New psychiatrist today...nervous

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seekingsanity4

Guest
I am so tired to seeing new Psychiatrists for difficult child 1....I swear for years it's all I did. Constantly searching for answers and NOT ONE of them has ever agreed on a diagnoses...I guess this should have been my first clue. So for the last year, we've been somewhat MIA from any psychiatrist's office (a cross-country move contributed). But now, after a horrible month, we have our appointment today. Initially, I felt like we were going for new medications. That's how I've been trained as the mom, if one medication doesn't work, try another...because they must be medicated. But he's been on multiple medications for so many years now, I don't remember anymore what we're trying to treat and how can I really know if the medications aren't a huge part of the problem??

We've been slowly bringing him off the Risperdone, and his Lexapro is doing absolutely nothing for him because he's as depressed as ever. His mood is like a roller coaster and I never know what to expect.

I read today about Frontal Lobe Syndrome and I really have to wonder. Is the Lexapro actually CAUSING the lack of interest, apathy, indifference? And has the Risperdone been CAUSING the increasingly violent, explosive behavior for years now and I just didnt' know?? The thought of it makes me sick to my stomach :sick:

I feel like a horrible mother. I know it's not my fault. I have 2 other kids to care for and I'm on my own and it's just freaking hard most of the time. I wish it had not taken me so many years to question the medications and I wish I had spent a whole lot more of my time researching these issues. But today, we will start again. And I truly hope this new psychiatrist can offer some insight to his issues. I suppose I'll know pretty quickly.
 
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TeDo

Guest
.... how can I really know if the medications aren't a huge part of the problem??

We've been slowly bringing him off the Risperdone, and his Lexapro is doing absolutely nothing for him because he's as depressed as ever. His mood is like a roller coaster and I never know what to expect.

..... Is the Lexapro actually CAUSING the lack of interest, apathy, indifference? And has the Risperdone been CAUSING the increasingly violent, explosive behavior for years now and I just didnt' know?? The thought of it makes me sick to my stomach


You are not a horrible mother. We are trained to trust "the professionals". The problem is that WE know our kids better than they ever could. As for the medications causing the behaviors, that is VERY possible. If you've read any of my other posts you'll see we just went through similar situations. difficult child was put on a stimulant for his ADHD and it actually acted like speed for him. He has to be on a non-stimulant medication instead. Risperdone made him very psychotic. These are called "paradoxical reactions". In some people, medications actually cause the very symptoms they are meant to treat. When dealing with a psychiatrist, ask LOTS of questions and ask for LOTS of explanations if you don't thoroughly understand something.

Let us know how the appointment went.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Oh, trust me, you are NOT a bad mother. The medications game is so difficult and if I had it to do over again, that game would have not been played on my son.

Now *I* need medications because I have a severe mood disorder and I was suicidal until I found a good combo for me (only took TEN YEARS...hahahaha). But it's been a good twenty years since. However, my son is on the autism spectrum, something hub and I suspected maybe a week after we adopted him at age two. It seemed so obvious. But the professionals, all one hundred of them (it seemed) would not give him that label. We finally got ahold of one psychiatrist who insisted he had childhood bipolar and put him on a slew of medications for a few years. All of them were horrible. Some made him aggressive, which he had never been in the past.

Well, I got to the point your at now and did research. The final straw was when I took my son to a meeting of parents and children, all the children having diagnoses of childhood bipolar disorder (I'm still not sure what this is or if doctors are even sure what to look for when slapping the label on a child). At any rate, a few of the parents, noticed Sonic playing his handheld videogame, off in his own world, not interacting EXCEPT ON HIS TERMS and asked me if he had a form of autism. He is very verbal and at times can be very friendly, so because of that the psychiatrist insisted he had bipolar, not Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Whatever! We took him to a neuropsychologist and he caught the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) right away and was puzzled it had taken us so long to get the diagnosis. He has no psychiatric problems so he was weaned off the medications. Nine years later, he is still off medications and is certainly NOT bipolar. He's not even moody. He's sort of an easygoing, even keel kind of kid.

My advice is to keep doing your homework and keep looking for the right answer and question every medication. I have found that a few psychiatrists throw diagnoses and medications around like they are both the flavors of the week, then they can turn around and blame YOU when their treatment doesn't work. Psychiatry is an inexact science. Since I'm a psychiatric patient myself I can tell you that I've had more bad psychiatrists than good ones. But, in the end, for both myself and my son it was worth staying the course. It is just incredibly frustrating while going through it. I have learned to question, question, question. And use your mom gut.

Good luck!
 
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seekingsanity4

Guest
Thanks for all of the support. I liked the new psychiatrist I think. He was very thorough with his questions, listened to me sincerely and seemed to respect my concerns about the medications....and I was very honest about how I felt about Dyson's medication history and how I never felt like I even knew what I should have been watching for. He gave me a new script for the Risperdone in a smaller dose and a schedule of weaning ( down .25 mg every week now) and also some funky chart thing like I've never seen to chart the mood swings so he can look for a pattern. So far, not a single psychiatrist we've ever had asked me to do that, so I think that's a good sign. PLUS, Dyson was in a HORRIBLE mood when we went, so while somewhat embarassing, I realized it was just as well this psychiatrist see him in one of his "moods" to better understand what I'm dealing with. So, we start the backpeddling of medication reduction and we'll see where we get...we go back in 3 weeks for a follow up (he'll be down to .75mg a day then) and go from there. I cannot wait to be done with Risperdone!!!
 
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TeDo

Guest
Sounds like you have found a good one. I am so glad he listened to you and gave you tools to help figure things out instead of just jumping to something else. Keep being a strong advocate for Dyson. I hope this helps you gain strength to muddle on. Good job MOM! :)
 
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