Re: We are having sleep problems again. HELP! :(

[Guest guest]

Pat,

What are these and how would they help over the neuroleptics? I have an appt next week with the neuro and have to make a choice about the zyprexa or have some questions about alternatives.

Drissia

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks. Interesting. My son was taking 10ml. of Abilify am and 15 pm. It was horrible. Now it is one am and 5pm. Also 150mg amantadine am and 150 at lunch. Also .5mg. of klonapin 3 x a day. He is still having signs of tarkive dyskenesia and unexplained meltdowns or rages or whatever they are.He has IBS as well so we don't know how much is meds, how much is rage, and how much is pain because he is 19 and mostly nonverbal.

Thanks for your good wishes.

Drissia

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep. . Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming. I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help me??? Thanks,

[Guest guest]

Xanax is an anti anxiety. Klonopin didn't work for Karac, but Xanax made Karac calm and helped him sleep. We used very low dosage. Clonidine is a blood pressure med. And it helped calm Karac. He actually learned to ask for it when he felt a melt down coming on. That was the last med that we used with Karac. Sent from my iPadOn Feb 10, 2012, at 7:52 AM, drissia wright <ritzywright@...> wrote:

Pat,

What are these and how would they help over the neuroleptics? I have an appt next week with the neuro and have to make a choice about the zyprexa or have some questions about alternatives.

Drissia

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

[Guest guest]

We have had excellent results with Clonidine / Catapris.Severe meltdowns went from daily to once every 6 weeks. KateOn Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 8:16 AM, Pkuenstler <pkuenstler@...> wrote:

 

Xanax is an anti anxiety. Klonopin didn't work for Karac, but Xanax made Karac calm and helped him sleep. We used very low dosage. Clonidine is a blood pressure med. And it helped calm Karac. He actually learned to ask for it when he felt a melt down coming on. That was the last med that we used with Karac. 

Sent from my iPadOn Feb 10, 2012, at 7:52 AM, drissia wright <ritzywright@...> wrote:

 

 Pat,

 

What are these and how would they help over the neuroleptics? I have an appt next week with the neuro and have to make a choice about the zyprexa or have some questions about alternatives.

 

Drissia

 

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

 This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep.

..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.

I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

-- Kate MyersTravel Desk773.904.8267 V773.698.8184 F

[Guest guest]

What if the blood pressure is already low?

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

-- Kate MyersTravel Desk773.904.8267 V773.698.8184 F

[Guest guest]

His blood pressure is low to normal but I have a son whose blood pressure spikes when he is under stress(as in fight or flight).

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

[Guest guest]

That would be a question for your doctorSent from my iPadOn Feb 10, 2012, at 8:56 AM, drissia wright <ritzywright@...> wrote:

What if the blood pressure is already low?

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

-- Kate MyersTravel Desk773.904.8267 V773.698.8184 F

[Guest guest]

That was our experience, and no side effectsSent from my iPadOn Feb 10, 2012, at 8:19 AM, Kate Myers <katemyersny@...> wrote:

We have had excellent results with Clonidine / Catapris.Severe meltdowns went from daily to once every 6 weeks. KateOn Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 8:16 AM, Pkuenstler <pkuenstler@...> wrote:

Xanax is an anti anxiety. Klonopin didn't work for Karac, but Xanax made Karac calm and helped him sleep. We used very low dosage. Clonidine is a blood pressure med. And it helped calm Karac. He actually learned to ask for it when he felt a melt down coming on. That was the last med that we used with Karac.

Sent from my iPadOn Feb 10, 2012, at 7:52 AM, drissia wright <ritzywright@...> wrote:

Pat,

What are these and how would they help over the neuroleptics? I have an appt next week with the neuro and have to make a choice about the zyprexa or have some questions about alternatives.

Drissia

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep.

..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.

I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help

me???Thanks,

-- Kate MyersTravel Desk773.904.8267 V773.698.8184 F

[Guest guest]



I understand exeacty how you are feeling. I am 56 and my DH is 58 with COPD but JJ loves us to death and we are his life. I worry about group homes to as JJ has NEVER spent a night away from us. If JJ didn't take the small dose of zpraxa he would be hitting me and tearing up the house and we couldn't make it. Its kinda "Damed if you do and Damed if you don't but you have to do what you have to do.

Does he go to a day program? JJ go's to a day program and has a pretty good team there with him. They take him swimming on tuesday and the mall on fridays.

You might want to give it a try (zpraxa) and see if it helps with the agression. J takes 5mg at night of zpraxa and 2.5mg of resperdal once in the morning and once at night. he also gets a 1mg of aitivin around 3pm to help with anxiety. We just do what we have to do...........((HUGS)) Lois

Re: We are having sleep problems again. HELP!

Lois,

I guess I am trying to decide whether to give zyprexa a shot. I know something has to be done. I know I don't want the end result to be placement for him. I know there is some physical problem but right now we can't let him hurt himself or someone else. I would prefer to see a specialist in treating autism biomedically, to do behavior modification(but am unlearned in that area) and to find a system of communication he can use to tell us what he is feeling. We are working on that but when we show him pictures of feelings he becomes frustrated and always points to the starving picture or the angry picture. We don't understand what he has to be angry about, unless it is because he can't communicate with us. We tried school and it was so bad that he couldn't handle it and we pulled him out. I know he needs a better companion than me, but his only brother has moved away and they have no social gatherings for kids not in school. He takes music therapy, speech therapy, and recently movement and music which we refer to as dance. We would gladly give him ot, pt, or equestrian therapy if we could find someone to take him at his age. All I hear is he is over 18. Yesterday I called a g.i. doc who has been seeing him since he was 10 and they told me we needed to find an adult GI because he was over 18 and they are pediatrics.

His dad is 62 and I am 60. We will only be able to keep him at home a few more years unless things change. The idea of group home placement brings both of us to tears. Drugs are not our first choice but if they can keep him stable for us to try other things and keep on looking for help, then we want the best choice in that too. If it is the zyprexa, so be it. I know it isn't the Abilify. I have read patient reviews that say it's like something is crawling around in your gut night and day. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to face every day like that. No wonder it takes Klonopin to keep him calm.

Thank you for opening a door for me to vent.

Hi all, At just turned 7 year old son Isaiah is not sleeping through the night. Last night proved to be no different. Isaiah will go to sleep after we've given him Clonidine (prescribed by his psychiatrist) and then Melatonin. But then at 1am, 2am, 3am and so on, he is up and tearing through the house. He'll raid the fridge and help himself to things while making major messes. He'll also make so much noise that it wakes us up. His siblings manage to sleep through the night, but me and DH don't.

This is a colossal nightmare for me. We don't see the psychiatrist until September 27th and until then, we can't have anything changed. Has anyone gone through this??? What can we do? DH and I both work full time and for what I do, I have to have my sleep..Isaiah currently takes Abilify 5mg a day in the morning and then 2 tabs of Clonidine at night. I have another friend who suggested that maybe the Melatonin is not as effective and that we should try Benadryl for a week to get him sleepy. When we've given him the Melatonin, We have given him up to 10mg. Isaiah used to be on Risperdal for almost 3 years and this past summer we had it changed. The biggest thing was that Isaiah was starting to be aggressive and now the concern is that he may have ADHD issues. He can't sit still to save his life and this is alarming.I'm also starting to lose it because of the lack of proper sleep. Can anyone help me???Thanks,