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restless and not sleeping through night
Fri, 08/24/2007 - 12:30Topic: Parents & Caregivers
Jacob has been having trouble staying asleep throughout the night and is very restless. He takes melatonin (3mg) to help him fall asleep, which has been very helpful (asleep in 20 min. or less) but after sleeping well for half of the night, he will wake up around 3 or 4. He starts to talk to himself, becomes restless, and never really goes back to sleep again. This morning, he was doing the same thing and talking to himself. I thought he was dreaming or was still half asleep, but when I asked him questions he would answer me. He kept repeating what he was saying but seemed wide awake and would respond. He also kept fidgeting with him hands and clapping. He is on Neurontin and Depakote right now. Has anyone else had something like this happen with their kids? I want to call our neurologist, but every time we have discussed his sleeping problems with him, he just wants to add another medicine. Jacob also acts out everthing he watches on tv and movies that he likes. He will do this in the middle of the night also when he wakes up. Is this normal? Since he is not sleeping well, he has had two seizures during the day. He normally only has them while he is sleeping since starting Neurontin. With school starting next week, I'm freaking out that he will continue to have problems sleeping and have seizures while he is at school. I hope someone can help me with my questions, I'm really worried.
Re: So sorry to hear the first
Submitted by chiyoung27 on Sat, 2007-09-08 - 14:29
Hi, Thank you for answering my questions. To answer yours, we are in America (near Seattle, WA). I'm glad to hear that Anna is doing better on the Topamax. I think I wouldn't feel so bad if the Depakote was at least controlling Jacob's seizures. Without seizure control and so many side effects, we are very much stressed. So much that I've started having optical migranes. Your daughters up and down behavior sounds so much like Jacob's. You can see exactly when they change happens. He has a different look about him (it's in the eyes). Even in the middle of eating a meal, he will go from being very good mannered to not eating and playing around. I imagine that the medication levels could be going up and down? I wish I knew what could be done so he wouldn't have so many ups and downs. Jacob will be going full days, but the school board will meet and look into other options for him. I don't think he could handle all day of school. He gets so tired sometimes. We are still waiting to hear back from them. We worry about recess during school also. Not really that he will hurt others but himself. Jacob becomes impulsive at times and forget about his safety. He will try things that he normally wouldn't do. He's always been such a cautious child and has been afraid of heights. I don't know how close they will supervise. One good thing is that I'm a stay at home mom. I will be able to go to school with him for awhile until I feel that he will be well taken care of. I think that it's only natural for us parents to worry about our kids. Especially now when they are going through such a difficult time. I'm really not sure how informed the school is of epilepsy. There is a full time nurse at his school. Jacob's teacher would have been very informed because she is also dealing with her husband's epilepsy (he was diagnosed just this year). If Jacob needs to be in a special ed. class, I don't know who his teacher will be. I have so many questions for the school. Since nothing is predictable, as far as medication changes, I don't know where Jacob will be academically in a few weeks or a month. If his doctor decides to agree to take him off Depakote, he could drastically improve. So everything is up in the air right now. Good to hear back from you, keep in touch. Please keep us up to date on your daughter's progress.