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Janna's post has me thinking...
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<blockquote data-quote="Janna" data-source="post: 88738" data-attributes="member: 2737"><p>I really like what you said, SRL. The more Autism mothers I speak to, the more I find that Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) issues are just as hard to deal with as Bipolar ones.</p><p></p><p>I think the labels are important. I've always thought that. I have no GOOD reason for why I want to know what my son's diagnosis is, but I want to know. When I need to address someone regarding interventions, medication, therapies or anything else for Dylan, I want to be able to say "he's Autistic", or "he's Bipolar", or he's whatever. It doesn't SEEM to me, just from discussions, that the interventions are the same for these disorders. If Dylan was ADHD, he would not get NEARLY the same interventions he would being Autistic. Trust me. Jared is ADHD and he gets nothing. Regular ed. No IEP. No therapy. Doesn't need it. He needs a pill, that's all he needed ~ life is good. Dylan would NEVER function that way. He can't handle regular education, at least not now. I see him, I see a kid that needs someone to help them through every day in school. </p><p></p><p>Another reason I think labels help, I am trying, busting my TAIL, to find help for him. During our last ISP meeting last week, the insurance company asked about interventions for Dylan upon release. Hmm, I dunno. Well, you know, there are 1,000,000 agencies around for behavior modification/Wrap Around, etc. If you have a kid that doesn't listen, throws tantrums, and is disrespectful, I could get 100 people here (so, basically kids diagnosis'ed with ODD type stuff). But, when I say "Autism", I haven't found a soul. Nobody. But that's what he NEEDS. AUTISM INTERVENTIONS. AUTISM THERAPY. Not Bipolar. Not depression. Not anything else. </p><p></p><p>Doesn't mean that's the same for everyone.</p><p></p><p>I would like to also think the label would help with medications, but really, it doesn't. Dylan has incredible success for 16 months on Bipolar medications. The Lithium was his saviour for a long time. Why? Dunno LOL! Although, our previous psychiatrist always did say it was a "working" diagnosis (the Bipolar) at first, an "optimistic" one. Meaning, treating as Bipolar, and see what happens. So, the Lithium worked, he said yep, he's Bipolar LOL!</p><p></p><p>The whole thing is confusing. Is there one answer? Nope. Dylan has morphed over the last 9 years, like Smallworld was saying about her son. I think he has matured alot, at least as much as he can mature, which has helped alot with his current diagnosis. He doesn't rage like he used to. He used to rage multiple times a day, 15 minutes to 3 hours per rage. Haven't seen that in a long time, even with the decrease of Lithium, nothing yet. I think some of that is maturity. He's getting alot, and I mean ALOT, of therapy where he is. Keep in mind, again, he is in a treatment facility. 7 people, 24-7, watching him, intervening every minute when he needs it, FOUR therapies, four days a week, horticulture, art, equine, pet, plus individual and family, once a week, plus the music, dance, art therapies. He is in a place that therapies him to death LOL! You figure, in this type of environment, things are alot clearer for him. It's not always that way for every other child. Some parents see things and go to the psychiatrist, psychiatrist thinks they're crazy. Some parents get to the psychiatrist and tell the psychiatrist things that maybe aren't the whole truth, and get diagnosis'es that aren't true. Some people see psychiatrist's that don't believe in Early Onset Bi-Polar (EOBP). Some people see psychiatrist's that don't believe in alot of medications. You see what I'm saying? Every situation with every child is going to be different.</p><p></p><p>I have been looking for the medication answer all these years. That's been alot of our problem. Mainly my problem LOL! I still insist Dylan needs medications. He's here this weekend, and I am fully exhausted from his constant movement. He hasn't stopped talking. Even does it in his sleep. My head is pounding, I have a migrane, and it's only 8:20 AM. He goes back today. Whew. He is bouncing all over the place. Wants to draw - no, wants to watch tv - no, wants to go outside - no, never mind, I'll draw - no, never mind, I want a snack. Within 60 seconds, all this changes. It's wild.</p><p></p><p>So, I know I said about the pills, and I read what Jannie said too, about Dylan, and yeah, the pills were great. But, in HINDSIGHT, we got 16 good months, yes, but, what kind of reprocussions will this have on him that are lifelong? And yeah, the Lithium was great, BUT, it caused hypothyroidism, it caused massive weight gain, it caused enuresis. The Risperdal caused encopresis - held his bowels TEN MONTHS. Was it worth it? No. All the wild side effects from everything. Was it worth it? In hindsight - no.