The Sleep Doc Update

Inquiring minds want to know what's going on with my Marshall-man. There is so much to write about so I'll have to start with just the sleep doctor visit and then I will write more tomorrow.

Before the end of summer break, (woah, I'm waaaay behind) we went to see Dr. Pfeffer again. She is the BEST Pediatric Sleep Specialist there is

! She has officially diagnosed him with Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, or PLMD. We decided to try the medication Neurontin again, even though we had bad side effects before. I don't remember if he was almost 2 or almost 3 when we tried that medicine before but he got SO out of control angry while on it, that we begged the doctor to let us take him off of it. We decided to give it a shot again because he is older and because he is taking Risperidone, which really help the anger issues. It wasn't quite enough and we

didn't like that our boy was getting more and more agitated and angry. Not to mention, he wasn't sleeping any better. So we went off that medication and tried Mirapex, but we were seeing no results, positive or negative, and we figure why give a kid a drug that doesn't work for him? I am not one to give meds unnecessarily. She did have his Ferritin levels checked. He had to have blood drawn. I hate having to hold my sweet boy down while they jab a needle in his arm!! It about breaks my heart every time! The results came back that his Ferritin levels were low so we started him on an additional iron supplement from the one he already gets in his multivitamin. We are supposed to have his Ferritin levels checked again in about a month from now to see if they are high enough to pull back on the extra iron. Sometimes he sleeps through the night, but mostly he doesn't. Tonight he had a REALLY difficult time settling down for bed. It's probably because Brian was teaching toni

ght and I didn't do his normal bedtime routine. I need to be better about that. I just really wanted to get the dishes done and dinner put away before it got too late. So, where are we on sleep now? We had 2 TERRIBLE nights in a row last week. I am SO VERY grateful that we haven't had a repeat of that because I was so exhausted I don't think I could handle many more nights like that. He was literally THRASHING about in his bed while he was sleeping. We don't know what was going on but he was very upset about something. The first night, I brought him to bed with Brian and I, and was able to get him to calm down and go to sleep next to me, but he kept kicking! Poor Brian ended up on the couch for a few hours of sleep. That was not fun. The next night was worse! The thrashing was mor

e intense, and he was visibly upset about something but we don't know what. I tried to talk to him and he would open his eyes and look at me but then just crash around on his bed again. I finally got him down and put him in bed with me but I still have no idea what was going on with him. Brian and I barely slept at all that night because he kept screaming in his sleep and tossing around. Neither the sleep doc, nor the Pediatrician have any clue as to what was going on or how to prevent it from happening again. Gotta love that response, huh?!

Well, I think that covers the sleep update. Tune in next time to read about the latest adventures in school, soccer, OT, Feeding Therapy, and more doctor visits.