As anyone who has already read my blog up to this point knows I am a mother of 4 wonderful kids. Andrew is 10 years old and weighs 87 pounds (this is good since he just lost 4 pounds). His cholestrol is high which they put him and essentially the whole family on a low cholestrol diet. He was diagnosed with ADHD back in 2002 when he was thrown out of headstart and I was told he needed a full evaluation before he was able to return (He took his shoes off and threw them at another kid's head that was making fun of him, hit the other kids square in the head and laughed his full head off and didn't understand why everyone was mad at him). See the thing with Andrew is I have always described him as "if it is a good day it is a really good day but if it is a bad day it is a bad day for EVERYONE." He has take ritilian (adverse affect) to an array of other medications. He was later diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder - I don't want to and you can't make me hahahaha) and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder - I have to save this game mom or else my world is ruined!). They have had him on Adderrall XR and Seroquel for so long now. This past 6 months have been a rollar coaster becasue they have just added the diagnosis of BiPolar to everythign else. Not that they gave him any testing for it but I took him to see the doctor one day and he says well I think he may have BiPolar - here are the drugs to choose from... see you in two weeks with your decision of which one you want to put him on... HELLO - your the one with the PhD - luckily I work in an ARC and for 19 nurses, 5 behavior specialists, a pharmacist, and a psychologist - all of which I use to my benefit anytime I need to when it comes to bouncing things off of. I am sorry but I really don't think the meds are helping and I found this blog Tenuous at Best whose son (late teenager) has the same diagnosis as Andrew and she agrees with me. She thinks that the Depakote and Seroquel are a great combination but the Adderall cancels them out. I am looking for more insight from others that understand where i am coming from... Since this is a growing issue as talk about sending him into a hospital to get his meds straighten out are getting serious... Any way his current med schedule is as follows :
8:00 a.m. - Adderall XR 30 mg (1 capsule), Depakote 250 mg (1 tablet), Seroquel 100 mg (1 tablet)
11:00 a.m. - Adderall XR 30 mg (1 capsule)
3:00 p.m. - Seroquel 25 mg (1 tablet)
8:00 p.m. - Seroquel 100 mg (2 tablets), Depakote 250 mg (2 tablets)
5 comments:
THat is some serious medication. Does it make him sleepy?
Not at all that is the thing... I mean at night he will go to bed when I tell him to now where before he was up all hours of the night... 3 - 4 a.m. and then refused to wake up for school... but during the day he is never tired.
hi there, thanks for giving me the link to your blog, i'll have to take some time and read through it!
with more info now (the list of meds and dosages here) again i say - DROP THE ADDERALL!!
that's alot of adderall, and it's extended release, it's gonna last all day and into the night.
honestly, it will not hurt him at all to drop it right now and see if he does better. granted, he still won't be able to focus or pay attention due to the adhd, but without that adderall the seroquel will put him to sleep, you will probably see a big decrease in his anger and acting out.
if you notice no difference at all after a few days, go ahead and give it to him again.
if he's too sleepy during the day then, that morning dose of seroquel would be the culprit. you could talk to the doc about giving him all the seroquel at night.
I'm not sure I understand why anyone would claim all three diagnoses simultaneously as the symptoms all overlap. It seems like so many kids given adhd drugs, later, due to side effects of the drugs, get labeled bipolar. There's very little scientific validation of any of these diagnoses. Have you considered family therapy instead of drugs? Changing schools? Oppositional defiant disorder is usually an indication that a teacher has problems managing students. Sad that what got this whole thing started. I hope your kid survives the "cure."
My son has a bipolar dx as well, and has taken all of the meds you list above. I am not a big fan of seroquel for long term stuff. It was a helpful drug for my son to take when he was very unstable (in a hospital unstable, so in a serious crisis), but he gained weight and had some side effects like drooling and muscular tics.
I have to agree with the comment above me that a good thing to consider might be therapy. If you can afford it, it could really help you and your son. With 4 kids, I can only imagine how tough it might be to schedule frequent therapy appointments, but I think the expectation that drugs alone will help a kid learn how to cope with the tough feelings he's having is to "magical cure."
but speaking of magical cures, there are a lot of resources around as well about Omega 3 fatty acids, different supplements and dietary changes that can help as well. We've been able to adopt a few, and have seen some success...
I wish you and your family all the best!!!
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