easy child/difficult child's psychiatrist appointment

[Wiped Out]

First off, I really have to give kudos to difficult children and easy child/difficult child's psychiatrist (they see the same person). He truly is amazing. Her appointment was for 6:15 tonight. He was running a bit late so we didn't get in until 6:45. We didn't leave until 8:15! He always takes his time and is so thorough. An added bonus is how much he makes easy child/difficult child laugh. He is super intelligent and super nice!

So onto her appointment. She has really been struggling lately in a whole lot of ways-school grades, skipping (she sees nothing wrong with any of this). In addition, she is sleeping a lot and has had major meltdowns.

After talking for a really long time he feels easy child/difficult child needs to try a new medication. She started on Remeron tonight. It should hopefully help with her depression as well as her anxiety. Fingers crossed it helps!!

On another quick note, I also updated him on what we've been seeing with difficult child since we met with him last week. Looks like we may still be looking at hospitalization-more due to manic behaviors we seem to be seeing than his violence. We are doing another increase on medications and if this doesn't help we may need to look at hospitalization for the 4th time this year.

 

[smallworld]

Hi Sharon, my younger daughter M has been on Remeron for a couple of years now. It does help a lot with her anxiety. But it makes her really sleepy (we give it to her all at night, and she sleeps like a log). It also makes her really hungry so she gained a bit of weight. I don't know if the psychiatrist mentioned those side effects to you.. Is she also staying on Wellbutrin and Zoloft with Remeron?

I hope difficult child doesn't need another hospitalization. FWIW, I've heard of quite a few kiddos who didn't do all that well on Clozaril and needed to switch to a different AP.

Hang in there, Sharon. You sure have a full plate.

 

[Josie]

It sounds like you have a great psychiatrist.

My daughter also takes Remeron for sleep and to increase her appetite. She did gain probably 12 lbs. on it, but then her weight stabilized.

I hope it helps your daughter and you can get your son better without another psychiatric hospital trip.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Sharon,

glad to hear easy child/difficult child had a great appointment last night. My difficult child was also on remeron and it really did have the sleep and eating side effect. However, for my difficult child at the time, those were great side effects because he needed to put on some weight - which stabilized after a time - and he also was an extremely restless sleeper and the remeron helped him get a great nights' sleep. The remeron helped really helped "shorten his fuse"!

Sharon

 

[Wiped Out]

SW-psychiatrist did mention the tiredness and the possible weight gain. For easy child/difficult child the weight gain won't be horrible-she is 5'3" and weighs only 96 pounds. She said she is not concerned about the weight gain (we'll see if she still says that if she does gain weight). As for difficult child, I really hope the Clozaril works because I'm not sure we have any APs left to try-he's tried most of them! We will start weaning her off the Zoloft today. psychiatrist mentioned that with the Remeron she doesn't have to go so slowly off the Zoloft because it helps against the side effects. For now he wants to keep her on the Welbutrin because he said that will help with waking up in the morning.

Hope-Thanks-he is a great psychiatrist. Originally we had a 4:40 appointment scheduled but then he was the one who said we would probably need more time (I had briefed him at difficult child's appointment a week earlier) and suggested the later time so he knew it would be a long one and scheduled us anyways for that time!

Sharon-Thanks-it really was a good appointment. I haven't seen easy child/difficult child laugh so much in an hour's period in a very long time-that alone made it a great appointment. Glad to hear it worked so well for your difficult child!

I'm glad to hear that the Remeron has worked well for all of your difficult children! More than the weight gain I worry about the tiredness because easy child/difficult child is always tired and already sleeps so much. However, psychiatrist said that if we let him know that she is really tired he will increase the medications. He said it's strange but that as you increase the medications past 30 mgs the sleep issues actually go away. Right now he is starting her at 15 mgs. Luckily she doesn't have school for 4 days and it was the end of the quarter so she doesn't have any hw so if she sleeps a lot the next few days it's o.k!

 

[smallworld]

M is on 45 mg Remeron, and while she's not tired during the day, she still has a bit of trouble getting up in the morning.

With difficult child, you probably still have Saphris and Fanapt, which are new APs. Then he could probably go back on a mood stabilizer as well.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I agree, it is kinda strange to think upping the dose takes away the sleepy side effect! difficult child was on 25 mg at night. After a while though, the tiredness in the morning kinda adjusted itself.

Good luck. Great to hearing about her laughing - it definitely does our mommy hearts good to hear that sound!

Sharon

 

[Josie]

My daughter was taking 15 mg. She has always had trouble gettting up in the morning anyway, and as a homeschooler, it is not a huge issue. We recently increased it to 22.5 mg, hoping to bump up her appetite again, and I noticed she is actually getting up earlier.

Once she is up, she is not sleepy.

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

Glad the psychiatrist appointment went so well! Keeping my fingers crossed the new medication helps easy child/difficult child and that difficult child doesn't need another hospitalization... SFR

 

[flutterby]

I *loved* Remeron for difficult child. It is the only thing that let her sleep and not be tired all day long. Plus, it worked wonders on her anxiety. But, she gained 13 pounds in just over a month and that just wasn't acceptable. Since then, we have found medications that help with her anxiety - a lot - but are still looking for something for the sleep component.

I hope it works!