Help!!!!!

[tiredmommy]

Three possibilities came to mind for me:

Sensory Processing Disorder (this is what my Duckie has)
Autiism Sprectrum Disorders
Seizures

You'll want him to see a either a neuropsychologist or a developmental pediatrician, check out your local children's hospital if possible. I thought of seizures because you described him as not being there during his rages. Duckie is one that never fit the diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but had severe red flags for that as well as signs and symptoms of a mood disorder. But working on her sensory issues has helped a lot.

 

[zoo_keeper]

Hi. I think you've gotten some excellent perspectives. My son was originally diagnosed adhd/odd by our peditrician who put him on stims. He progressively got worse and we went to see a psychiatrist when he was 7. This psychiatrist responded to my concerns that this was something more than adhd/odd by assuring me his mood swings were cycling much too fast for BiPolar (BP) and treated him as more of a behavior problem. Not until I finally wised up and found a pediactric psychiatrist will lots of experience with mood disorders (at a local university hospital) that he finally got the diagnosis of early onset bipolar at 9. suziestar already explained everything i could have really well.
When I read your first post I thought about Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I've been doing lots of reading on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) because our new psychiatrist is suggesting it as a co-morbid condition for my difficult child 1. It does explain alot of elements of my sons behavior and the more and more I read about it makes sense as a diagnosis for difficult child 1. You may want to look into it.
The point of my post is persue second, third and fourth opinions. Each opinion will only help you and give you a better idea of whats going on inside of your sons head. Also, I definetly agree with midwest mom's caution about being careful with a bipolar diagnosis because in my experience it has been difficult to get professionals to 'see beyond' my sons BiPolar (BP) diagnosis and look for alternative reasoning behind his behaviors (ie: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)).

Good luck

 

[rejectedmom]

It is like he isn't even present when he is raging. Nothing I say will calm him down. I have to let it run it's course. Lately his mood swings have been up and down rapidly. This morning he was almost giddy. He was walking around the house singing and laughing at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. I got the call from the school at 8:20 to come get him. He was screaming, throwing things, and snatching the paper out of the teacher's hands. She got hit in the process. He says he wasn't trying to hit her - He just wanted his paper back. I don't know if I believe him or not. He is currently on 20mg of Focalin XR but it doesn't seem to be helping at all.
Thanks for reading! I appreciate any feedback I can get

I think a complete neuropsychologist is in order. This does not sound like ADHD behavior to me. Two other possiblities come to mind one being partial seisure disorder and the other BP2. I am not a doctor I only say this because I have alot of experience with ADHD and the absence of self during a rage is not typical of ADHD. -RM

 

[RyanS]

Just wanted to post and say I related to so many traits you described. I hope you come back and update on what you are working on with your son and how it ends up going! Good luck to you!