An interesting Doc's visit

[mskris]

FYI - I'm not sure there is a connection between RLS and adhd, but I am SURE that sleep deprivation mimicks adhd behavior. I was so thrilled to put ds on strattera and eliminate the insomnia the stimulants (ritalin, concerta) caused him. Now he falls asleep right away and sleeps soundly all night - not only does the strattera help the adhd, but now he's not sleep deprived, either! Interestingly, when he does not take the strattera he has a really hard time settling down enough to fall asleep. While he's only 9 yo, I doubt he'll be able to be medication-free before adulthood (although he hates taking it, we can always tell when he hasn't - he's soooo distractable you can't get through to him with even the simplest requests).

As for RLS, I had this with my last pregnancy, and it drove me CRAZY!! I'd be up until the wee hours, pacing the house and doing deep knee bends in an effort to release the tension, so I know just what your ds is experiencing. It's soooo frustrating! I did find that a low dose of benedryl sometimes "knocked me out" enough to get past the RLS and fall asleep. You might try that before any prescription sedatives.

Good luck.
Kris

[sportsmom]

Well I took Levi to the dr. yesterday and after talking about the pros and cons of some of the meds that are available for rls and I decided to not put levi on a med for the rls. His iron is way up (he still has to take an iron supplement 1x day now) and we are going to monitor is blood every 3 months. While talking with levi I asked him what his pain level is (or the creeping crawling senstation in his legs) was---he said not bad only a 3. I had him sleep with me Monday so that I could monitor his sleep and he hardly moved from his position!!! I did feel his legs jerking at times in the night but he didn't wake up ;D. This is so different from a few months ago when I had him sleep with me so I could monitor him then as well. Iron therapy has done wonders!! I was not comfortable putting him on an anti seziure med and a low dose for that is like 100mg(while I am thinking low dose 10-20mg)----for us it doesn't warrent a med like that when we can proably handle it with some over the counter motrin and maybe benedryl. We will keep an eye on it----I think since he takes the strattera at night and in the morning it helps. I do like the strattera--but like I said I wish we could take a break but at least we are on something that works for now so I don't want to rock the boat---hopefully all is ok for the next couple of months!!! Until the next installment of visiting the dr..... LOL LOL (my husband says we go way to much---I tell him at least we are healthy and the main reason he stays at his place of employment is because of the great ins. benefits .