• Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 29 subscribers
  • Views 832 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Poor sleep for 17 year old

Gemcat17

Hi there, this is my first time of posting.  My daughter takes Melatonin to aid her sleep but it just does not work consistently.    Many nights she will be awake all night, only dropping off to sleep about 8am!  She is also taking Sertraline.

I often remind her that if she has a healthy routine of exercise, fresh air and a good diet, it may will help her get better sleep.    But for many reasons, she generally ignores me.

Am I right in my advice to her?   Does anyone have advice of how to improve sleep?   Should we go back to the GP and request a change of medication?

many thanks.

  • in reply to Iain

    Good idea on restricting the router so she can't use it. Using a phone or computer instead of sleeping keeps the brain active and stops it from entering "sleep" mode.... basically causing insomnia and other unwanted problems. I would avoid the medication route personally, that generally has a negative effect for people with ASD. My assessors said that. 

    I hope things improve for her soon.

    Wishing you the best, S.

  • Hi, I can totally relate to this. Our daughter is 15 and struggles to sleep. Melatonin didn't prove effective so she's now on an antihistamine based medication. This is definitely more effective. The problem is, she is absolutely addicted to her mobile phone, but would deny it. She says that she's tried on numerous occasions putting it down and just lies awake, so goes to her phone as a distraction. I should have said that she also has ADHD. Routinely she reports not falling asleep until 1-2am and therefore if she has no commitments she will not get up until lunchtime or early afternoon. 

    Our worry is after a long period of not being able to cope at mainstream school or engage in her learning and having online lessons at home at the end of last term, her school have explained that due to all the strategies tried this is really the end of the road. They have been very supportive and tried many different ideas but we all believe that mainstream is just not the right provision for her. 

    Sadly, alternative suitable provision is non-existent and our daughter asked to be allowed to return full time. The school were reluctant but she was so angry and upset that we asked that she be allowed to try. She's attended for 3 days successfully which is a huge achievement but in truth we are shocked and on tenterhooks as we're very worried she'll burnout, which she's done before. 

    I believe that her anxiety about changing schools (if there was one) means that she is working hard to mask and cope as she is desperate not to change schools or be placed into specialist provision for school refusers. 

    Has anyone else experienced this type of sudden (on the surface) improvement? Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

    Thank you.

  • How about controlling more of what she can do during the night by restricting the internet router to disable access between, say, midnight and 6am.

    This means she won't be able to surf, chat, game online during these hours so may just get bored and go to sleep. You may also have to quaranteen her phone overnight too but that is most likely going to become a big issue. The reason for this is it is easy to hotspot off your phone and get online from any device, or even from the phone itself.

    She may have the beginnings of addictive behaviour if she is using this as an escape from her problems, but as you can see it is causing different problems instead.

    I'm guessing this will cause friction between you but if you explain why you are doing it then it may give her no reasonable objection other than you being the worst parent in the world of course...

    It may be worth teaching her about meditation as a way of relaxing an overactive mind - it doesn't work for everyone but is a fairly easy skill to learn. I certainly found it useful enough that I can normally get to sleep in around 20 seconds.

    Medication is probably the last thing to try - a healthy routine is more likely to yield results if you can persuade her to give it a try.

    As a teenager I expect lots of resistance but chances are she will see why you did this for her in due course.

    Good luck