10 Year Old Son with Anxiety or Health Issue

Since he is sleeping okay on the weekends, it sounds like something is going on at school. I would speak with his teachers and the counselor (if the school has one). He may be getting picked on at school. Have you looked at his grades? Maybe he is struggling in one of the classes.

My son is a freshman in high school and I've noticed things going on with him. After speaking with his counselor, I feel much better. In fact the counselor spoke with him. She speaks with all of the freshman, to get to know them. Since he spoke with his counselor, he is doing better.

Good luck!

I have a five year old that questions every thing he sees now. I limit the things he sees on tv - especially with what is going on in the world today as this is too much for a little mind to comprehend.

Every child suffers stress of many types. Your son could be processing events that he has gone through from the day, things he has seen, or heard. He may have heard things that you have talked about with others or saw things on the news as well. There are so many things going on that can affect a mind at that age that yes, I can believe it can do what it is.

I am a CMT, so I deal with this as my work. There are options to help. With my son, I am able to provide the things he needs to help him learn to properly shut down and process. Meditation, yoga, massage, reflexology as well as just talking about what is on the mind or what happened that day... if this doesn't help alone - then yes, you should take him in to see his doctor or a professional counselor. Or do a combination as this will help for later in life to help him learn to deal with stressful events. Everyone needs to know how to relax and unwind to stay well - physically, emotionally and mentally.

Update: After reading some responses... I do not recommend the story playing in the mind as sometimes even I suffer this on sleepless nights and I also have an active imagination. I have had less sleep on those nights of running story lines than if I left it alone. Those are the nights that I ended up playing a meditation cd and finally feel asleep. However, I do recommend writing in a journal before bed as that is another tool I forgot to mention (as I was up late responding to you~).

Be positive and patient, he feels your concerns and I am sure it will work out for you. :)

I think you've been given a lot of good suggestions below. I think looking at his diet would be really helpful. It's amazing how much artificial colors and flavors can negatively affect kids' brains.

Writing down all of his "to do" items at the end of the day may also help him calm his mind (I have that same problem when I have a lot going on and making a list before bed helps immensely).

If this doesn't help, I'd definitely contact his teacher at school to see if something is going on there that is stressing him out.

Best of luck. Parenthood is NOT an easy job!

"Nervousness" is listed as a side-effect of Azithromycin (aka: Zithromax/Z-Pack). If this started after he took the medication, call your doctors office/nurses line and ask if they think it could be related.

Just a thought...good luck!

Play music while he falls asleep. My daughter has a cd that is classical music with sounds of rain mixed in. I understand how he feels. There are many nights when I find it hard to quite my brain. I often use the tv to help me fall asleep. Also, watch very closely what he eats, sugar, etc. And make sure that he gets enough exercise during the day so that his body is actually tired.

Our kids are under more stress that we ever were in school. He will adjust. He has too. 6th grade is even more challenging to keep up. Suggest he write everything in his brain down before bed. It's a proven stress buster! Hang in there.

S.

When my son was 9 years old, he had trouble with migranes and similar issues to what you are describing. Might be something to check into with your doctor. Some of these are classic signs that my son had and he learned to manage them and rarely take any meds for them now.

Just a couple of thoughts...One, I think there is an awful lot of pressure these days at school...way too much homework for young students and peers at school can be so cruel and distracting. You might ask his teacher if there is anything going on at school with any other kids. Two, does he have a routine before bed? I know that sounds silly for a 10 year old, but he may need help winding down after an eventful day at school. A nice warm bath can really help ANYONE wind down before bed. What is he eating? Too much sugar, caffiene and even dyes in foods can cause kids to be on edge and not sleep well. There is so much hidden sugar etc in our food these days...check the labels for any "oses"..fructose, glocose, sucrose are all sugars added that have no nutritional value. Does he play video games? He might be subconciously re-playing them in his head. I hope this helps. Good luck!

ree ann; hey i say its ok to stay in his room till he falls asleep, even supernanny does this, if they wake up in the middle of the night, and you are still awake, and you are watching tv of course it may be hard for him to go to sleep if the house is dark and he cant sleep he may need to push his bedtime back a bit, dont send him to bed too early, if he falls asleep with the tv, and then asleep and wakes up well in morning i would def push bedtime back a bit, if he is going to bed too early he may need to do heavey mind work before he does go to bed, tire out his brain , this too can help, offer some flash cards or some sitting still brain activity, this also works well with an adult who is not sleeping well but us it may take like four hours of deep study or reading, hahahahah sounds like he cant shut his brain off before sleeping, his brain activity is processing alot now, and its hard to sleep under those conditions, its ok , he might just need brain stimulation so his brain shuts down for sleep, i would tire him out more so before goign to bed, find somthing he likes to do and do it with him, or make bed time later, so he can shut down when needed, have fun and hope all works out , D. s

Hello R. - I think your son is just having problems falling asleep and it makes him anxious. My 12-year-old had real problems falling asleep years ago - sometimes it would take hours. His mind was very overactive. I also used to find it very hard to fall asleep when i was a child. My son is definitely better than he was, but still goes to bed too late. I know it's driving you crazy but just reassure him that nothing bad is going to happen if he doesn't fall asleep - he will just be tired. Give him a warm milky drink before bed, just be as soothing as possible - good luck - Alison

R.,

This used to trouble me when I was a child, my mind was going all the time, and it it still like this for me now. I would lay in bed and just be bombarded by all these thoughts it was very hard for me to get to sleep because my mind/thoughts seemed to be in overdrive.

One thing I have learned to do to cope with this is to focus on one thing. As a child I would make up never ending stories. I dreamed up one story and made a thousand variations on it. I would always fall asleep before I got to the end of it, because it never had an end. When I got bored with one story line I simply created a new one. I even did this with TV show episodes, I would take the story off in all different directions in my mind. You could start him in this by letting him tell you the stories out loud at first, and then eventually he would just tell them to himself.

As an adult I try to focus on one thing while I lay in bed at night, a bible verse, a poem, an essay. Just something to focus my thoughts and help me to control them, so my mind isn't going off in 100 different directions, like what I need to do tomorrow, what the kids need tomorrow or next week, what appointments does anyone have. I have it all written down, its not necessary to run it thru my memory over and over again.

I hope this helps.

You don't need to take him to a doctor. Not unless you would rather watch him on antidepressants etc.
This is just passing. What you can do is work with him. See to it all his homework is done, which will put his mind at rest about that. You might want to get one of those sound machines that plays a bubbling brook, or white sound, or some other relaxing sounds.
Also consider giving him some calcium (dairy, or tablets) before bedtime. It helps falling asleep, and during sleep his bones get a chance to recoup.

But explain to him that even if he misses a couple of assignments you know he's doing his best and that he shouldn't make himself ill by worrying about it.

Hi R.,
My 10 year old (then 9) had similar problems back in the winter. It started with difficulty going to sleep and waking up at night, needing the TV to fall asleep. It slowly shifted into difficulty doing homework and paying attention at school. There were physical signs as well- headaches and stomach aches, which is not unusual with anxiety. She cried quite a bit, even during a girl scout sleepover with all her friends.
My daughter kept saying she was scared or worried. We went to the pediatrician and on to therapy. We found a great therapist in Rochester and after 5 or so sessions, she was good as new. It was anxiety and she learned to deal with the images in her head that scared her so she could concentrate again and fall asleep. I would highly recommend this route, it helped us immensely.
Best of luck.