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 used to fall asleep in class all the time and it turned out I had sleep apnea. A lot of people have it and don't realize because its usually associated with overweight men. However there are different types of apnea and anyone can get it. I wonder if her iron levels and vitamin d has been checked too?

She may not be processing vitamins properly. Maybe a vitamin b injection might help. Also check for pernicious anaemia and glandular fever. It's a good sign she is getting to sleep OK as you actually need energy to be able to sleep well.

Would the E-D not have shown up by now though as she is a dancer?

I would definitely start with ensuring she's getting enough sleep.

With my 13yo I aim for 8.30 in bed and reading for 30mins- 1 hour. We don't always manage it with clubs etc. but kids need rest. She would be exhausted going to bed at 10pm every night, let alone with an underlying illness making things worse.

@ReflectiveGilet

Get her ferritin checked and don't accept any GP bullshit about it being in "normal" range (20-300), as she could still be having symptoms. She needs it to be in OPTIMAL range, which is 75+. If her ferritin is less than 75, join this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3412143085483810/

Just to add: has she had her blood sugar levels checked? The exhaustion could be a sign of diabetes.

@WhatNextImScaredi struggled with low blood sugar a lot from late primary to adulthood but I was a restrictive eater so it was no surprise. I fell asleep at school constantly. Dd2 lifestyle is much much healthier but it’s so so similar.

My step dad was taking Naproxen for his AK as it had gotten worse, he was taking it for about 3 months and went back to the GP to say that he was feeling awful, tired all the time, sickly and just generally 'down trodden' the GP asked a few questions and it came to light that this started when he started the naproxen. He stopped taking it and within a week he was back to feeling a lot better in general (besides the pain from his AK) but not completely fatigued anymore.

Could it be the Naproxen??

8 hours sleep is not enough for an active growing 13 year old.

No idea on the diagnosis but you can control how much rest she gets.

No phone in room.
Lights out at 9.30
Lie in for as long as wants at the weekend.

Might be worth trying her with Piriton to rule out hayfever re the snotty nose/cold she can’t shift. My kids are struggling with hayfever at the moment including my 11 year old DD who isn’t usually affected.

Women’s health isn’t taken seriously imho.

heavy periods are not normal. We put up with them and we shouldn’t. I did for years and had issues with ferritin levels leading to tiredness, itchy scalp and skin. Turned out my heavy periods were Adenomyosis which was only discovered by ultrasound. I had a blood transfusion for iron and in a different person. I just put up with it for years and the GPs just treated the symptoms not the cause until I kept pushing and pushing.

Push to understand why she has heavy periods as that will cause reduced ferritin and therefore tiredness.

Thank you everyone I had lots of replies to get through but I appreciate everyone so much. I will also be showing this to dd2

Could it be side effects of the medication? Loads of medications make you drowsy. My 'non-drowsy' allergy pills are so effective at making me sleepy, I use them as a sleeping pill when I'm really suffering with insomnia.

This could have been written about me - this was exactly my symptoms at school even though I ate well, danced 4 hours a week and got enough sleep. I am not coeliac (have been tested twice) but I can’t eat any gluten at all. I stopped at 28 and my entire life changed and I have been healthy for the last 20 years. I am convinced if I had stopped gluten as a teenager I wouldn’t have had the symptoms I struggled with - especially the very heavy periods and IBS type symptoms. I can’t explain why I can’t eat gluten - I just know I can’t and never will again.

It sounds like potentially anaemia in your DD's case, but just to suggest something else, I was anaemic at her age and went through a period of being very tired, which was sorted with iron tablets, but it didn't solve the problem entirely. I still suffered from intense sleepiness in some classes (and also in work meetings as an adult). It turned out that I have inattentive ADHD, which often results in mental exhaustion and causes drowsiness if my attention isn't engaged by a task. I was also a diligent student at school with perfectionist tendencies and worked extra hard to 'compensate' for daydreaming/lapses in attention.

If she is anaemic, the pill will sort that out eventually but she should take iron supplements in the meantime.
She needs to go to bed way earlier. My 14 year-old nephew still goes to bed at 8.30 and is out like a light. He's big into sport and growing a lot, so I'm not surprised.

OP - please don't start any supplements / diet changes suggested here until after the blood test. You don't want to accidentally "mask" an underlying issue with a false normal result.

@PassOnThati am also diagnosed with adhd.

Also suggesting an earlier bedtime. Two teen dc here 13&15. Eldest does lots of sport (rowing 2-4 times a week and hockey) she goes up to bed around 8.30 both DC faff around a bit but she's usually in bed by 9.15 and asleep at 10 at the latest if not earlier. We are up at 6.30 on school days.

Wait for blood tests; maybe she lacking iron, vitamin d, b12. I gave my daughter wellteen her from Vitabiotics. Your daughter has a long day plus 4 hours dancing per week so probably not getting enough nutrients.

I agree at 13 I was probably going to bed latest at 9pm. OP’s DD must be up early to catch that early bus so with her current bedtime that’s not enough sleep.

OP does your DD sleep on the bus? What time is she home in the afternoon after dance? Or is this evening? I don’t see much time here apart from weekends for proper downtime for your DD. Teens do have energy but they need to relax too. If your GP isn’t giving proper answers about periods, BCP and so on, get a second opinion or consider going privately for this. Her current painkiller sounds way too strong for her age. A supplement I took at that age but more for mood swings, PMS was starflower oil tablets but you can try similar evening primrose oil tablets.

Well teen is a good start but as I said previously consider seeing a nutritionist as they will suggest foods/drinks that help as well as supplements.

OP’s DD is leaving the house to get the school bus at 7.15. So ideally 8.30/8.45 would be the ideal bed time. All depends on if she washes her hair morning or evening as that takes longer especially if drying it.

It does sound like she is a prime candidate for being anaemic. Don’t wait till the end of this month for blood tests, if you can get them sooner do. You need to find out if she is B12 or folic acid deficient or both so you can supplement appropriately.

10-6 is possibly too little sleep for a 13 year old as well, if you don’t wake her (eg on a weekend) what time does she wake up? That is most likely how much sleep she needs so getting to bed at 9pm might work better. My DD used to have a 9pm bedtime until she was about 16, she really needed it and didn’t have to get up till 7pm, she did sometimes wake up before 7am but we were all happier when she had enough sleep!

Agree with this. Mine get up at 6am. Target bedtime is 9pm (lights out). Sometimes it’s later due to clubs, but that’s the aim.