My son is 14 and is ADD, on Ritalin 40mg LA. Now having sleeping problems..

Hi,

Stimulants can often interfere with sleep, but there are some things you can do to help your son. First, as I'm not a physician, it's imperative to discuss your concerns with his doctor. It's possible that he's taking his medication too late in the day. Or that the dose is too high.

Lots of youngsters your son's age have poor sleep hygiene. They may be on the computer too late at night, or playing video games, etc. See if he's willing to find calming activities, like reading or relaxing to soothing music.

Also, even kids with ADHD who are not taking stimulants often find it hard to fall asleep. That's often because their brains are in hyperactive mode. The trick again, is to find calming, boring activities so that he can shut down. Some kids (and adults) find themselves ruminating over the days' events. If that's the case with your son, you might suggest that he keep a notebook by his bed and "dump" his thoughts, worries and concerns on paper so he can free his mind up.

Warm baths, warm milk actually also help.

However, if all your efforts still don't help, it's really time to discuss this problem with his doctor.

We have a number of articles and Share Posts on ADHD and sleep at http://search.healthcentral.com/query?q=sleep&st=s&ver=adhd

Terry

Have you spoken with your son's doctor to get any recommendations?  Our daughter (now 10, on various meds for about three years) has had sleep problems with the ADHD medications.  For a while, her doctor had her using the Daytrana patch.  It had much less of an impact on her sleep than had Adderall XR.  Unfortunately, after she had been using the patch for about a year, it became much less effective at controlling her ADHD.  Her doctor then prescribed Vyvanse.  He has adjusted the dosage a few times.  At the end of the last school year, she was taking 70 mg.  She was up all hours of the night and had a great deal of trouble falling asleep.  The medication also killed her appetite and she lost quite a bit of weight.  To try to counteract the negative effects on her sleep and appetite, the doc prescribed Tenex, which she takes at 6:00 p.m.  The doc also has her take sublingual melatonin about two hours before bedtime.  The Tenex and melatonin help, though the medication still has a definite effect on her sleep and eating.

We are currently working with the place where she has been getting tutored over the summer to have them administer math and reading comprehension tests to her when we give her different dosages of Vyvanse.  We are trying to find the lowest dosage at which she can perform well (as in being accurate, working quickly, and remembering the material over the course of three days).  At 35 mg., she did well on reading comprehenstion, but she got much of the math wrong (due to careless errors).  Next week, they are going to test her after she has taken 53 mg., and then the following week, test her after she has taken 60 mg.

I wish you the best in resolving the sleep issues.  I know that the sleep problems can result in everyone in the family suffering fron sleep-deprivation. 

Lori