Tiredness and LD

Not much help, except to say that when my daughter was evaluated the Doctor said, “If you KNEW how hard she was working to stay afloat, you would cry”. “She HAS to be exhausted after a full day of school.”

Remediation and therapies are the only things that will help. These kids will always have to work harder than everyone else to achieve the same (or less).

I would suggest an earlier bedtime to her. My son is 10 and still goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 pm. I am very rigid about it. With his processing problems, school wears him out and the only defense is adequate sleep.

Beth

Agree with all of the above. I would also add that a high protein diet can help for some. Too many carbs cause the blood sugar level to go up an down causing alot of highs and lows in some kids.

I have just started my children on a high protein breakfast. My one child comes home and tells me how much better his attention, concentration, and energy is.

Has he always been tired or is it just recently?

With auditory processing problems, dyslexia, processing problems and Sensory Integration Disorder your son is at a big disadvantage in the classroom. Have you ever watched the video “Fat City”? If not get a hold of it and it will give you a glimpse at how hard it is for your son in the classroom.

Helen

As Helen said, the Fat City workshop on video is wonderful. It is called “How Hard Can This Be?” and shows a group of adults (non-LD) in a “classroom”. The speaker, Richard Lavoie, acts as the teacher. Within just a few minutes he has the non-LD adults feeling very much LD. It helps us realize what our kids go through all day, every day. The first time I watched it, I cried. It made me feel so sorry for what my daughter must go through. I wish more teachers would watch this video. I think it would help them realize how hard our kids are trying. You know, working about 300% harder than most and only accomplishing about 80%, if that much. It’s kind of expensive for a video so you might want to check with your library or school.

In Florida, it’s called FDLRS.

Many teens go through a year or two when they need a lot more sleep. I remember being exhausted most of my 14th year. Of course, tossing a multivitamin and/or exercise in the mix wouldn’t hurt, either.

Yes, and their body “clocks” are adjusting— many teens are not physiologically(sp?) ready for sleep until 11pm or midnight, yet they must get up at 6 to make it to school on time.

Have you discussed this with your child’s pediatrician? When my niece complained of tiredness at the same age she had extensive blood work to check thyroid function, and to rule out hypoglycemia, anemia, etc. She saw an infectious disease doctor and he tested for Epstein Barr- tests ruled out mono and chronic fatigue. She lives in NJ - deer tick country and was tested for Lyme (her older brother had been previously diagnosed with Lyme but never presented with the bullseyerash) and fortunately her tests came back negative. However a test for human parvovirus came back positive. It took months before she felt better and during that time she was on home instruction for a while.

If you live in area with a high incidence of Lyme disease you may be interested in the work of Dr. Brian Fallon at Columbia University. Go to this site for a discussion on how a 7 year old patient with chronic lyme disease exhibited neuro psychological deficits similar to ADHD symptoms which disappeared while being treated with antibiotics.

http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nyspi/lymevid/lyme-fr.html

I am not saying that your child has any of the above disorders - but sometimes “tiredness” is more than just being a 15 year old with a busy schedule. I hope this helps.

I have a seven year old that has the same symptoms as your son. I tried everything to “wake” him up. He was falling asleep at school despite a strick bedtime schedule. I found out through extensive testing that his lethargy was due to a vitamin deficiency and other gastrointestinal problems commonly associated with his learning disability. We are working with the Pfieffer Treatment Center near Naperville, Illinios on a vitamin therapy program for him. It has had the most success out of any of the other therapies I have tried to date. - and definitely improved his energy level. Sorry, I don’t have the web address for you, but you can find it if you search under the name of the clinic.