So I've already made a few posts and thought I should post an intro as a formality.
I'm Mary ~ mom of 3 (ages 5, 8 & 9). My 8 yo was diagnosed at 4 1/2 w/ ODD, ADHD and by 5 1/2, added the GAD. He started meds after 6 months of behavioral counseling, changing discipline styles, redirection and taking a stick to his younger brother's head. It's a decision I don't regret. He went from being the "I don't remember" to his first day of kindergarten telling me what songs they sang, what he ate for lunch and the books read by the teacher.
We had a very minor aray of problems in kindergarten which usually involved defiance (crawling under the tables and not coming out until the teacher bribed him with helping her). We found he had a knack and love of Legos, KNex and puzzles (by Dec of kindy year, he was on 500 pieces). In December we added in Tenex to help with his sleep issues (very active sleeper ~ kicking, yelling, growling, teeth grinding).
First grade, our problem was anxiety. He chewed his fingernails and cuticles the whole year. They were continuously raw, bloody, scabbed and at one time he had a horrible infection in the nail bed at the cuticle that blistered up and needed antibiotics to get rid of it. If the wind was blowing, he shrieked in fear to the extent of crying, screaming, not wanting to walk to the end of the driveway to get on the bus, needing to hold his older sisters hand, etc. We also had sensational issues with food textures and water temperature (luke warm was too hot). The sensual issues made me look deeper and I asked for him to be tested for Asperger's (which they said he had some symptoms but they weren't strong enough for the dx). The building knack continued and he was now up to 1000 piece puzzles. In November, we switched from Tenex to Abilify to help w/ anxiety and sleep. Like a miracle, the first week after school dismissed for the summer, his nail biting stopped almost immediately ~ only to be replaced by a throat clearing tic that lasted only a week.
We moved the summer before 2nd grade. To my surprise, he adjusted well. He didn't have any problems in school, the bus and home life was going ok. So I asked the psych about trying a lower dose. Looking back, it was the worst decision I've made. In the first 9 days of lowering, he had his glasses broke twice, was all of a sudden having problems on the bus ride home, stuttering returned ten fold and had run ins w/ a couple kids on the playground. We went back up, but things didn't get any better. The end of January, he started seeing a psychotherapist (play therapy) but he only gets to play if he's had a good week otherwise he just gets to sit & talk. He started having rages on Good Friday.
This past June, the psych wanted to try a lower dose of Abilify and said if he didn't respond favorably I would have proven to him. Well, it failed miserably. His stuttering increased more, he was more agitated, more irritable. We went back up, but it didn't change what had already been done. We have not gotten my son back to the "ok" stage we were at before the lower dose change in December 2006.
So here we are in September, just changed meds from Adderall XR 25 mg to Concerta 36 mg. We added Depakote 250 mg 2 x day into the regimen (still taking 5 mg of Abilify 2 x day). I told the dr we needed something to last longer because homework was unbearable (in 3rd grade, homework shouldn't take 2 1/2 to complete). We go back in 2 weeks to discuss how the changes are working.
Linear Mode
