Regulation of the Circadian Rhythms

Hahahahaha wondering what that title means? Well here ya go!

Melatonin (pronounced /ˌmɛləˈtoʊnɪn/ also known chemically as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is a naturally occurring hormone found in animals and in some other living organisms, including algae. Circulating levels vary in a daily cycle, and melatonin is important in the regulation of the circadian rhythms of several biological functions. Melatonin produced in the pineal gland, which is outside of the blood-brain barrier, acts as an endocrine hormone since it is released into the blood. By contrast, melatonin produced by the retina and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract acts as a paracrine hormone. The melatonin signal forms part of the system that regulates the sleep-wake cycle by chemically causing drowsiness and lowering the body temperature.

The Melatonin has been working GREAT for Kaitlyn! My little girl hs never shown signs of tiredness. Would never yawn and lay on the couch and say "I need to rest my eyes for a bit..." lol and now with the Melatonin she does all that and goes right up to bed (thats not to say she doesnt fight going up to bed or have tantrums - we still get that) and she doesnt play around for 2 hours in bed before going to sleep... she lays down and GOES TO SLEEP!!!! I just love it... it's so much better for her and me! She's not getting out of bed and coming out of her room to because she has to "tell me just one more thing." So I'm very happy that she is getting good sleep now. She's also still waking up at the same time in the morning and sometimes I even have to wake her up!!

There is one downside, if you will, to this sleeping so well thing. She has to relearn now how to feel when she has to go potty in the middle of the night and be able to wake up so we've decided to put Pull-ups on at night so we dont have to change clothes and sheets in the middle of the night every night! That was getting to be a pain! So we'll retrain her little body to know she has to go and that it has to wake up in the middle of the night to go. I think after that we'll be all good!

As for the Tenex... I know I said wasnt going to update until after a week but I just wanted to mention something. I'm not sure if it's the meds or what but this morning when I took Kaitlyn to school we got up there and there were a lot of kids and parents in the coat room. Normally she will hide behind me or under a table or something because she is so nervous... well this morning she was all happy and springy and acting like a little clown making everyone laugh! She even said goodbye to me and her brother and just went into class! It was the first time (besides the first day) that she has done that!! So... hopefully this is the side effect of the meds and she isnt feeling as anxious and stuff.

Yesterday Kaitlyn was having a "bad transition" day and when I was there to pick her up she didnt want to leave the playground and ended up starting a tantrum while clinging to the fence. That continued all the way home and I had to fight with her (literally put my body weight on her) to get her in her carseat while she was screaming and kicking. I do have to say that since we are handling her tantrums a little differently these days, the other two she had yesterday were short-lived. The one from school to home was the biggest and longest yesterday!

Progress, I say, Progress!!

Follow-Up in Woodstock, NY

Kaitlyn and I drove the 150 miles round trip today to Woodstock, NY for her follow-up with the Developmental Ped. We left at 8:30am and were with the Dr almost 2 hours and ended up getting home at 1pm. It was a long morning! The Dr says she is going to try to have Kaitlyn's report done by the end of next week so that I can take it with me to the School District meeting.

So after calling around everywhere today I finally found a place that had liquid Melatonin and we started that tonight. I'm not sure if it worked or not but I put both kids up to bed at the same time tonight and didnt hear a peep out of them. It was Tyler's regular bedtime and just a little early for Kaitlyn but we had a long day and she didn't nap. I think it may have helped... we'll see after a few days if it's the same then I'll know!

The Dr thinks (and we agree!) that we should try out something for Kaitlyn's anxiety. It's a very mild medication, Tenex, which is actually prescribed for Blood pressure but works great in kids for anxiety and ADHD. So we're going to start that tomorrow and see how that goes... we really think a lot of K's issues are anxiety related and maybe this will help her. We can only try and see how it works! Of course I'll update about that after we see how she does on it for a week or so, I think.

Other than that, we're going to try to get her in a different "program" for school. We're hoping for a "center-based" program that is specifically tailored towards the kids that need a certain kind of help and stability and consistancy and more one on one work. We'll just have to see where we go from here with the school district!

Time will tell!

1st School Field Trip!!!

