Hospital/s no longer giving melatonin?

[Marne]

At dd's ped apointment today we were told that they (ped's) have been told not to prescribe melatonin for any more children (your ok if your child already gets it). The ped was very angry about this and said its unfair that parents may be forced to buy online.

Has anyone else heard this from their clinic/hospital or is it just ours?

Unfortunately it never worked for DS he's now 16 and has only ever slept properly when ill.

The Paed arranged for ds2 to get his melatonin on repeat prescription via the GP but I was hoping that ds1 might be able to start taking it.

The respite cuts sound awful. :(

Why I don't push the respite as am to scared of being seen as not coping :(

I'm more worried what's ds going to do as older they said sn schemes not right for him SW is admant

then ms said sorry but without extra staff for him he can't come so unless I go he not do anything

I would say, 'I can't believe that' but actually I can.

Well that may explain why we got such a positive response from L's team when I told them I was giving him real food via his tube. Officically we shouldn't be doing it but they are being very helpful about the whole thing...........maybe because we are saving them £600 per month by not using tinned formula and goodness knows what for tubes etc for the pump we no longer need!!

Grrr on behalf onanyone not able to access the stuff they need. xx

Does anyone know if it's being stopped for existing users ?? Just told my poor sis and she went a wee bit pale

Social Service refused us respite on the basis that ds doesn't need to be up all night if we took him to the doctors for melatonin!

That's bollocks, melatonin only helps them go to sleep, it dosen't stop them waking at stupid o clock which is the reason ds isn't on it

Please don't panic. Your sleep-deprived mental breakdown would be far worse for the GP's notional budget than a dc's melatonin (special brands possibly excepted). So make it clear what'll happen, and they'll either prescribe it or (if they don't feel confident with it as it's usually a non-GP drug) will hassle the hospital to.

PS forgive namechange, still maria

community doctors(the ones that come into schools)...they're on the list as are OTs and PHYSIOs.....

Ooooohhhhhhh, bloody hell, think i'm going to shunt ds in for an appt then, see what freebies are left

....but on the subject of respite,we've just been given a bit more. mmmm wonder how long thet will last then

that

DS has just been prescribed melatonin on the recommendation of his residential school - I expect that made it more likely that he'd get it prescribed, as it was clear he still had sleep problems with lots of care staff in place and it wasn't just because his mum had an ineffective sleep routine.

I've tried to pick up his new capsules today and I was told by the pharmacist that the version he's been prescribed is a 'special' and no longer licensed, so it's taking longer to order it in. Apparently the longer-releasing version is licensed and can be more easily ordered. It's only available as a tablet though and DS has always had capsules or liquid medicine, not sure if he would manage tablets. Does anyone know how big the tablets are?

This is outrageous- we shouldn;t be forced to buy it off some dodgy dealer on the internet ffs.......

Btw- I'm a member of the ACT Now autism group on Facebook, which records the cuts and is writing to MPs etc- if you're interested, it's at:

www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_163930856972146&view=doc&id=179332205432011

autismcampaigners.blogspot.com/p/can-you-help-us-to-record-cuts.html