So why medicate? Since last fall, she has woken up on occasion between the hours of 0100 and 0200 in a fabulous mood, stomping, giggling laughing... we call it her playtime with her "friends". As cute as it is, this playtime is very inconvenient if you have to work in the morning or, more recently for me, have clinicals and have to be a somewhat functional human being. On these occasions, we have been crushing melatonin into a sippy cup and she'll fall back to sleep... eventually only to wake up again between 0600 and 0700 ready to start the day.This system worked fairly well however as the months have passed these play dates have increased in frequency to the point for the past two weeks neither my husband or I have had four hours of sleep in a row. That's fourteen nights of play dates and endless stomping with giggling. Only now she has added a midnight snack to her routine.
She'll stomp into the kitchen and literally forage for any food she can find. Rest assured we feed her well, she just happened to inherit genes on both sides that love to eat. On more than one occasion I have woken up drenched in milk from an open gallon she dropped on me. Her non-verbal way of saying, "Mom, get your lazy butt up and get me some milk!" Using an apron, we've made sure the side by side doors of the fridge are tied shut before we go to bed. Unfortunately this doesn't prevent her older brother from getting into the fridge for a midnight snack before she has her party. After 14 nights of this, a room smelling of sour milk, and waking up to jam, yes, a trail of jam smeared in my bed leading to a very sticky sleeping beauty, we felt it was time.
After listening to my concerns her doctor agreed we could all benefit from something to help her stay asleep, clonodine. Of course the psych nurse inside thought of all the patients I've given clonodine and start to future trip that this is where it begins. She'll have side effects requiring more meds. She'll never be able to sleep without it. But weighing the small chance of that with not having any sleep tonight before I have to get up at 0430 and be somewhat functional, not to mention how lack of sleep could be affecting her development... it was time. We started her on a half dose to see how she does and will increase to a full dose in three days if needed. I felt pretty good about it. Besides, I have quite a few friends who are parents to other autistic children or kiddos with ADHD and they swear by it.
Unfortunately right before she fell asleep she started screaming bloody murder. My husband swore her upper lip was swollen. I went in to asses and her breathing was fine, but her upper lip was very, very slightly swollen. So of course this RN student who should be delving into the wonderful world of ECG interpretation is finding her ability to focus greatly waning and is instead blogging, wishing she she could be home tomorrow morning to make sure her daughter is okay.
