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Q: Son Is Sleeping 14-17
Hours per Day
My son is 13 years old and has been diagnoses with early childhood onset
bipolar. He is also a child who was prenatally exposed to cocaine and alcohol
(not FAS) by his biological mother.He is currently taking 200 mg of lamictal. He
took meditate up until Feb when I took him off of it. At the same time his
sereqoul was upped to 500 mg because he was not able to sleep. After that he
began sleeping 14+ hours. In may, his psychiatric nurse practitioner reduce the
meds to 200mg. His sleep increased up to 20 hours. Missing days of school. A
week ago she took him completely off the sereqoul. He continues to sleep 14-17
hours a day. The only difference now is that when he wakes up, he is truly
awake. He is eating and playing with his video games and at times wants to play
with his friends. Before he wasn't even able to get out of bed.
I am concerned about his continuing wanting to sleep. I know 13 year olds need
to sleep a lot, But 14-17 hours per day. It is not like he is staying up late.
He goes asleep between 6:30 and 9:30.
Is this normal for a child with bipolar and prenatal drug exposure going through
adolescents/growth spurts or is he having a bipolar episode of depression? I
want to help him and don't know what to do. please help.
andrea
Andrea,
It could be a bipolar
depressive episode but it
is difficult to tell. Does
he complain of a depressed
mood? Is he more
irritable? Is this similar
to his prior episodes of
depression? I would look
for more signs of
depression beyond the
hypersomnia and
fatigue. The Seroquel may
be having a lingering
effect on his energy level
and motivation as well. I
would ask why he was on
the Medadate and why you
took him off of it? Has
he been diagnosed with any
attentional problems? The
Medadate would certainly
have given him more energy
and not being on it may be
contributing to his
fatigue and hypersomnia.
I would encourage you to
speak with his
psychiatrist about this to
determine what the root
cause is. Even adolescent
boys shouldn't be sleeping
that much.
Dr. Plyler
Published August, 2011
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