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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Acute Insomnia Inspite Of Giving Clonidine To Child With ADHD?

Hi. My son is 10 and is has ADHD and moderate autism (on the low side.) He is in special ed classes also. He is a super insomniac. He is up all night eating all the food in our home. He has now started eating raw eggs. We dont think he s hungry because at dinner we give him a lot of food so he won t get up scavenging at night and he is at the table 30-40 minutes after everyone else. We don t give him liquid with dinner because he would drink first and then couldn t finish eating. The pediatrician prescribed clonadine for sleeping. He takes 3 pills at night around 730. He doesn t even get close to slowing down until approx. 10. He is still up roaming around and eating at 3am! He also takes the max dose of concerta xr for the ADHD and it wears off about 7pm. Help us! We can t get him to sleep or stop eating all our food. He eats 2 loaves of bread some nights and sometimes 16 slices of cheese or a family sized bag of chips or 3 packs of lunch meat. We have 5 kids and he eats all the food for the kids lunches for school. This is nerve racking, scary, and expensive. What should we do? Even the pediatrician is baffled!
Fri, 15 May 2020
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hi,

ADHD is linked with a variety of sleep problems. Also, poor sleep may profoundly impact ADHD symptoms. In fact, a study showed that treating sleep problems may even eliminate ADHD issues for some children. It is important to point out the children behave differently as a result of sleepiness. Children tend to overcompensate once tired and speed up. I suspect that your child over eating is one form of over compensating to his sleep deprivation.

Please try the following to improve your child's sleep:
1. Review all medications with his treating pediatrician. Inform his doctor about the kid's sleep issue. Changing the medication or dosage can make a difference.
2. Skip Caffeine: hidden caffeine could find its way in soft drinks and chocolates even.
3. Exercise: Make sure the exercise not too close to bedtime though.
4. Quiet environment during sleeping.
5. Stick to Schedule: maintain a daily routine.
6. Dark bedroom.
7. Examine medical issue: asthma, allergies, enlarged tonsils
8. No TV or video games before bedtime.
9. Warm bath before bedtime can help, and keeping temperature in kids room cool.
It is a lot of work at the beginning but step-by-step you will reach there.

Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Ahmad Nazzal, General & Family Physician
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What Causes Acute Insomnia Inspite Of Giving Clonidine To Child With ADHD?

Hi, ADHD is linked with a variety of sleep problems. Also, poor sleep may profoundly impact ADHD symptoms. In fact, a study showed that treating sleep problems may even eliminate ADHD issues for some children. It is important to point out the children behave differently as a result of sleepiness. Children tend to overcompensate once tired and speed up. I suspect that your child over eating is one form of over compensating to his sleep deprivation. Please try the following to improve your child s sleep: 1. Review all medications with his treating pediatrician. Inform his doctor about the kid s sleep issue. Changing the medication or dosage can make a difference. 2. Skip Caffeine: hidden caffeine could find its way in soft drinks and chocolates even. 3. Exercise: Make sure the exercise not too close to bedtime though. 4. Quiet environment during sleeping. 5. Stick to Schedule: maintain a daily routine. 6. Dark bedroom. 7. Examine medical issue: asthma, allergies, enlarged tonsils 8. No TV or video games before bedtime. 9. Warm bath before bedtime can help, and keeping temperature in kids room cool. It is a lot of work at the beginning but step-by-step you will reach there. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Ahmad Nazzal, General & Family Physician