Ipse Dixit
August 6, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
So, yes, I am forever hand-wringing about how Charlie doesn’t have enough verbal language to tell me things, like his stomach hurting and why in the world he is squinting.
And, like whether or not I already gave him a tablet of melatonin. Last night, I said I was going to, walked into the kitchen, realized the counter needed cleaning, did that, then, I can’t remember. I thought about it and took out another tablet and walked into Charlie’s bedroom, where he was so busy jumping and bouncing on his bed that all the blankets and pillows had fallen off it.
“Melatonin,” I said.
“No,” said Charlie.
“Did you already take it?” I asked.
“Take it,” said Charlie.
“Ok, let’s tuck you in,” and I picked up all blankets and pillows and straightened out the yellow fleece blanket. “Good night,” I said.
“Good night,” said Charlie.
He was out like the proverbial lights in 10 minutes.
Obviously, he knew what he was talking about.
I can’t remember.
Sometimes I can’t either unless it’s part of a firm sequenced routine, and sometimes there’s the added complication that hubby or big sis can’t quite remember whether they gave a med or followed a step. For that reason posted checklists are helpful to everyone, and gives Eleanor a concrete prompt to refer to.
For he himself has said it…
and it’s greatly to his credit!
How about that–I use melatonin, too. I didn’t think it worked for so many people; maybe it helps more with autism-associated sleep trouble than for classic insomnia. I don’t know, actually, whether autism’s the only thing that can cause it (shift work can, too, apparently), but my problem is that my brain doesn’t know when it’s time to go to bed, no matter how regular a bedtime I keep. Right now it is 6:22 p.m. and for some reason my mind has decided it’s midnight and time to zonk out–despite that I went to bed at a respectable 1:00 a.m. last night. Melatonin works, at least, for those times when it’s 1 a.m. and my brain thinks it’s still 6 p.m.
My memory is truly on decline lately, I think. Not to diminish Charlie’s issues, but we honestly have this exact same problem with every single one of our children, autism or not. They seem so dazed about things that happened, even in the immediate past, and unable to tell us with certainty whether or not certain things have, in fact, happened. Very frustrating except also a bit comical.
Nick takes his melatonin tablet at 8 pm nightly, sometimes he decides he does not want to and then at 10 Pm he chooses to just in case he cannot get to sleep.
A few times we cannot recall if he took it or not. By accident Matt took it a few time as I was giving to Nick Matt stood there with hand out. I was a bit worried since Matt takes Geodon and that makes him sleepy, but there was no problem.
I’m kind of thinking that, for some things, Charlie’s memory is much better than most, but he generally doesn’t tell us in (so many) words.
As for not being able to recall what happened in the immediate past, there’s at least 2 adults in our household who spend too much trying to remember what was it we walked over to this desk for……..
“So, yes, I am forever hand-wringing about how Charlie doesn’t have enough verbal language to tell me things, like his stomach hurting and why in the world he is squinting.”
Also not only language, but also just body awareness – I am fluently verbal, though speech is difficult and does fail me periodically, and I have difficulty communicating pains and sensations, even when I know where the pain is (which may have more to do with communication than body awareness, though I have difficulty with both).
So while effective communication is a great thing to develop more, just having a means to communicate doesn’t mean that it will always be used when necessary, either because the method of communication (like speech) isn’t currently available, or they don’t know or know but can’t initiate when it’s necessary to communicate (which I have experienced all of these).
Just a long shot, but I’m brown-eyed and VERy sensitive to sun– I need sunglasses at all times. is that possible?
Hmmm—my husband always needs sunglasses, though he’s blue eyed and fair; Charlie has (like me) brown eyes and dark hair. Worth a try, thanks!
My mother and BF use melatonin, I have never needed it. Hardly anything keeps me from sleeping, even incredibly stressful situations or fear for my life. Summer does it, though, when it gets too hot. But then melatonin doesn’t help (I’ve tried), because I already get plenty tired by myself, and I fall asleep, but I just can’t stay asleep.
And I forgot: having enough language to communicate doesn’t necessarily make a difference at all.
I could never tell (and it’s still hard) what was wrong with me, because I simply didn’t know. I couldn’t pinpoint sensations. If I told my mom I had a bellyache, that just meant something felt ‘off’ somewhere in the region between my neck and my legs (minus arms). Then to her the glorious task of finding out at least a bit more specifically where I was hurting (or whatever) and then making a guess as to what might cause it.
Took me ages to realise a more recent constant headache was because of needing glasses. Even though I knew my vision was getting worse (of course wearing glasses gives me a headache too because no matter how loose they are, they feel like they’re squeezing my head. Lenses not an option).