difficult child's gone wild

[ready2run]

so difficult child had his psychiatrist appointment yesterday and we decided to add another dose of risperidone for the am. it took 7 hours there and back in the car and 2 hours in the appointment. so it was a long day. difficult child was up bright and early this morning at 5 so i gave him his medication and breakfast and then got the other kids up and off to school and walked him down as he is on a modified time table and i have to stay with him... so at school we got in and he started whyning because he wanted a juicebox. i had no juicebox as i never bring one, he is only there for an hour most days. he pouted the rest of the way to class and then flopped on floor refusing to get up and refusing to take his boots off. after some gentle proding from the EA he took his boots off and got his book out of his bag, only to turn around and throw them at EA. teacher comes out and asks him if he's having a hard day, he yells that he hates her and she should get away from him. she says 'gee, i hope you cheer up so we can see you in class today.' and goes back into the classroom as she doesn't have time to deal with difficult child, she has 9 other special needs kids to look after. so he picks up his book and throws it again. i told him to cut that out or he is going to have to go back home. please put your shoes on so we can do our journal and go to the gym. he throws his book again and screams something i didn't catch at me and starts screaching and plows down the hallway at top speed yelling about how much he hates me...so i chased him and caught him. (haha...little bugger, i'm still faster than you; reminder to self hit the gym before he gets any bigger...lol) so i carried him back and told him get your shoes on, we are gonna go home and have a quiet day and he runs into the classroom and sits at his desk. teacher says 'hey difficult child, i'm glad you are joining us.' so of course how dare she right? he picks up a stack of paper off the cabinet beside him and throws it up in the air so paper is everywhere. i say 'no difficult child. that's not alright to do even if you are upset' and he hit me in the face with his book. so at that point i just grabbed him and said, "that's enough school for one day." and "Sorry." to his teacher. his ea helped me get our coats and his boots into his backpack and he was screaming bloody murder the whole time and needed to be restrained. every single teacher in the school poked their head out of the door to see what was happening. i was leaving in high gear and the new principle(first day on the job too) came running out and followed us outside where difficult child was trying to kick me in the face and offered us a ride home...lol. he was probably more upset than i was, he kept asking me if there was anything he could do. i just said, it's okay. it's not the first time i've had to grab him and go, and he just does this, there is no answer. i knew i could never get him into the car and have him stay buckled so i carried him over my shoulder kicking and screaming all the way home. construction workers laughed at us. old people stared. the joys of parenthood.........it took him about an hour and a half to calm down once we got home, and he's still blaming me for everything and hates me.
it's funny, when they said he may become irritable from his medications getting uped this was not what i pictured. i feel like i could have handled it better but i'm not sure what i should have done. i'm not taking him to school tomorrow.

 

[TeDo]

Was this normal behavior before the risperdone was ever started? Have you noticed any behaviors getting better since that medication was started?

 

[InsaneCdn]

{{hugs}}
What can I say? We got lucky... managed to force the psychiatrist to do ALL the medications adjustments before mid-Aug, so we'd be through all that before school started again - or that would/could have been my post, in spirit if not in fact - I'd never catch difficult child, nor could I carry him (over 6 ft, 150+ lbs... doesn't matter how much I do at the gym!)

medications are tricky. Far too many variables involved, and the ramp-up time for some of the medications is 6 weeks!

 

[slsh]

Wow, wow.... wow. Sounds like a *horrible* morning.

You know what? I personally wouldn't give him the a.m. dose of risperdal again on a school day. We had a similar reaction a gazillion years ago to Ritalin - fortunately, I somehow had the presence of mind to try it on a Saturday. Within 30 minutes of the dose, he turned into an absolute tornado. Hmmmm..... so I held off for a week, tried again the next Saturday, and it was 100 times worse - ended up with an 8-year-old brandishing scissors. I called 911, or at least tried to, unsuccessfully because he literally cut the phone line (old phone with- cord). Ritalin has been listed as an allergy for him ever since, LOL.

Of course, absolutely check with- psychiatrist before you do any changes, but it might be something to remember in the future - new medications on weekends.

In my book - your morning was *way* more than "irritable".

You sound remarkably calm. Sounds like you handled it pretty darn well.

 

[ready2run]

tedo, this is what he is like when he is on no medication, but he was improving with his bedtime dose he's been on for about a year i guess. he was still having too many problems though so we had to increase it. first we tried ritalin and found out that he has a heart problem so that was a no go. because he is only about 40lbs our options are pretty limited. the risperidone has made a huge difference but we just added the morning dose yesterday so i will have to continue it for several weeks before i know if it's going to work out or not. during which time i'm supposed to try to keep him in school for 'observation' reasons and because for some reason their records hold more weight than my own.
insanecndian, lol@ catching a 6ft difficult child...mine is up to my ribs and it's getting iffy. also, thank you for always being one of the first ones to reply to my posts and for staying with them and being so helpful.
slsh.. def wait to try a new medication on the weekend next time. didn't think it would be that bad because he's already on a bedtime dose of it. i have learned to stay calm in 'crisis' through experience...lol. comes from having done this before. i can't blame the construction workers for laughing now that i think about it. we must have looked odd and i was just walking like it was a normal day(which it sort of was) while difficult child was losing it.

 

[Liahona]

You absolutely handled it great! And that would exceed my definition of irritable as well.

