I'm back

[LovingAbbey]

I haven't been on here is quite some time. I used to post mainly on the young kids forum. Abbey had been doing very well for a while. Since December things have just continued to back slide. I feel like we are going back to the beginning again.

Abbey is contstantly exploding over anything. She is almost always late for school because I can't get her to comply with directions. I even put up a sticker chart (she loves stickers) on her door listing each step she needs to complete every morning with a small reward for getting them done on time. It worked for about a week. Now if she uses it at all, she just fills in all the stickers at once, prior to completing anything.

My husband Josh and I are attending family therapy with Abbey around how to deal with her in the same way and how to support each other.

Everytime I ignore her screaming or her telling me that she's not going to do something and I can't make her, she just esculates even more. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm so tired and frustrated. For a while I thought things were going to be okay, now I just feel like this is never going to end. I'm going to spend the rest of my life dealing with a non-compliant, angry, explosive child. And I don't think I can do this anymore. We have tried a billion things and it always ends up back here.

Michelle

 

[tiredmommy]

{{{Hugs}}} Welcome back Michelle. I'm so sorry that you have to be here again. I've wondered how things were going for you. Many difficult children tend to spiral during the spring months, so you are most definitely not alone.

 

[Josie]

I noticed your difficult child has food allergies. What allergies does she have? Have you noticed a connection with her food allergies and her behaviour? I ask because my former difficult child turns back into a difficult child if she has even a trace of her food allergens. And it lasts for several weeks sometimes, just from the one trace.

 

[SRL]

Sorry, I was hoping for a better update when you popped your head in here again.

If the medication list is current, it might be time to reevaluate dosage and/or medications.

 

[Wiped Out]

Sorry to hear things are so rough-not fun I know. Hugs.

 

[LovingAbbey]

Thanks for the welcome back...

Food stuff: Wheat, yeast, all dairy, eggs, seseame seeds/oil, mushrooms, cucumbers, coffee beans, I have added cocoa on to the list, I think it's just the caffine in it, but she gets very sick from it and is bouncing off the walls behaviorally.

Yeah, the food allergies are related to behavior. Having something she is allergic to can result in at least a weeks worth of increased behavioral issues. But we have a pretty good system with the food right now..I make all of her food from scratch with just a few exceptions.

The medication list is updated. We tried Abilify last month because of her increased behaviors. But from just half the dose she got really bad hand tremors so we had to discontinue. We go back in a couple of weeks.

Things are so insane at home that it's hard to even stay awake after I get her to sleep. That would be why it's taken me so long to even respond to this thread. I'm also beginning to think that my husband is a difficult child as well.

 

[BusynMember]

If she may have Aspergers have you learned anything about it? These kids don't normally respond to normal parenting methods, although they are very workable kids, once they are understood, and medications doesn't help Aspergers. It's a whole way of perceiving the world.
I would recommend getting Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) interventions and maybe educating yourself on high functioning autism. These kids can get very frustsrated trying to live in a world that they don't really understand. There are many good books out there about Aspergers. I would not ignore this part of the diagnosis. My son had high functioning autism and it was first misdiagnosed as bipolar.

 

[LovingAbbey]

The thing is I'm not sure if she has Aspergers. He Psychiatrist says yes, all the people at her school say she does seem to have some of the traits but doesn't really have that feel to her. Her pediatrician says no.

And honestly I'm not sure one way or the other. I do feel the bipolar is accurate, especially since the older the gets the more defined her cycling becomes.

I would like to get a multidisciplinary evaluation done or even a new neuropsychologist but I'm not sure where to get a MDE near here. I know that a children's hospital in Boston does a good one, but it's typically done an impatient kids there. And Boston is a long drive from here and difficult child hates the car and more so highways.

Ugh.. I have to go plant some seeds with difficult child now.

Thanks for the link

 

[TerryJ2]

Hi Michelle, I reponded to another post b4 I saw this one.
So sorry for your difficult child. Good luck with-further testing. And with-her moods. Sigh.