Children with autism often have sleep problems, and therapies such as behavior therapy (applied behavior analysis [ABA]) and melatonin may be helpful in treating these sleep problems.
The goals of this study were to see what types of children with autism also have sleep problems and to see how often parents of children with autism reported sleep problems. More than half of children with autism have parents who reported sleep problems. The study showed that many children with autism have sleep problems and that sleep problems are worse in children with more severe autism. Children who were on drugs (melatonin, clonidine, and diphenhydramine) to treat sleep problems had greater sleep problems than children who did not seek treatment. In most cases children with autism slept fewer (not more) hours than children without autism.
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Responding to Tenex - Intuniv (guanfacine)
Sep 30, 2011 by AnonymousWe've used Tenex since my son was almost 4 in combination with Abilify (which we recently stopped). He is 8 now and weighs 125 lbs and is almost 5ft tall.. It has been amazing in helping him with the hyperactivity without sedating him or him a zombie. We tried the extended release version (Intuniv) but my son processes things very quickly and it didnt work well for us. We have found that giving him 1mg 2x per day and 2mg at bedtime with Melatonin (5mg) have increased his sleep. One thing to note about Melatonin is that it can cause night terrors so if thats happening you may need to switch to something else. Im not sure that using benadryl long term is good for our kids but you do what works and the dr is ok with. We also keep on hand ativan (he tends to have issues with anxiety ie drs appts, grocery shopping etc.) and clonazepam for long trips and severe aggression. The ativan and clonazepam are used sparingly. My son knows what his meds are, what they are for and can tell us if he needs something (he is rx'ed the tenex for am, lunch and bed but if he doesnt need it then he doesnt take the noon dose). Its been a long road to get him from non-verbal to verbal (still some delays but he can hold a conversation) and is now actaully quite social. His medications help allow him to be who he really is and dont just mask the problems that he has.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Nov 20, 2006 by AnonymousWe are battling the beast of sleep, no sleep to be exact. I have a 46 lb. ,4yr old boy who is on guanfacine 1 mg 3x's a day. We have cut out all naps during the day and added 3 mg of melatonin and 12.5 mg of benadril at night This is giving him 4 hrs of sleep. He wakes ready for the day (by Dr. advice) we repeat right away and it takes 3-4 hrs to return to sleep and again about 4 hrs is what he gets. This of course is interupted by what we think are nightmares. Crying ,kicking, thrashing and is not able to be awaken from them. Is there any other ideas????? Thanks, Austinsmom