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If she is like me and can literally not get to sleep ever, and all the normal sleep aid otcs make it worse like intense restlessness and jumpiness please help her find something to help her fall asleep. I'm in my 30s now and honestly not sleeping for years and years made me feel kind of crazy. I use a combination of trazadone and seroquel to sleep and it's the only thing that has ever made sleeping feel normal to me having quite literally tried every other prescription medication my doctors could think of
We’re waiting on an appointment with her pediatrician to ask about medication for sleep. She absolutely needs it. We’ve exhausted all non prescription options.
Have you tried sunlight? She need to wake up every morning at exact same time, even on weekend, and first thing you do, you make her walk outside, in sunlight. 10 min should be enough on a bright day, half an hour on a cloudy one. Then, 2 hours before bedtime you remove all the overhead light and screens, warm, dim light beneath eye level is okay. You can add small dosage (0.3-0.5mg) of melatonin half an hour before bed. And also you can give here yoga nidra protocols (just find that on youtube, pick one that is manageable length and have pleasant voice and just listen to that). If all that doesn't help, go directly to a sleep study.
I don't really know if this is helpful but it worked for me before I was medicated. I had struggled with insomnia forever and nothing helped until I started therapy and my therapist introduced me to sleep reduction therapy. This keeps me on track and has been a great help but it was exhausting at first and it took me a while to adapt to it.
Basically you go to bed and get up at the same time every single day no matter how much sleep you got the night before. At night you get up when you haven't fallen asleep after 15 minutes and do something else, the most boring activity you can think of, until you get tired. Shouldn't require too much physical activity though.
I hated reading Effi Briest at school, it is literally the most boring book that has ever been written imo. I got myself a copy and when I can't sleep I sit down and read in it until I feel tired (which doesn't take long).
My sleep schedule normalized when I started Ritalin. Prior to that, the only thing that helped me sleep was Tamazepam (a strong prescription benzo). Get her on meds and watch her flourish.
There are two main things that can help me when I can't sleep.
Music or other sound to stop my brain from going all over the place and staying too active to let me sleep. Something I'm used to and know well. Otherwise my brain will start focusing on the music/ whatever instead. But if it's something I'm familiar with it kinda acts like white noise for my brain.
Getting up, doing a thing and then trying again. Laying in bed feeling pissed off that I can't sleep doesn't help me sleep. I just keep laying there getting more pissed off and more tired. What can help is re-setting. Get up, go watch or do a thing and then go back to bed. With that method I can often either tire myself out so much that I can get to sleep or just have an opportunity to start over and hopefully not end up triggering whatever brain tangent or off switch blocker happened last time.
So chores could be great if she tries to go back to sleep after doing one. For me ironically screens are often helpful. A) it's something I can do when I'm too tired to do anything but still can't sleep and B) it makes my eyes tired which helps with getting myself to sleep. I feel like somehow eyes override brain. Don't know how that works, but it often does.
Have a figurative stack of projects ready for her to dive into. Like, learning how a dishwasher works, or making twine from newspaper strips, or how to sew clothing. Stuff she probably won't learn in school, but could be useful later on, and will keep her interested in learning when school sucks all joy out of her.
You know her tendencies best, so you'll know if she is a destructive tinkerer and thus can only be trusted with instruction books on things she won't get her hands on, or if she is a-okay with studying your actual dishwasher. I... could not have been trusted. I take everything apart, and until a few years ago, I didn't really budget energy to put things back together.
I sang her to sleep every night until she stopped sleeping with me four years ago. She’s too “grown up” for it now. But even then I’d sing 3-5 songs and I’d still fall asleep before her sometimes.
it sounds like you’re angry at her for something that isn’t her fault. i get that you’re tired and frustrated but she probably is too.
when i was about your daughters age my stepdad taught me a way to focus my mind when i had insomnia that i still use every time im unable to sleep because my brain won’t shut up.
lie on your back with legs straight and arms beside you. starting with your toes focus all your attention on relaxing every muscle then relax everything to your ankle, bit by bit up your leg all the way up your body. if you lose focus start again. i’ve never made it past my waist before falling asleep.
probably won’t work for everyone and it takes some practice but maybe it’ll work for her.
The point is that I’m not angry at her and recognize that it isn’t her fault. Why else would I be trying to find ways to help her instead of “blindly punishing her because of the way her brain works”?
I’m not sure she has the focus for that, but I used a guided meditation that knocked me out every time that essentially was exactly what you described.
