Today I drove over to take Chris to the doctor. It was just a med check, but we have had issues with rage, anger, and violence over the past few weeks. We also wanted to discuss the possibility of Chris having Tourettes, after his school speech therapist brought it up upon observing him twice a week for several months.
Both the nurse and doctor were concerned over the rage Chris has shown lately, and the violence. After a few minutes of talking, he prescribed a mood stabilizer, usually used for bi-polar disorder. He also is referring us to DeVos Pediatric Hospital to see the pediatric neurologist. He did caution that it might be early summer before they can get him in, though.
My mom suggested that once we have an appointment time set up, to call the peds hospital and request to be added to the cancellation list- so that if someone cancels an appointment, we could take the place of it sooner than Summer.
In the mean time, another pill added to his morning dose. Actually, the doctor said we could start by giving him the bi-polar med in the morning, but that in some instances, it causes drowsiness, so if that happens, to give it to him later in the day. Time of day doesn't matter, as long as he's getting it.
So, there's the update- he's getting neurological testing done, which will be for Tourettes, but I also plan to ask the neurologist if he can test for Bi-polar as well.
Maybe we'll finally get somewhere! ;)
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Comments: 31
One of the meds that I take makes some people sleepy and others it has no effect on like you are describing. It makes me drowsy, so I take it at night.
Gave you a 10.
How old is your son?
check this site
maybe it will help with it
The med is Ripsydol? Something like that.
Talk to the psych. about depokote or seroulqal.
My son is bi-polar and OCD with rage disorder. Risp worked at first, and as the body gts use to it, it causes more violent behaivor. the beswt is seroulqal as it works as a mood modification, my son has comment out of all the meds he was ever on, that was the only one tht helped him relax and calm down. He has taken over 10 different meds till he found what worked the best.
For a diagnosis, you go to a psych. and they will do all meds also. Usually every other week for appointments, but I tell you it is worth it...pls also get a counseler for him to talk to that he feels comfortable with.
The psych. will also notice if there is tourettes involved and if he thought so, you would get asap not a waiting period.
This is all something I went through with my son, and it is hard, but he is now 20...completely off all meds and graduates with honors in two weeks.
I hate that you have to wait so long and I hate that you have to make your son into a test subject by doing trial and error- I hate that that is the only way that you can get answers and try to make everything okay. I wish there was just a simple test to tell us what was wrong, so that we didn't have to subject our children and ourselves to so much wasted time and stress.
My heart goes out to you. I know how stressful and annoying this all is.
I've been down a really rocky road with my own son as he dealt with his depression and at 18, he is finally taking therapy seriously--much earlier than even a lot of adults do. I almost despaired of anything really helping him since he was resistant to a lot of the issues the various therapists brought up (no matter what meds he was taking) but he is finally, FINALLY at a point where I know for certain that he will be okay--BECAUSE he is participating in therapy 100%. The years of putting him in front of therapists and insisting that he go to the appointments whether he liked it or not==and the discord it caused between the two of us, not to mention the financial sacrifice--all worth it.
Meds can help manage moods--but therapy helps build some structure for dealing with the moods and related issues. I can't emphasize the need for it strongly enough. It can take a while to find the right one, but we finally did...
Heather,
My husband, in addition to other things, is bi-polar and when we finally got the diagnosis, along with a good explanation from a kind-gentle and caring Doctor, so many things just fell into place. It did take awhile to find the right meds and they do have to be adjusted now and then, but what a difference it makes, when at least you know what you're dealing with and can have help, when needed.
Marilyn