-=> Quoting Alan Rackmill to Regina Finan <=-
 AR> Regina Finan wrote in a message to Mark Probert:
 
 RF> Haven't been in the Newsgroup lately.  I am currently
 RF> getting a new provider and do not have my mail.address on
 RF> file yet.  Will be back there when I get it.  We are also
 RF> currently beta testing a software and my BBS took a fall. So
 RF> I have been too busy to read and post here.
 
 RF> Would like to throw this at ya though.
 
 RF> Jeremy has been doing good on Ritalin.  Although his
 RF> behavior is getting out of control (much worse) when it
 RF> wears off about 9 pm.  Still is having sleeping problems.  I
 RF> did twice give it to him late in the day and that did seem
 RF> to help him get to sleep earlier than 3am.  Two questions
 RF> for ya: 
 
 RF> Can Ritalin help some sleep?  He is only still on a very low
 RF> dosage. 
 AR> Actually, I think Jeremy is experiencing what I call a "rebound".
 AR> The Ritalin keeps him calm during the day, enabling him to function
 AR> normally. When the Ritalin wears off, it seems like all the
 AR> hyperactivity that didn't happen during the day is now released in the
 AR> evening hours. 
 AR> When we had my son on drugs to help control his hyperactivity, he
 AR> reacted the same way. I could tell it was wearing off as his activity
 AR> level would increase, until at about 10 PM he would be running back
 AR> and forth accross the ceilings. And he would finally fall asleep around
 AR> 2:30 AM and wake up at 5 AM rarin' to go again. 
 AR> During the periods when we did not do drugs, he reacted normally and
 AR> went to sleep at 9 or 10 PM and wake up at 6:30 to 7 AM. 
 AR> He spent more time not taking drugs than taking them, because there
 AR> were side effects of each drug that I did not want to put him through 
 No, that is not totally it.  Jeremy only recently started using Ritalin
 and before the meds he would go to sleep at 3 or even 5 in the morning.
 I have given it to him before at 5pm and he has fallen asleep earlier.
 The only side effect Jeremy gets from Ritalin is being able to sleep
 better, but of course he does not take it in the evening so he still
 does not go to sleep early.
 I do believe some rebound effect is there, but not enough to warrant
 taking him off of it.  And yes, at 10 or so he gets really.....worked
 up more than if he was not taking Ritalin.  Or maybe I am just seeing
 that because he's acting more calm during the day.  He is on the lowest
 dosage so he isn't walking around like a zombie or totally relaxed
 sit and be quiet child.  And every child taking Ritalin I ever talked
 to told me about the strange feeling of something inside needed out.
 That I believe would be normal feeling for them.
 What I was concerned with is whether or not the rebound thing goes
 away after the body stablizes on it or if something else needs to
 be done.  Personally because Jeremy has a falling asleep problem before
 and after he ever took meds I believe something else will have to be
 done.  His falling asleep is associated with his ADHD.  His active mind
 never quits until his body gives up.  This is the problem with his
 sleeping.
 Most doctors have the child take it during school days and off of it during
 the weekends and/or holidays.  I can't do that with Jeremy.  Without the
 meds he gets really bad now (that is part of his age of 10) and his
 violent streaks were getting really bad (like stabbing his brother with
 pencils, this before the meds and when he is off of them).  When he is
 on the meds his violent streaks are totally gone as long as he takes
 two a day.  If for some reason he gets one (because of his sleeping
 problems) he still gets them.
 Alot of children on Ritalin still have agression problems, but Jeremy
 does not.  He is one of the smaller percentages that Ritalin actually
 works for all his problems.  Except of course his sleeping, which it
 may work if I gave him a third one at early evening.  Since this is
 Jeremy's first month on meds, I am waiting for some stablization before
 acting on what to do next.
 I have heard alot of good things about using clonodine in conjunction
 with Ritalin for those with agression and sleeping problems.  Since the
 Ritalin works during the day, I'm assuming that maybe this may be
 something to consider for the evening.
 Thanks for your comments though.
 I see so many advantages to him being on it.  I am also ADHD and thought
 I could show him how to deal with it without the meds.  It worked really
 well until about a year ago.  I guess his fight for independence and
 physical changes took the best of him.  He now tells me the meds help
 him remember.  He likes that because it helps him play his computer,
 sega, nintendo games.   And school work is coming along great
 again.
 Regina
... All I need is a Wave and a board to surf it on.
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