 

[InsaneCdn]

and being so helpful

Thanks, R2R... so often, not sure if I'm helpful or not - things like today where there really isn't anything to say... but I know what its like to have a post sitting there and nobody has seen it yet. So I thought I could at least try a little humour.

 

[keista]

it's funny, when they said he may become irritable from his medications getting uped this was not what i pictured.

And here I thought he was getting these medications to try and curb that irritability.

It sounds like you did the best you could. More power to you to stick it out longer to see if the additional dose works. My heart just aches for your difficult child. Of course, you too, but we know what causes your pain, not so much for him.

 

[Wiped Out]

Oh my what a horrible morning!! You handled it well. I would be letting the psychiatrist know immediately about the effect. When my difficult child was on Seroquel it only increased his symptoms and was absolutely horrible. (((hugs)))

 

[ready2run]

i think i will only give him half for a few days and see how that goes. if he has another day like this then i will call psychiatrist. i just remembered i have to take him in to get an immunization tomorrow so that should be interesting..lol.

 

[buddy]

OH MY GOSH...I'm having flashbacks! Well, to be honest it still happens but at the time I could carry him...I do remember that. I too only do medication changes on the weekend and if it's a total replacement or change of medication it will only happen in summers or long breaks (depending on the type of medication). My son had terrible reactions to risperdal and seroquel....both made him crazy crazy crazy...way beyond our normal just plain crazy. Age 4, 30 lbs and took 4 adults to restrain him on one! He wont have those again. BUT his seizure medications do cause temporary increase in crabbiness and after a few days it is okay so it just depends on your kid and experience. One thing I and all of the team working with my son over the years has learned is that even when he is doing well it is better not to comment. TOO much talking for him, doesn't matter if it is a compliment or not. Positive praise does not work with everyone especially when they are on the edge and using everything in them to hold it together. He also losses it if any two people are talking near him. It just sets him off. We do alot of just walk by at some point and he gets a mint set on his desk or if all the kids get praise he is okay with that. We use a combination of the classic 5 point scale and the "how does your engine run" program that is just published by an Occupational Therapist (OT) in our district. we have red, yellow, green and blue cards. Green zone is calm or appropriate for the situation, following directions, using an appropriate tone of voice etc. yellow is blurting out, not following directions, etc. red is aggressive and blue is shut down (at times it is okay because he is self calming...other times it is an escape)....so talk is minimal....can just show the color card (of course he was trained on it first) or a cue like...that's yellow zone, you need to go back to green. The bus has a green card that they can hold up (transitions can be intense). He actually said to an Integrated Listening Systems (ILS) home worker the other day (when she asked if he was ready to do something)...."yeah I'm in the green zone". It has been the best system so far. STill have days nothing works of course, but this has reduced issues for sure. May have nothing to do with your son's issues, but I could actually feel that situation because I have been there so many times! Hang tough, you actually had me laughing at your walk home. Boy have I had to learn to not care as much what others think. That is sooooo hard for me. You did an amazing job.

 

[TeDo]

r2r, the reason I ask is because as buddy has said, my difficult child went "psycho" on risperdone. Higher doses only made it worse. Be very careful and very observant. It has taken 4 years to get the right doses of the RIGHT medications for difficult child to be able to function as close to "normal" as possible.

 

[Methuselah]

Ugh! I think by the end I would have joined him. :-/ You are a rock! I wish I had words of wisdom or magical advice, but, sadly, I don't. I just wanted to let you know I'm sending you hugs and prayers.

p.s. I'm mesmerized by your avatar. It makes me smile, whether I want to or not. Maybe you could take a peek at it and have one reason to smile today....

 

[ready2run]

i will definitely be keeping a close eye on him, as i always do anyways. my ex went nuts on risperidone too. i don't have alot of options. the psychiatrist has offered up strattera with a warning that most of the hype around it is just that, hype and she hasn't seen it work on anyone yet and clonapine which she thinks will be hard on him and make him dizzy alot. if this doesn't work i will try the clonapine next, i think. i wish i could just give him ritalin. difficult child has a stoplight like that 'how does your engine run' program(could be the same program maybe.) in his classroom but he hasnt really looked at it yet because he's only there for short periods.

 

[ready2run]

I'm mesmerized by your avatar. It makes me smile, whether I want to or not. Maybe you could take a peek at it and have one reason to smile today....

it makes me smile too. feel free to take it if you want to.

 

[ready2run]

today went much better. he wasn't exactly happy but no major malfunctions. i also didn't try taking him to school, we did a doctor appointment with all the kids which was aweful but not because of difficult child.

 

[buddy]

so glad your day was a little better. I hope things settle down. Clonadine works great for my son. It is the magic ticket in helping his aggression. he doesn't get dizzy....but does get light headed every once in a while. (It is different from clonapin I realize, just sharing). It is a blood pressure medication so he gets that rush when he stands up too fast every once in a while. but thank heaven...and because it can be given in weekly patch form, it helps him not be totally out of medications in the morning. Huge help. Not perfect because when he goes off it is still ugly but it doesn't happen routinely until he grows and we have to adjust of course....
I love that you just keep trucking on with all those kids! amazing

 

[TerryJ2]

Wow. You are amazing. I can just picture that scene with you carrying him all the way home, and all those people staring and/or laughing.
Irritable? I should say so!
I have no advice or experience with-risperidone. Best of luck!