Trying another medication tweak with difficult child 2

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Back in mid-December we adjusted difficult child 2's Seroquel XR dosing because the nighttime dose was leaving him VERY tired and sedated in the mornings, so getting up for school and being alert for morning classes was VERY challenging. Several times his 2nd period teacher had called to say he was sleeping in class, and he actually got sent home one day because he could not stay awake.

SO... we reduced his night dose by 100mg and tacked it onto the afternoon, because he was also seeming to need more support in the afternoons -- was coming home kinda squirrely and bouncing off the walls, having a hard time focusing and getting homework done, etc.

It seemed to be a good mix for several weeks. Mornings were very good, he was getting up and having no trouble getting ready, staying alert, he wasn't falling asleep in the car on the way to school either.

But towards the end of January, he was coming home and hitting a wall by 4:30 or 5:00pm and practically falling asleep in his chair doing homework. He'd get up and go lay down in bed and be fast asleep in minutes. I let him sleep for a half hour, but that wasn't long enough. Pretty soon, he was sleeping two hours before I could get him up. And he still had to eat dinner and get homework down.

Clearly this wasn't a good solution either.

psychiatrist wanted to start him on Intuniv to help with his focus and attention issues which still need improvement, but before we start that, I left a message Thursday night asking if we could try lowering the afternoon Seroquel dose by 100mg to help with the sedation, and he agreed.

Today was our first day at the new dose, and he was pretty squirrely this afternoon. He was impulsive, hyperactive, impatient, easily bored, kind of hypomanic (we were out at the store and he kept messing around with the bikini-clad mannikins, then when we were walking by a lingerie dept. he walked through an aisle of bras and took one off the rack to wave and giggle at me -- not typically something he does). I've got to give this at least a week, though. Then maybe we add the Intuniv (it's just a trial of 1mg to see if he can tolerate it first) next weekend and see how that goes.

difficult child 2 said this afternoon that he thinks that he still needs a little more Seroquel XR -- like maybe 50mg since the extra 100mg was too much but when we take it away it's not enough (but I don't think the XR comes in 50's, does it?).

So the juggling act continues here as we try to find a more perfect balance for difficult child 2. :praying:
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
Chicken lady, kt has been on seroquel for years ~ seroquel comes in 25 mg & 50 mg (we use those doses for PRN - I have a bottle of each in her medication box).

That extra 50 in the afternoon can really put a kid down for the count (or at least sleep).

Hope this works.
 
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