7 yr old boy who refueses to sleep

[grettal]

We (his father and I) have a 7 year old boy who's psychiatrist doesn't seem to want to get on the right medication. She recently put him on ritalin this is the 3rd medicine she has tried him on. At first it was working for 4 hours and then it goes away then he gets a half a dose at 1pm and it does nothing. At school he can not  concentrate at all after the 4 hours is up around 11am. He also throws occasional temper tantrums. Then the worst is at night you have to force him to keep still to do his homework and when its bed time good luck trying to get him to sleep. He puts up some struggle then lays down and will fake sleeping. Or maybe sleep for an hour two at most. Then when everyone else is a sleep. He gets up and does things like eat everything he can get to including sugar, raw sugar, cake, left overs from dinner, anything thats cooked and easy to get to. We try hiding things and he still finds them. Last night he ate almost a whole pan of brownies. He also dumps things out throws things away hides things in his room the list honestly is endless and crazy. We have tried door alarms he figures out ways to make it so we don't hear it or so it doesn't go off when he wakes up and leaves his room. He also is obsessed with violence as in spitting, breaking toys, hitting, any type of destructive behavior. When he breaks toys sometimes he tries to make weapons out of the broken pieces. We do not let him watch tv or play games for his age group because of the violence in them. He watches noggin mostly and thats even monitored by us. He empties things out in bathtub even like the shampoo,conditioners,body washes etc. At night we try a brushing protocols,back rubs, and reading. Nothing works. My question is because the ritalin actually works for short period of time should it just be increased in dose or just more often and what should we do for the sleep? Or does it seem there is another underlaying cause our psychiatrist is missing?

[musicmama]

What are you doing with my child?  LOL  Actually, my son is 11, and he does most of these things and has for a long time.  He is ADHD (on 10mg of Ritalin 4x a day)  We tried the Concerta, but his metabolism is so fast, the meds wore off by 3:00pm.  Also, he has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (he's adopted) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  The Ritalin (4x a day) works very well during the school year.  On the holidays and long breaks, he doesn't need near as much.  This is how we determined the anxiety fed into his ADHD.  

As far as sleeping is concerned.  Melatonin (up to 5 mg.) works VERY well.  The doctor gave him Clonadine, and it had worked successfully for a while, until he had a seizure from the medication one morning.  Melatonin can be found at health food stores or even grocery stores now.  It might be a good idea to give 2.5 mg. so if he can't sleep 1/2 to 1 hr later, he can have another one.

We put jingle bells on the outside of our son's door so we can hear him if he gets up.  If he is sneaky about getting up, maybe you can do this after he is asleep or just before you go to bed.

Good luck and God bless.

[grettal]

His diet is a normal diet meat,veggies,potatoes. We try to keep a strict routine too. As in A before B and B before C etc... They said it was for attention at first but he gets so much attention they soon figured out that cant be it. Thank you for the words of encouragement though and some ideas that we've tried before but may retry now.

[Spooty]

Wow you really do have your hands full, I really seems that there is also something else going on there and getting into all that sugar is defianetly not good,  What is your sons diet like?  does he eat a lot of preservities, colouring in food etc, diet really can make a big difference to behaviour in children,

I would also consider a second opinion, just because they wear a white coat and have a degree does not mean they are right.  Dont be afraid to question a doctors decision, I had one doctor try to give me medicine for schizofrenia (which I dont have), I got a second opion and was treated for Post traumatic stress disorder and It worked then I was found to have ADD,  information is your best friend, learn as much as you can about ADHD, look into his symptoms use the internet ask questions.

Is any of his behaviour attention seeking?  this is certainley one way to get attention, is there anything happening in his life at the moment that is upsetting to him? this can be anything to young kids new school, new sibling, unsettled home life anything

I am sorry I cant be of more help, I do understand as my youngest was a handfull, but she seemed to save this behaviour for home, at school she was an angel no one could believe this angelic looking kid was a temper tantrum throwing destructic child (holes in walls, destroy her room etc), I changed her diet and learnt other parenting methods and it worked, I had taken her to a councellor for Anger management and boy are they smart, she would tell the doctor exactley what he wanted to hear it was like a Jekyl and Hyde, as she got older it improved and I only started her on meds at age 15 as her schol work was suffering, now she is an A student.

These kids also need to been disciplined differently as criticism can be harmful, I needed to praise her for the little things she did that were good, during temper tantrums I had to put her in time out, wait till she calmed down then talk to her, it does not change over night but it does work, with continual praise its amazing how kids respond, if you see a tantrum/misbehaviour coming distract the child get their attention elswhere, its amazing how this works and you can avoid outbursts all together,  My daughter was so bad one night in utter frustration my hubby locked her outside and she found a wood splitter and come running at the glass door with it. I had nver heard of ADD back then and we did it, you need to be consistent in what you do, you need to calmy expalin the consequences of his actions and what will happen but you have to be consistent, you must follow through with what you say. even comments like 'you are so stupid or that was dumb" can be changed to " you are a really smart boy but that was not the the best decision to make"  ( I hope you get the idea)

hang in there, being a parent is not easy sometimes. good luck