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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.

Parents

  • 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.

Reply

  • 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.

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