sleepwalking

[Peony]

Does anyone have a child that does this? DD1 is 9, she struggles with several issues/disorders, anxiety is one. 3.5 years ago she suffered a nervous breakdown of sorts, that is when the anxiety that she leaned towards, just exploded. It took a year and eventually she got back to her new normal. During that time she went through a severe insomnia cycle, 6 months of only 4 hours a night, we did therapy, meds, everything, she would force herself to sit up all night long, Sleeping ever since has been very touchy. One little thing out of whack and she can't sleep. She has to be checked on every 20 minutes until she is asleep, lights just right, no noise, on and on. We have good nights where she goes right to sleep and other nights where it takes 2 hours of her up and down, in and out of her room, my room (I keep a bed for her in room because my bed is full, 4 kids and she is the oldest), back and forth. She can't sleep over at other people's houses, we've tried having friends come here and it just spirals her down again, she can't do it. It is getting embarrassing to her, she turns out invites, or she goes and I pick her up at 9pm to come home. Some nights she is asleep when I check on her and several minutes she comes out upset because I didn't check on her, repeat over and over some nights. 

Over the weekend I realized that I thinks she sleep walks. Her eyes are open, she can talk, she can answer questions, she sounds normal at times, but her eyes are glassy, she has this weird expression. Not always, I think sometimes she is fully awake just groggy because she is waking up, going back to sleep, waking up again. Other times i think she is still actually asleep. Friday and Saturday nights she was up and down again. Friday night she came upstairs, used the bathroom, carried on a conversation with me, and went to sleep in my room. In the morning she could't figure out why she was in my room. The next night was similar. Last night she was up and down but wasn't making sense half the time, the other half she was responsive.  She only remembers a fraction of last night. 

[mamarhu]

Does she take any meds - either for the anxiety or the sleep issues? No one is at their best without a good night's sleep, and it sounds like she hasn't had that for ages. Have you tried melatonin? I would not jump to medicating a little kid, but it may be that she needs some help, no?

[Peony]

Melatonin makes her have horrid nightmares, needless to say we don't use it! She is on no medication currently. She now does well in all areas of her life except at night. Several years ago, every single little thing was torture for her. She attends school now and loves it, thrives there. She is heavily into several competitive sports of her own choosing. She has friends again. She prefers to be kept busy, she does not deal well with downtime, but she never did before the anxiety set in either. 

She was in therapy weekly until this summer. She felt like she was at a place to stop for a while and she did maintain these months quite well. Well for her I guess. This last sleepover attempt has proved to be quite a set back and we are doing emergency sessions with her therapist currently. We had a difficult time getting her the help she needed several years ago, we did try meds, we couldn't get the right combination, and then she started to respond to this new therapist so we stopped meds and went with therapy alone. I almost feel like this is as good as it gets for her. She has been worse, way, way worse where she talked about not living, would not even pee alone, would not sleep. I guess I consider this her normal. 

[minkin03]

My 6 yo is a horrible sleepwalker. At its peak she will sleepwalk 2-5 times night. I've caught her in the garage, in the shower, in dark rooms, etc... Unfortunately her sleepwalking is often times coupled with night terrors which breaks my heart. She will see things that aren't there and pick up objects that aren't there, etc.... it's frightening for me as well and I hate that I can't comfort her when she is so terrified. 

But what you described sounds like sleepwalking, especially if she doesn't remember it the next day. That is my first clue that my dd is sleepwalking (b/c sometimes she seems so awake and with it that it's hard to believe she is actually sleeping still).

[Peony]

Ok. It is actually comforting to hear that your DD appears very much awake as well. I'm in shock that it took me this long to figure out that she is sleep walking honestly. But it is because she appears so awake, I never once thought to ask her all these years if she actually remembered the night before. Upon reading up on it, it sounds like this is certainly it. She only does in it in the first part of the night, I am always still up since I can't go to bed until she is fully asleep, she walks right by me in the living room. Now I been asking daily if she remembers the prior night. 

We've had night terrors with her back when her anxiety was off the wall, I'm sorry minkin, they are horrid. She would just be screaming and I couldn't wake her up. That was one of the reasons I believe that she just stopped sleeping then, she was too afraid to actually go to sleep. 

[purplepaisleymama]

My DH and all six of our kids sleepwalk,and talk in their sleep. Our Neurologist says that they are beginning to believe that there is a genetic predisposition to this.  My kids are known for having conversations with each other all night...though they not having the same conversation when one starts someone else will respond with their own and it goes on for a few minutes...every hour or so!  My DH has driven a car asleep many times....it is very difficult for me to determine if he is asleep immediately, I need to ask some in depth questions to see if he is just responding by rote or if he is really awake.  It makes for a nery stressful me at night.... none of our doors are quiet, I rig them all so that I can hear if someone leaves the house.... they have gotten out and into the front yard before, they have wandered the house and gotten lost.  We have many stories of the boys getting up and thinking different areas are the toilet;)  I am a light sleeper, I have gotten used to waking many times a night (10+) to listen for the kids or DH and figure out if they are ok.  The kids have all gone through a stage when they have had night terrors.... the neurologist gave us a way to stop them and it worked with all of them..... night terrors happen at the same stage of sleep for kids...usually at the same time every night, if you figure the time out (the time after they fall asleep, not always the time of night) and wake them 20 minutes before that time you should interrupt the cycle.  Sometimes it takes a few times but we have had success with 5 kids so far.

I know how exhausting sleep issues can be.... I grew out of my sleepwalking and talking when I was child.... I hope that at least some of the kids will. I know a few people who have had success with melatonin, though not for my kids!  I have also spoken with our neuro that snoring is usually an indicator that there are sleep issues and if the underlying issues are taken care of the sleep walking can be significantly decreased... usually with cpap.  My husband will not do this so I can't say if it would work for him.

Hoping that you are all able to get rest soon!!!