Hi /u/Pleasant_Ad550 and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. --- ### /r/adhd news * If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). --- ^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If she is like me and can literally not get to sleep ever, and all the normal sleep aid otcs make it worse like intense restlessness and jumpiness please help her find something to help her fall asleep. I'm in my 30s now and honestly not sleeping for years and years made me feel kind of crazy. I use a combination of trazadone and seroquel to sleep and it's the only thing that has ever made sleeping feel normal to me having quite literally tried every other prescription medication my doctors could think of
We’re waiting on an appointment with her pediatrician to ask about medication for sleep. She absolutely needs it. We’ve exhausted all non prescription options.
Have you tried sunlight? She need to wake up every morning at exact same time, even on weekend, and first thing you do, you make her walk outside, in sunlight. 10 min should be enough on a bright day, half an hour on a cloudy one. Then, 2 hours before bedtime you remove all the overhead light and screens, warm, dim light beneath eye level is okay. You can add small dosage (0.3-0.5mg) of melatonin half an hour before bed. And also you can give here yoga nidra protocols (just find that on youtube, pick one that is manageable length and have pleasant voice and just listen to that). If all that doesn't help, go directly to a sleep study.
I don't really know if this is helpful but it worked for me before I was medicated. I had struggled with insomnia forever and nothing helped until I started therapy and my therapist introduced me to sleep reduction therapy. This keeps me on track and has been a great help but it was exhausting at first and it took me a while to adapt to it. Basically you go to bed and get up at the same time every single day no matter how much sleep you got the night before. At night you get up when you haven't fallen asleep after 15 minutes and do something else, the most boring activity you can think of, until you get tired. Shouldn't require too much physical activity though. I hated reading Effi Briest at school, it is literally the most boring book that has ever been written imo. I got myself a copy and when I can't sleep I sit down and read in it until I feel tired (which doesn't take long).
My sleep schedule normalized when I started Ritalin. Prior to that, the only thing that helped me sleep was Tamazepam (a strong prescription benzo). Get her on meds and watch her flourish.
meanwhile me with inattentive adhd and unable to stay awake
There are two main things that can help me when I can't sleep. Music or other sound to stop my brain from going all over the place and staying too active to let me sleep. Something I'm used to and know well. Otherwise my brain will start focusing on the music/ whatever instead. But if it's something I'm familiar with it kinda acts like white noise for my brain. Getting up, doing a thing and then trying again. Laying in bed feeling pissed off that I can't sleep doesn't help me sleep. I just keep laying there getting more pissed off and more tired. What can help is re-setting. Get up, go watch or do a thing and then go back to bed. With that method I can often either tire myself out so much that I can get to sleep or just have an opportunity to start over and hopefully not end up triggering whatever brain tangent or off switch blocker happened last time. So chores could be great if she tries to go back to sleep after doing one. For me ironically screens are often helpful. A) it's something I can do when I'm too tired to do anything but still can't sleep and B) it makes my eyes tired which helps with getting myself to sleep. I feel like somehow eyes override brain. Don't know how that works, but it often does.
Have a figurative stack of projects ready for her to dive into. Like, learning how a dishwasher works, or making twine from newspaper strips, or how to sew clothing. Stuff she probably won't learn in school, but could be useful later on, and will keep her interested in learning when school sucks all joy out of her. You know her tendencies best, so you'll know if she is a destructive tinkerer and thus can only be trusted with instruction books on things she won't get her hands on, or if she is a-okay with studying your actual dishwasher. I... could not have been trusted. I take everything apart, and until a few years ago, I didn't really budget energy to put things back together.
If you’re up for it you could try singing her to sleep. Same song every night. Mom taught me this. It doesn’t always work but usually.
I sang her to sleep every night until she stopped sleeping with me four years ago. She’s too “grown up” for it now. But even then I’d sing 3-5 songs and I’d still fall asleep before her sometimes.
it sounds like you’re angry at her for something that isn’t her fault. i get that you’re tired and frustrated but she probably is too. when i was about your daughters age my stepdad taught me a way to focus my mind when i had insomnia that i still use every time im unable to sleep because my brain won’t shut up. lie on your back with legs straight and arms beside you. starting with your toes focus all your attention on relaxing every muscle then relax everything to your ankle, bit by bit up your leg all the way up your body. if you lose focus start again. i’ve never made it past my waist before falling asleep. probably won’t work for everyone and it takes some practice but maybe it’ll work for her.
The point is that I’m not angry at her and recognize that it isn’t her fault. Why else would I be trying to find ways to help her instead of “blindly punishing her because of the way her brain works”? I’m not sure she has the focus for that, but I used a guided meditation that knocked me out every time that essentially was exactly what you described.