GP will not help my son

[mummytotwoxo]

To sum it up my son is neurodivergent. ADHD. We have struggled with sleep for years. The past 6 weeks it's getting really bad, he's taking 3-4 hours to get to sleep and waking and wondering through the night. My daughters HV mentioned discussing melatonin with the GP, I've contacted every day this week, they cannot even call me back for several weeks due to high demand. I called 111 because we had to keep him off school due to not sleeping, 111 doctors booked me in for a same day phone call with my sons gp surgery on Wednesday it's now Friday and no one has contacted me. I don't know what to do☹️

Why didn't you contact the surgery on Wednesday when they didn't contact you?

I tried to call through at 5:30 half an hour before they closed but they wasn't accepting any more calls, I called yesterday and was told the doctor is getting through his list and will contact me at some point yesterday but didn't

Either do an online consult or write to your GP. Phone calls can be forgotton or ignored. Anything in writing has to be read.

Why don’t you go down there?

You won't get melatonin through the GP, at least not in my experience. What you <can> do is ask for a referral to the paediatric sleep clinic, and the consultant there can prescribe melatonin. Once you get the prescription through the consultant, the GP will carry it on afterwards.

I can't make any suggestions about your GP issues but have you tried a weighted blanket? I hate them with a passion but both my DS and DD (both have ADHD) love them and sleep really well. It might help as an easy interim measure if you haven't already tried one.

How old is your DS OP?
at CAMHS the psychiatrists used to suggest trying a drowsy type antihistamine to help with sleep.

He's not under any specialists I suppose? GP may well not give melatonin. My son was prescribed by psychiatrist but as daughter isn't under any care they won't give her anything at all. Antihistamines with sedative effect is all they offer basically. We've tried white noise, lights..loads.

Your title is misleading. It's not that the GP won't help your son, it's that the GP hasn't returned your call.

I'm not sure that GPs can prescribe melatonin. I've only heard of it being prescribed by a paediatrician, CAHMS or psychiatrist.

GPs can choose to take over the prescribing of melatonin under a shared care agreement, once the specialist agrees the initial prescription and the patient is on a stable dose.

The NHS website seems to confirm this.

The referrals have been made but the waiting lists are so long:(

I will mention this thankyou

GP can’t prescribe melatonin unless a clinic has recommended.

They ought to have rung you back though. Something has gone wrong. 111 communications can get lost on the way to the surgery or end up in the wrong inbox there. Please ring and enquire

Not sure for kids but when I spoke to the pharmacist at the practice they said it was listed that it needed to be specialist advised. That the psychiatrist should've started me Melatonin but as a private provider the NHS only funds ADHD medications so I couldn't be. Thankfully they had added the suggestion on my shared care letter so the GP did prescribe it.

Is your dc on adhd medication? Are they reviewed by adhd nurse or someone else from that team.

You'd have to check whether it's safe for your son's age etc., but my teen who had horrendous problems getting to sleep has had amazing results from taking a magnesium glycinate supplement about an hour before he goes to bed. Might be worth looking into as a stopgap.

Does this need to be prescribed by a professional?

It’s not that the GP won’t help, it’s that they haven’t spoken to you yet. I find the most effective way is to ring when the phone lines open in the morning and stay on hold until you get through.

Even when they do, they can only refer to to CAMHS or the paediatric sleep unit, who will look at things like melatonin. (My son got it through a CAMHS referral but it took 11 months)

It’s the NHS. It’s overstretched, under resourced and has waiting lists that break your heart.

Phone them and tell them you will take him to urgent care if you can't speak to someone today - GP surgeries get charged if their patients go there apparently, I was told off by my GP receptionist on the phone for going for a really bad water infection

We also give our DC low dose magnesium for sleep and it works. We also use herbal sleep sprays.

Sometimes we also go for melatonin (bought in the US but you can buy it in the UK for jet lag etc via pharmacies) in mild doses.

You obviously need to be careful with their other medication and the age of the child. But there are other options you could explore whilst you wait on the GP.

Gp will rarely prescribe unless first seen by paediatrics. I actually order it online from Europe as its classed as a herbal vitamin there. No issues with legality bringing it to England. Its even delivered by DHL. It really has been a life saver. Obviously still pursue through paediatrics but I do recommend using here. Ps I do not work them.
https://www.biovea.com/uk/productlist/results?KW=melatonin%20gummies&FiltersObject=%7B%22SortValue%22:%7B%7D,%22PageSize%22:24,%22CompareProducts%22:%5B%5D,%22Brands%22:%7B%7D,%22FormValues%22:%5B%5D,%22PriceRanges%22:%5B%5D,%22Categories%22:%5B%5D,%22objects%22:%5B%5D%7D

My comments have been hidden to be looked at. Hopefully will be approved as I put in a link to biovea website where I get melatonin online from Europe as its a herbal vitamin there.

I'm a GP, unfortunately it's not licensed and GPs have been threatened with GMC referral for prescribing. We are really odd about melatonin in this country - in the US you can buy it in Walmart!

I absolutely definitely wouldn't suggest that you just buy it online. Oh no. Definitely not................

@mummytotwoxo poor sleep can be caused by the adhd meds being at to low a dose so I'd suggest trying to talk to his pediatrician about both his adhd meds and a melatonin prescription.
In the meantime can I suggest warm milk I know it sounds daft but it does help

I know it's online but I'm not confident giving anything to my children that's not professionally certified. I don't know exactly what's in the melatonin online. But in the mean time what do I do, his mood and personality is having a major follow on effect from the lack of sleep

GPS cannot prescribe melatonin. Your son needs a referral to a sleep clinic. You will likely need to complete some work over a period of months with the school nurse before this is made available to you. You can probably self refer to the school nurses.