Calling all nurses, nutritionists, doctors, parents familiar with Tenex

T

TeDo

Guest
I need your help. difficult child 1 has been extremely tired for the last 3 days. Let me give you some background before I ask my question.

When difficult child 1 was a toddler, he was frequently mildly anemic. This went away as he got older and started eating more iron-rich foods.

Friday night he did an overnight "Chess Tournament" with his Boy Scout troop. Usually he doesn't sleep while he's there (he claims) but he said he actually did this time. Since then he sleeps 12-13 hours a night and takes a 1-2 hour nap late morning and then goes to sleep at bedtime at 9:30. This has been going on for 2 days now.

He is a different kind of eater. He eats the same things for days and then suddenly stops when he's tired of that food. An example is he ate 1-2 WHOLE bags of the Green Giant frozen boxes of Broccoli with Cheese Sauce a day for about 3 weeks. I could never keep enough of it in the house. Now I couldn't pay him to eat it. I do make him eat other foods each day also and he takes a multivitamin daily. His "food of the month" is always a part of each meal. Lately it has been fruit. Whole cans at a time.

He has been on Tenex since his hospitalization in October. It has worked well for him (so far).

Now my question is, could this sleepiness be a side effect of the Tenex (he's slow to develop them but they hit hard when they hit) or could it be he's anemic again or....or.....or? Should I be concerned right now or should I give it some more time? What kinds of foods are high in Iron so I can try to increase his intake to see if that's the issue (he HATES needles of any kind). I'm not sure what to do right now and could used some experienced advice. TIA.
 

buddy

New Member
Did he have the metablolism testing? you had mentioned it. Why I am asking is..... for people who test as "poor metabolizers" the medication can build up over time and is not excreted correctly. The scary story I read about was the boy who was on 20 mg prozac a day and by day three at that level he died. It is a slow half life anyway so it just built to overdose proportions in his body. (Yeah, I really waned to know that.... had no idea how scary this enzyme thing can be)

So, if he is slow to develop them maybe the levels in his body are really a lot higher than what the prescription info says. I know it is a long shot but I just thought I'd ask.

Is he still growing (for him, smile)? Would be a great "in hindsight" moment if he suddenly seems to be out of his pants and shirts and shoes.

I hate this age.... too many things at once.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Overnight chess tourney?
I'd be guessing that he threw his blood sugar AND his sleep cycles majorly wonky... and it can take weeks to reset. With some medications, low blood sugar is a MAJOR no-no... and getting high on sugar ends up with a blood sugar crash.

OR... mono.
 
T

TeDo

Guest
The psychiatrist is still trying to figure out where the testing is done around here. The told me I could "experiment" with the Tenex dose but stay under the 1 1/2mg a day and don't change it by more than 1/2mg a week. Right now, he takes 1/2mg in the morning and 1mg at bedtime as prescribed. I could try cutting his bedtime to 1/2mg and see if that helps but thought I'd try the iron thing first since that is something he had issues with in the past as well as his bizarre eating habits. I don't want to try more than one thing at a time.
 
T

TeDo

Guest
Thanks Insane. I hadn't thought of that. And yes, it was an overnight Chess Tourney. They earned the badge for participating in it. I know they had pizza for supper and they always have popcorn. He also took money with him for 2 cans of pop (sugared I'm sure). I will have to keep an eye out for that too. Usually after one of these overnights, one good solid day of nothing but napping has taken care of it. This time is different. He's been fine after a long night of sleep AND a noon nap. The rest of the day is usually fine although a little irritable (more than usual). That is why I'm kind of thinking it might be the Tenex but the diet is also a possibility.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
It could be the combo...
For difficult child... it was an atypical-AP plus 6 hours between meals including a workout at the gym... it took almost 2 weeks to even the bloodsugar back out. It was so bad he was nauseous... zantac, eating every 2 hours (hungry or not) and always protein + fat + high-fiber carbs... every snack and every meal.

difficult child had done the 6-hours thing often before... but not on the AP...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Iron rich foods...any green leafyco veggies like kale, collards or spinach. Liver, red meat, chicken livers. Now I know you are thinking how on earth am I gonna get my kid to eat liver? Ewwwww. Well my kids love every thing I listed except for kale!

You can fry chicken livers in a flour base just like chicken and serve with dipping sauce...and fries. Or, wrap them in bacon and broil them in the oven and tell them they are an exotic finger food. Bacon makes everything good.

Regular liver is wonderful if you get calf liver and beat it out slightly to make it even more tender, dredge in flour with salt and pepper. Fry in a frying pan with bit of oil in it...maybe a quarter inch. After they are done, add sliced onions and cook till tender. Remove and make a gravy with the pan drippings. Make a pot of rice to serve with this meal. Kids will think they are having swiss steak.

Mine have been eating all of this since they could chew. I grew up loving liver and they all do too. Even my granddaughter loves it. She asks for more liver and onions every time we have it...lol. Her mother cannot believe it.
 
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