Melatonin virgin - help needed please!

[Chocol8]

My ds (6) was prescribed Melatonin after i had read all the positive things about it on MN. I thought it would help especially with coming back from Spain in the early hours of the morning - less hassle etc.

After waiting for over an hour at the hospital pharmacy, I ran home and gave my ds 1 3mg tablet at 7pm. I waited for 2 hours before I realised that sleep was not on the agenda.

Tonight I gave him 2 tablets at 7...again, nothing. Our consultant said that it may not work for him, but I thought it may have SOME effect - a yawn would have been encouraging, but no, nothing.

Does anyone know if I able to increase his dose to 3 tablets (9mg) tomorrow evening? Will this have a bad effect on him or should I just give up and accept he is immune to it?

Oh ho! I've been meaning to post for a while. After all my big plans I have given up on Melatonin as it seems to have NO effect on my DS at all! I had emailed Paed who said if not effective we could try anti-convulsants!!! Haven't gone back to him about it but will wait for next appt and weather the bad night, they're about 2 in a week Any other views anyone?

Arrrgggghhhh! I was hoping you would say it was fantastic Davros! I am not really happy to give him 3 tablets tonight, besides which I am not sure it is safe.

I had a look back at a past thread and some people do give 9mg, but not happy to. Please if anyone can advise, I would love to hear from you.

ok ds has been on his "melly" now for about 8 months and it is fab,i must say though it worked from night 1.i give him 1 3mg tablet and half an hour later he is sprawled out like the living dead.some times when he is extra high for some reason he has his 3mg and is still awake 1-2 hours later, at this stage i then give him another one and out he goes.His paed said that it doesnt work for all kids and if 1 didnt work i could give him 2 but if 2 didnt work it wasnt going to work as they dont increase it any more than that,this is on a continual basis not just one off nights iykwim.
You could try giving him 1 tab then another 30-40 mins later then wait for the effect to take hold,another thing we do is to open the capsule and give him the contents on a spoon as the powder is released all at once so he gets the full effect straight away rather than waiting for it to dribble out as the capsule breaks down in his tummy-you could try this.Any more questions give us a shout and I'll try to help. BTW ds is 81/2.

Yes, I think its worth keeping going as it seems to work with most kids (all the ones I've heard of ) It definitely doesn't seem to work with my DS but I'll give it one more go as a "control" to check.

been succesful here so wish i could help- only thing i wondered is that we have capsules containing a very fine powder- and when we run out i buy from america tablets.....and have noticed that everytime i use the tablets that sleep is less immediate- i've tried crushing the tablets and they are so bitty that half sticks to the cup....the capsules are excellent as i open them and tip the powder in a drink and they dissolve completely.

our paed will not agree over 5mg!!!!!! though i know on here there are others who are prescribed far higher doses.....so i'm sure someone will help you.

other 'tip' i have is that with thomas (10 adhd/AS) that if he has the melatonin at say 8 i have to get him into bed by 9 (ie isolated- away from distractions etc) and not reading/watching TV in bed etc ....as if he isn't then it's easy to miss the 'peak' of it's effect and we then very quickly have a wide awake lad....so with him the melatonin doesn't have this 'Oh! God I'm so tired ' effect....wereas with leigh it's the totalopisite- he has 1-3mg (as he's not on ritalin etc) and 30 mins later he will lie flat on the floor watching t.v- he will often ask to go to bed.

ritalin reminds me.......does your son have a afternoon/evening dose of it as this will effect the natural body clock making the melatonin have a harder job- in toms case he takes a long acting version called concerta- due to his weight not increasing he's back down to only 18mg - and he takes it at about 7.30am....and it's worn off by 6/7pm....if say your son has a tablet after school or early evening as some do- then this will definitely effect the dose of melatonin- as when tom was on a concerta 36mg tab- his melatonin failed totaly- and he had to be on 5mg (though unofficially i was giving 7.5mg as 5 was not enough) - now we are back to 18mg- the 5mg works...but just to stress that if i were to 'wait' for him to get tired i have a long wait- he has to be 'put to bed' in order for him to fully switch off or 'give in' to tiredness.....ofcourse you may have done this already...just assuming you did what i did which is wait for him to fall asleep! (on his 1st night it was funny as he'd took the dose and we waited........he did yawn (so understand your dissapointment about no yawn) and then i took him and leigh to bed and by the time i'd tucked leigh in and gone to tom- he was flat out and asleep by 9pm....i cried with shock/releif

hope something in here helps.....contact me personally if you'd like to as we both have the dilema of having ADHD/Asperger's ...in mainstream.....medicated (masking the worst behaviours etc....)and it's good to have someone who understands.

as you know i've just moved my sons to a new school and it's the best thing i could have done....but the fact is that 'IF' thomas was not on medication.....HE would have to be STATEMENTED....and i am (like you) stuck in that to 'prove this' would cause too much distress for it to haoppen....however if tom's growth doesn't pick up hen the decision may well be taken for me as he won't be able to carry on taking it if he stops growing (one of the annoying sideffects!)