First of all, yes, I know it's been a bit since I've updated on Kaitlyn but, to be honest, she's been taking a bit out of me these days! Pretty much school has been the same. She's having some trouble going to school or when we get there she doesnt want to go in because "there are people in there and she wants to be alone." We've had a lot of bathroom "accidents" at school as well as at home since starting school as well. I was even called to pick her up one day as they could not keep taking away from the other kids in the class to clean her up and she had gone twice in a span of 20 mins. I'm noticing that Tuesdays and Thursdays are a little easier for her with the smaller class. She does love school though and does have a couple kids she likes running around with and playing chase or "monster" or whatever with. She tries so hard and bottles everything up while she is there and the tends to explode when at home.

I did get the report from the school - FINALLY! Really... it's just too long to explain but basically they saw what we see (minus the tantrums, of course) and the suggestion was that she needs some coping skills, social skills, and would benefit from a smaller class, where the schedule is routine and predictable and that is run by a special ed teacher who is familiar with kids of her nature. Of course, she scored super high on the testing they did for cognitive and all that and speech. The OT did notice the sensory issues but thinks they may be driven by anxiety or control issues.

Ok so on to the good stuff... sort of! :) We went on Kaitlyn's first school field trip today with her class (and families) to the pumpkin patch! The kids got to pick a gourd, pumpkin and an indian corn from the field. We went on a hay ride, saw some animals, went through a hay maze and hay tunnel (well the kids did, not me! It was only about waist high). The kids got to run around and play and they had storytime and heard a couple great stories. We even ended up losing Kaitlyn just before the Hay ride as she didnt want to follow directions and Mommy was trying to coax Tyler out of the hay tunnel! I told her to wait with everyone else and she decided to make a right turn and go back near the animals to pet the Sheep. So when I finally got Tyler out and managed to make it to the waiting spot for the Hay ride, there was no Kaitlyn with the rest of the group. I didn't really freak out as I knew she really couldn't be far but still. The other parents and teachers were looking around outside while I ran back to the barn with Tyler to look for her there and, of course, thats where I found her. Anyway, weather turned out to be FREEZING and I was NOT prepared and the three of us pretty much froze to death but it was still a good time...

until...

we had to leave. That is when the BEAST showed up, shall I say. We had a couple little crying episodes during the trip but I thought I was lucky and that might be it! One because she was cold but thats understandable and the other was a little worse because somewhere along the way she lost her chapstick that I had just given her this morning (we'll be hearing about the lost chapstick for the rest of the winter, now, just like the "book corner" that is no longer in her classroom!). So after the hay ride and picking the pumpkins it was time to go. I gather this was difficult for my daughter as she began her screaming fit that she didn't want to leave at the barn and it continued all the way to the car (who knows what the poor family walking to their car in front of us was thinking), she then began flailing herself around on the side of the car screaming that she is "not getting in and wants to stay." I managed to get the thrashing little girl into the car and buckled - with some difficulty - and she cried, screamed, demanded and thrashed about, fighting against her harness for most of the ride home (it's about a 35 min ride). I, of course, ignored her behavior completely and Tyler just looked at her kinda bug-eyed. By the time we were almost home I think she tired herself out because she had finally gotten quiet and I looked back only to see her staring glass-eyed into space looking like she could fall asleep at any moment! Up until now we've been dealing with the whole "end of the world" behavior and the very "demanding" behavior... hopefully she will get it out before bedtime and we dont have any screaming fits then.

So, I'm glad we had a good time at the field trip but it was obviously very over-stimulating for Kaitlyn and will make me think twice about field trips from now on... but... we'll probably go anyway because I hate sheltering her just because she "blows up."

Well we're off to see Dr Meyer for a follow up appointment tomorrow so I will update then with how that went and then we're off and running to deal with the school district Special Ed committee as to what to do with this girl regarding school.

Just wanted to mention before I forgot. This week, every morning, Kaitlyn has been complaining about being sick in the morning and she doesnt feel good and is going to throw up and doesnt want to go to school. Then yesterday she cried for about a half an hour or so and the entire way to school about not wanting to go and "does she have to go and sleep there too." The poor girl is so anxious about school and really does like it but I think being there is very hard for her. Hopefully this morning goes better. She has behaved pretty well at school this week though and we've been doing well handling the tantrums and catching them before they get out of hand here at home. Yesterday, starting out the way it did, was one of those "end of the world" behavior days where she whined and cried all day about one thing or another and then fought me at bedtime. She was very tired because once I got her IN bed, she didnt make a peep and fell right asleep.

Ok well time for breakfast and then off to school!