----- From: <mamafaerie@...> > Thanks for the good dream tips!!! My 5 year old has a real hard time > falling asleep because this is the worst time for his bad thoughts. I > will try > your ideas!!! Jodi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2005 Report Share Posted July 22, 2005 Thank you so much Kathy, I used the grocery store dream last night and he actually stopped thinking bad thoughts and started thinking about veggies. And then he fell asleep!!! Thanks again for all your tips! Jodi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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