About 3 weeks ago we decided to withdraw Megan’s nightly Vallergan medication (if you’re not sure what Vallergan is or why we’re using it then check the archives for links about sleep or Vallergan and all will be revealed).
We withdrew it because we thought it was making her less able to function properly. It seemed to be making her volatile and grumpy as well as affecting her cognition. Most worryingly, it seemed to be affecting her ability to communicate. As Megan doesn’t really communicate much anyway we really didn’t want to jeopardies what we did have. Besides, it was having less and less of an effect on her sleep anyway.
3 weeks in and we’re convinced we’ve done the right thing. During the day she’s much more sociable and alert. However, it has had a detrimental effect on her sleep. She now wakes up every night for between 2 and 5 hours, usually about 1am. We take it in turns to watch her but she also gets quite upset and 2 nights ago she had night terrors which is obviously upsetting for both her and us.
To be fair she’s also been ill so all these things could be caused by her getting over her cold but we’re not so sure. It seems we’re caught between the rock of non-productive sleep causing irritability and lack of communication and the hard place of lack of sleep for all of us, possible night terrors and upset.
I guess we just have to weigh all the pro’s and con’s of both situations but I really don’t want to have to medicate my daughter any more. It makes me feel really shitty to do that.
Left Brain Right Brain 
hi, we have just read your letter ,our son has been on vallergan for about 5 years we hate giving to him and have been reducing the dosage slowly .Ralph has just decided to refuse to take it any more and we are experiencing the same things you have described happened to Megan.Can you tell me the dosage Megan was on also have things got any easier for you guys .look forward from hearing from you x
Hi Paula and Ant :o)
Megan was on 5mg which we gave her on an ‘as and when’ basis. If we decided she needed it we gave it to her. If we didn’t then we withheld it.
As it is right now she still has it but very very occassionaly (two/three times a month). Her sleep pattern is still very poor but the overall benefits in her mood and concentration are worth it. Its a case now of being able to judge when she’s on the point of becoming exhausted and medicating her just prior to that point. Thats usually enough for a decent nights sleep or two and then the cycle starts again.
hi,thanks very much i think we will have to try and put a couple of mg in a yougart before he goes to bed and reduce it gradually, its very difficult when you have other children sleeping to have him screaming night after night.How old is your little girl? Ralph is 6 he is undiagnosed he has severe learning difficulties(he does not talk walk or in fact do anything for himself)all his food is pureed too. oh well onwards and upwards so they say .Sweet dreams !
Megs is 5 so they’re close in age. She has the syrup which she accepts very easily, we can just give it to her on a spoon.
I know exactly what you mean about being disturbed. What we do is get Meggy downstairs as quick as possible to let everyone else go to sleep and then one of us stays with her until either everyone else gets up or (very rarely!) she falls back to sleep by herself.
Megan doesn’t talk either but she walks OK. Have you thought about getting a diagnosis for Ralph or have you already tried?
We moved to a bungalow last year,so it very difficult to get away from any crying.Our living area is all open with very high ceilings so it seems twice as loud.
When Ralph arrived he had no sight hearing and a cleft palet so we had to get referred asap ,we then spent the next (i guess two years) driving ourselves mad to find out what was wrong with Ralph.We have been told it maybe ganetic but only because the two girls are fine.
Our only worry really is if it is ganetic that the girls maybe carring the gene.
We would love to know what is wrong with Ralph dont get me wrong but after 6 years we just want him to be happy and as healthy as pos.
We did put 2 mg in a yougart last night and he slept much better thank god we all needed some sleep.
Hope Megan is happy ,do you have a diagnosis for her?the thing is they become the person they are because you have never known them any different.(if that makes sense.)
Hi Paula,
Yes we have an ‘official’ diagnosis of classic (Kanners) autism for Megan and yes she’s a very happy and confident little girl.
She has her fair share of situations that require our intervention (communication/sleep/occassionaly behaviour) but she is on the whole a good little girl.
If I were you I’d pursue a diagnosis – if only so you can access funding for programmes that could benefit Ralph. Lots of luck and keep me up to date, I’d be very interested to hear how you all get on.
hi kev ,i thought i would give you an update after all this time, we continued giving ralph vallergan disguising it in a yougart untill one night on holiday in France he had a massive fit ,never had one before so was a complete shock to us .he actually had 2 in total we have been told they were bought on by him being over tired.From that horrible night we decided never to give it to him again.He has been tested recently for Angelman Syndrome which i convinced myself he had but its turned out its not so the search goes on . i hope you are all well .
Hi Paula,
Sorry to hear Ralph took a turn for the worse. Megan very rarely has Vallergan at all any more as well but she never had a bad reaction like that to it.
Let me know how your search goes.