13 year old dd falling asleep in lessons

[ReflectiveGilet]

Unsure if I should post in health. Dd2 is in year 8. Her teacher has spoken to her today very kindly about her falling asleep in lessons and encouraged her to talk to me about getting her checked for anemia.

We already have bloods booked end of the month. Gp booked then after prescribing her the contraceptive pill got awful heavy and painful periods. we are 3 weeks in to that. We have had a paediatrician for about 3 years as she has diagnosed IBS and she is medicated for that. We have an appointment coming up so I will be reporting this and asking for help.

She goes to bed around 10 and gets up at 6. She leaves the house for the school bus at 7.15 so not much I can do about that.

This started about a year ago and her teacher is right it’s got much worse. I feel a bit scared now. She is very active, does 4 hours of dance a week which she loves. She is lean and muscly. She snacks like all teens but she eats meat and 2 veg type meals most days. She has a packed lunch because I don’t want her eating friend beige food at school.
When she goes to bed she usually goes straight to sleep. She rarely wakes in the night.
i am panicking as she loves school and gets on with most teachers but she is clearly struggling.
Im worried she doesn’t eat v much at school so we have agreed to much more snacks - friend fruit and nuts etc and some flapjack to try and keep her energy up.

only iced coffee at weekends never on a school day and no pop as a rule just occasionally.

dd1 has never fallen asleep at school and has normal periods and none of these challenges and I feel a bit lost. Dd1 looked a bit tired during her exams but she’s radiant again now.

I don’t even know if the tiredness is linked to the heavy periods and the IBS I feel clueless

i was like this and it was anaemia

With heavy periods and that tiredness she is almost certainly quite anaemic, and with absorption issues from IBS iron supplements are unlikely to help. I would push for an iron infusion once her bloods are back (and I would try and get the blood tests done sooner, absolutely ridiculous that you have to wait until the end of the month when your DD is suffering so much)

I had extreme tiredness and illnesses I couldn't shake. I took an immune support supplement, the Barretts orange one, plus zinc, magnesium and iron. Sorted me right out. I'd get her on supplements ASAP.

1.Whoever has organised the blood tests I would contact them to try and bring them forward as urgent now

1. Has she had a faecal calprotectin checked, to ensure this is not IBD rather than IBS?

Remove her phone from her room and get some parental permissions on it so it auto locks at 8.30 so no screens and hour before bed. She is only 13.

You’ve said you’re going to get her taking vitamins. Please don’t give her anything containing B12. With her symptoms, they should test her B12 levels - even a single multivitamin taken 4 months before the blood test can cause a false high result and make the dr think it’s fine, when in reality it’s through the floor. Check online for any other vitamins if she should stop taking them prior to a blood test, and for how long.

I would try to get the blood test brought forwards, ask them to check vitamin D, B12, folate, ferritin, intrinsic factor and thyroid in addition to the standard blood panel. Be aware that ferritin can be falsely high due to inflammation, so a “normal” result there could be because of her IBS/whatever she’s been prescribed the anti-inflammatories for. Only after that would I look to getting her on vitamin supplements. It’s highly possible she doesn’t absorb them properly because of her IBS, so she could have the best diet in the world but it wouldn’t help her. If her B12 is low she needs injections not tablets - if she isn’t absorbing from her food, she won’t absorb from a tablet. Vitamin D is rarely prescribed in a form that is well absorbed, nor high enough levels. If she’s deficient, she needs 10,000iu per day in a soft gel capsule that has an olive oil carrier (I get mine from eBay and they’re not too expensive). She would then need K2 to take alongside to make sure the calcium goes into her bones and teeth - taking high dose vit D can cause calcium to build up in the arteries without the K2. If she needs iron tablets, check that she isn’t taking them with other medications as some plant be taken with iron. I think thyroid meds is one of those. She should take iron with a large glass of orange juice, or a vitamin C supplement as a bare minimum as iron needs the vit C to aid absorption.

Why on earth are you waking her and making her get up at a weekend? You are literally telling us you are worried about how exhausted she is, that she’s falling asleep in class, generally struggling… then on the 2 days a week her body has a chance to recover, you are taking that away from her? It’s cruel. If she wants to sleep the entire weekend you should let her, especially if it helps her during the week. Give her a chance to try to recover at least a little.

@Tillow4everi get her up at weekends as it’s the nhs sleep advice that you shouldn’t let them sleep more than 2 hours past normal waking time. I’m not pretending I have all the answers hence my plea for advice.
i will paste your screening advice into the online consult I really appreciate the time you have taken to give me all that.

she has gone to meet her friends to go to the beach this afternoon. She’s better this morning and I’ve sent her with lots of snacks but the snotty cold that won’t bugger off is worrying me too as she hasn’t been like this since she was a toddler. Then we got the dog and she was outside loads more and no more snot for both my DDs for years after that.

