The Joys of having children.

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PT

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My youngest stepson is 7. We've had a few cases of sleepwalking lately that were starting to bother us a little, but tonight, he pulled a new one on us. Usually he just walks downstairs around 10:30 or so and just sits on the couch, we literally have to help him stand up and push him in the right direction, and he'll walk back upstairs and get back into bed. He doesn't respond to any questions or anything when he does this, but will have his eyes open and seem basically awake. Well, tonight my oldest son came down, just a few minutes ago (It's 11:00pm here) and said the youngest just got out of bed, walked into the bathroom upstairs and he could hear him peeing, only not in the toilet.:erm: He apparently finished, walked back into the bedroom, and went back to bed. Ok, so we're going to have to do something about this sleepwalking thing. Any ideas? Anyone have any experience with this? Please?

He did have a few episodes a few years back, he was probably 5 then, and one time he walked into his sisters room and peed on her bed, that was a fun night, but hasn't done this again until just recently.
 
From what I know of it, the medium level cases where a person sleepwalks constantly and can put themselves in harm is treated with valium or mild antidepressants. They seem to have an effect which keeps the dream state more in check away from seizing the body.
 
If its merely 'episodic', it can be dealt with possibly by hypnosis or a more strict regimentation of sleep time.
 
Well, up until this, it hasn't been a problem really. Going to have to think about the bedtime thing, that may be part of it, but seeing as how he spends at least one night a week at his fathers, I won't be able to change it. May just have to see what kind of pattern we're getting there first. I've been looking at some web sites, and I found this one, the info is from 98, but it seems good. http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/slpwalking.html
 
Oh, and one of the things it mentions is genetics, his father has always been a sleepwalker, but it looks like most preteen cases grow out of it. Sure hope so.
 
I did it, used to walk around the house and turn all the lights on and go back to bed...I stopped as a teen, just naturally, as my brother did.

My sister however, does it still...her friends caught her once walking around the street outside her dorm! :eek:

I think your first stop in this would be a sleep clinic so they can see what's going on.
 
dont wake him pt. ill look into it for ya since i still have my abnormal psych book and see what it says. email or pm me tonite ill get it tommorrow.
 
I second the sleep clinic. The consultation is to determine whether it's psychological or physical and if they say physical, they might do a sleep study on him where he would have to stay overnight and sleep there. It's a chore to get an appointment for that, I had to wait 3 months the first time.

Doesn't seem that serious now but if gone untreated, it might develop into something more and dangerous for him or the rest of the family.
 
Ok, I'll do some looking around for a sleep clinic in the area, I can't say I've heard of one, but surely St. Louis would have one.

Sidenote, same son comes down stairs this morning and informs me he pulled the front off of one of his drawers on his dresser and needs me to fix it. Ok. Oldest son informs me later that he starting pulling, it stuck, he yanked, and the front of the drawer came off. I'm kinda proud.
 
PuterTutor said:
Oldest son informs me later that he starting pulling, it stuck, he yanked, and the front of the drawer came off. I'm kinda proud.
Click to expand...

:D

Mine is one big injury right now. 2 skinned knees, scabbed up elbow, scab on the thumb, scab on the nose and under the lower lip.

I'm kinda proud, too.
 
PT, you'll probably need a referral from your general doc to go to a specialist. I think you should go to your GP or Pediatrician first.

Good luck with it, let us know how it goes?
 
My older sister used to get up, get dressed for school, then go back to bed.

My older brother used to get up, open his chest of drawers, pee in it, then go back to bed.

While both "grew out of it", it wasn't without a lot late nights for my parents. Back then, they didn't have sleep clinics ... but a while back when I was working for a doctor, we had a case where a young boy used to sleep walk, and it wasn't a big deal until one night he opened the front door and walked outside. Luckily, he wasn't hurt - but the doc sent the boy to a sleep clinic and they determined that his brain constantly fired off messages to the rest of his body, and even more so when he was in REM. They've decided not to use medication but instead, he's been doing breathing and relaxation exercises as well as special herbal teas. Works wonders.
 
My parents haven't said anything about me sleepwalking when I was younger... but one time, I went to bed, and then woke up at 4 a.m. in the recliner in the living room with the remote in my hand and Warner Bros. cartoons on TNT on the TV.
 
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