ADHD - Help and Advice Needed!

[Anna85]

My 7 year old has a dual diagnosis of ASD and ADHD. He is medicated on Ritalin which is 15mg and he has this in the morning!! However when he comes home from school the medication has worn off and he is a nightmare. This will last all night right up until 11pm at night at times until he eventually falls asleep.

What I am wondering if anyone has been through the same and if your child has had a top up of medication when they came home but then again how did that effect their sleeping as he don't go to sleep now?

Thanks in advance!!

My 6 year old is currently on trial medication as they are trying to figure out if he has ASD as well as ADHD. As soon as he leaves the school gates he seems to get an idea into his head about something or other and then proceeds to go on and on about it for hours, including tantrums and hitting ect. It is very waring. We have melatonin to help with the sleep side.

Dd is 5 and has ADHD and we suspect also ASD but no dx yet. She started on the non branded Ritalin and paed prescribed a much lower dose because of her age. But for the first week she was on 2.5mg daily in the morning, then after a week they put it up to 2.5mg in the morning and a further 2.5mg in the afternoon.
This was causing havoc with her sleep so called up paed and he prescribed melatonin as well. It really helps her settle BUT does not stop waking in the night.

Yes we still have waking in the night.

I don't have waking in the night! Its the getting to sleep which is the problem and when you have had so many solid hours of dealing with tantrums, impulsivemess it is tiring and a lot of time won't go to sleep until I am upstairs! But then has tantrums if the light is off, or door shut anything he can think of to have a tantrum about!

Have you tried melatonin?

Hi.
ds is on 18mg concerta xl...hes on slow release,so lasts 12/14hrs
the come down is not great,like right now hes using the sofa as a trampoline!!
hes just had 4mg of melatonin which will kick in,in an hr..
His pead will be seeing him this week and possibly upping his meds to 27mg concerta xl,as they are not doing what they used to,so not sure what will happen to his sleep then! as its fine one night,and not the next.

The one my son is on wears off by end of school and I thought that was the slow release one??

Do different types last longer then others??

If it has xl after it then it is longer lasting than if not.

ds was on one that lasted only the school day,but it wasnt enough,so the pead gave us the concerta,yes the 'xl' last longer,but then you might have some sleep issues.

I already have sleep issues lol!!

Our DS2 is on melatonin. He gets a dosage of the liquid to get him to sleep, as well as a dosage of the time release capsule (opened and sprinkled into mashed banana) to help him continue sleeping during the night. He still wakes up during the night, but not as often and not for nearly as long as previously. We could, if we wanted, get a bit higher dosage which would probably keep him sleeping all night, but we're hoping that if we provide the low dosage, it will get him into slightly better sleeping patterns and he'll start to sleep better eventually. If not, then we'll revisit the idea of a higher dosage.

Hi Triggles not sure if I'm correct but I thought slow release was effective only when in the capsule as it dissolves in the stomach and then the contents get released slowly iyswim. Might explain why he is still waking in the night?

This was a problem for us as dd will not take any form of capsule etc so we have the non slow release version and dissolve it in hot milk. It gets her to sleep but sadly we can't avoid the waking during the night. This was my impression anyway when SIL (a pharmacist) explained it to me. She wont have the slow release Ritalin for the same reason.

Don't know about that. It's possible, which may be why he is waking still during the night, although not as much. But at least at this point it's tolerable. The pharmacist didn't say anything to us about it. I'll have to ask next time I'm in there. DS can't take tablets or capsules. The other melatonin he takes is liquid.

Okay. Found this on NHS site.

Slow release melatonin is usually
prescribed as a tablet, also known
by its brand name - Circadin®,
which should be swallowed whole.
If the slow release tablet (Circadin®)
cannot be swallowed the specialist
may prescribe a slow release capsule
instead. This is because the capsule
can be opened and the contents
sprinkled on cold food (e.g. a
spoonful of yogurt, mousse or
apple sauce).

Ah that makes sense. Sounds as though you have the correct stuff for your ds then.
It may be that SIL was referring to the tablets which have a special coating on them to make the slow release effective. And if crushed then this becomes ineffective. The capsules are obviously not the same.

Believe me, I'll be glad when he reaches a point where he can take a capsule or tablet. But he's nowhere near close to it yet.