About three months ago, Ben stopped responding to his usual sleep regimen of 5 mg of melatonin at 7pm and a prescribed sleeping pill called Doxepin, at 11pm. He was wild with energy until midnight, crawling around the house, throwing Logan out of his bed, visiting different couches and cackling at his favorite artwork in the house. He was a wired mess and on many nights took off his clothes and pull-up, opened the fridge and pulled out foods to make a smoothie. With the okay of the doctor, I increased the dosage on both the melatonin and Doxepin. It made no difference. I added herbal teas that promoted sleep, even trying different brands in hope to find one to do the trick. Nothing worked. We were at our wits end. I decided a detox was needed. No more melatonin, no more Doxepin. When I remembered, I gave him a tea, but that did not seem to have a huge effect on him, except adding to fluid that needed handling, if you get my drift. After about two more weeks of this crazy behavi
These stories describe our journey with Ben, our oldest son. Ben is a sweet and energetic redhead, born with Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic mutation. My husband, Ryan, and I try to keep up with Ben and his two younger brothers. I intend to shed insight into raising a child with disabilities and pass on the wisdom we’ve earned over the past two decades.