No problem at all - I worked with the B12 Society for a few years, so I learned a lot from them. My own vitamin levels were all through the floor. I was like your daughter, but an adult - I physically couldn’t stay awake. The only way I coped was sleeping 19 hour days at the weekend, and basically going straight to bed when I got home from work and not getting up until the absolute latest I could the next morning… so I was sleeping 5:30/6pm - 7am. I was then falling asleep at my desk mid morning. At around 11:50 I would go to our work “quiet room” and fall asleep for just over an hour. I would then be falling asleep at my desk mid afternoon too. It’s horrible and I genuinely thought I must be dying. To find it was “just” vitamin deficiencies was a shock - how could a vitamin deficiency make someone so ill?

I appreciate you’re following the NHS advice, but I always thought that guidance was in general, not when unwell. If she had the flu, would you force her up out of bed, or would you let her sleep to recover? Think of her as sick and let her rest. It may not help, or it might - but either way, sleep will help her body to recover.

I wish her luck. I wouldn’t have wished how I felt on my worse enemy. It’s awful and at times I wanted to just never wake up because I couldn’t see an end. 2 years of every other day B12 injections, daily 5mg folic acid, thyroid meds for my interactive thyroid, ferrous sulphate to correct my iron deficiency and 10,000iu of D3 daily (that I still take now, 10 years on), and I’m a completely different person. I now sleep well, but not excessively, I have the energy to do anything I want, I do well at work, I get out daily for long walks (10-40k steps a day), my depression was “cured” for the first time since I was a teenager, my chronic pain levels were reduced too.

Feel free to ask me anything and I’ll try to help - I use the app so don’t know where to check DM’s, but if you want to ask privately, tag me here to tell me to check and I’ll go on the website. Or tag me in a comment here and I’ll answer as best I can - it might help others too!

Oh could her “cold” be hayfever? I know loads of people who don’t normally suffer that are getting it badly this year!

Sounds like anemia.

I would let her sleep at the weekend,my ds really needed loads of extra sleep when he was a teen at one point all he did was eat,sleep and grow!

Good point, when my hay-fever is bad I get utterly exhausted

Dd2 said this morning re anaemia symptoms yes to heavy lids no to heavy limbs and doesn’t know re the bruising as she has frequent knee brushing from commercial dance anyway so it’s hard to tell. Surface wounds seem to take a very long time to heal on her though.

Could be knock on effect from something like glandular fever, as this is what my daughter had - figured out after six months of chronic fatigue

@duffedits a possibility as I had it twice as a teen and I’ve never felt fatigue like it

Your poor DD! Hopefully one of the blood tests will give you the answer and it is easy to treat. It all the blood test are normal and especially if this fatigue started directly after a viral infection, please look into ME/CFS.

Try going to bed at 9pm … 10-6 probably be just enough for an adult!

My dd is older but had this problem. Tranxemic acid instead of the pill, and iron supplements have made a massive difference

Obviously there are several issues going on here and hopefully the blood tests will help you figure out a way forward.
But the first thing that actually occurred to me when reading your post is that is a super early wake up time and time that she has to leave! What time does her school start and why does she have to leave at 7:15? Is there an alternative way she could get to school that doesn’t require leaving so early? Even if it’s just while you figure out what’s going on health wise. Either that or she needs to be going to bed earlier. Teens often need even more sleep than young kids. Going to bed at 9:30, being able to sleep till 7:30 and then getting a lift to school (if possible) could make a lot of difference.

Has she been tested for IBD? My 12 year old was diagnosed with crohns last year age 11. Tiredness is a major symptom and unfortunately a lot get fobbed off with an IBS diagnosis.

Why on earth is this poor girl catching a school bus at 07:15? Is there no nearer school she could attend?

if she's falling asleep that quickly shes over tired. She needs to be in bed earlier.

Hi, it sounds like low iron and B12 but taking into consideration the IBS I would check out food allergies/intolerances including gluten. How is her mood around period time? When I was a lot younger I took starflower oil (which is a good source of omega 6) to help with pms and it helped with tiredness too. I never reacted well with the pill at any age, even now I have a copper coil in to avoid all unnecessary hormones.
I now take supplements for hormone balance and I really find they help. Ensure she is consuming plenty of vitamin C as this helps the body process and carry iron to where it’s needed.
Just remember that supplements, even those prescribed by a Dr, can take 6-12 weeks to work so don’t give up on them. Creatine can help after training and could be good for her routine - this can have more of an instant effect.
This is all in my own experience and research - I am not a professional but I do have a 13 yr old daughter too x

Not much to add except 8 hours is definitely not enough sleep for a 13 year old. Fine for an adult but teenagers are growing and changing a lot and need at least 9 hours.

Also, I have IBS and have never known it lead to excessive tiredness, though I suppose if there was some sort of malabsorption going on, this could have an effect.

My same aged DD would be exhausted if she only slept 10-6. Some kids just need more sleep than others. Mine is in bed for 9 and up for 6.30.
Does she need 1hr15m to get ready for school?

How are her moods leading up to her heavy periods? I am diagnosed with PMDD and one of the physical symptoms is chronic fatigue in the 10 ish days leading up to my period. Also poor mental health.