</p><p></p><p>So, yeah, I feel like I have the right to tell people, in my opinion, to chill on the drugs. If you walk into a psychiatrist office for the first time, he sees your kid 15 minutes and writes a script for something, STOP. That comes from experience. Doesn't mean anyone has to listen to me either. Doesn't mean if your kid, or someone else's kid, is diagnosis'ed Bipolar, that is going to change later on, just because mine was. But, for Dylan, it makes more sense, because I've always had doubts. I THOUGHT I saw Bipolar mania, because that's what I was steered to believing it was. But it wasn't.</p><p></p><p>I don't know if I'm just rambling, if anything I say makes sense. We have the power of the internet, that's a big help to us. I would make sure, no matter what your child's diagnosis, you go online and read. Read and read and read. There are alot of pages that explain what Bipolar mania looks like in kids. Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the whole nine. There are pages just for Autism. You have NAMI. You have MySpace. Go to MySpace and you'll find hundreds, I mean HUNDREDS of pages, dedicated to Autism with information all over the place. Some for Bipolar. TONS for depression, SI, all of that. The Autism Society has chapters everywhere. There is no good reason for ignorance today. </p><p></p><p>So, the more I read about Autism (due to my ignorance, all I've read about is Bipolar), the more I see Dylan. Although, no doubt, he's got ADHD, too, quadrupled LOL!</p><p></p><p>I know, too, it's hard to go slow when your kid is wigging out. You want a pill to calm him or her down. You want immediate help. You hope you're gonna get to the psychiatrist, get the pill or pills that are going to work the first time, every time, and life is going to go back to normal. That doesn't happen. That's not realistic. But, I think people need to slow down. There are alot, I mean ALOT, of kids being diagnosis'ed Bipolar, and that diagnosis morphs later over time. Again, I have talked to so many people in the last week that say to me "my son started out BiPolar (BP) and turned out to be xyz as he got older". I'm not the only one. This concerns me.</p><p></p><p>So, although it may not seem that way, say here at this board, there are so many other communities and people out there that have gone through what I have gone through.</p><p></p><p>Hope I made some sense here. Migraine is getting worse lol, need to get aspirin. *hugs*</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janna, post: 88738, member: 2737"] I really like what you said, SRL. The more Autism mothers I speak to, the more I find that Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) issues are just as hard to deal with as Bipolar ones. I think the labels are important. I've always thought that. I have no GOOD reason for why I want to know what my son's diagnosis is, but I want to know. When I need to address someone regarding interventions, medication, therapies or anything else for Dylan, I want to be able to say "he's Autistic", or "he's Bipolar", or he's whatever. It doesn't SEEM to me, just from discussions, that the interventions are the same for these disorders. If Dylan was ADHD, he would not get NEARLY the same interventions he would being Autistic. Trust me. Jared is ADHD and he gets nothing. Regular ed. No IEP. No therapy. Doesn't need it. He needs a pill, that's all he needed ~ life is good. Dylan would NEVER function that way. He can't handle regular education, at least not now. I see him, I see a kid that needs someone to help them through every day in school. Another reason I think labels help, I am trying, busting my TAIL, to find help for him. During our last ISP meeting last week, the insurance company asked about interventions for Dylan upon release. Hmm, I dunno. Well, you know, there are 1,000,000 agencies around for behavior modification/Wrap Around, etc. If you have a kid that doesn't listen, throws tantrums, and is disrespectful, I could get 100 people here (so, basically kids diagnosis'ed with ODD type stuff). But, when I say "Autism", I haven't found a soul. Nobody. But that's what he NEEDS. AUTISM INTERVENTIONS. AUTISM THERAPY. Not Bipolar. Not depression. Not anything else. Doesn't mean that's the same for everyone. I would like to also think the label would help with medications, but really, it doesn't. Dylan has incredible success for 16 months on Bipolar medications. The Lithium was his saviour for a long time. Why? Dunno LOL! Although, our previous psychiatrist always did say it was a "working" diagnosis (the Bipolar) at first, an "optimistic" one. Meaning, treating as Bipolar, and see what happens. So, the Lithium worked, he said yep, he's Bipolar LOL! The whole thing is confusing. Is there one answer? Nope. Dylan has morphed over the last 9 years, like Smallworld was saying about her son. I think he has matured alot, at least as much as he can mature, which has helped alot with his current diagnosis. He doesn't rage like he used to. He used to rage multiple times a day, 15 minutes to 3 hours per rage. Haven't seen that in a long time, even with the decrease of Lithium, nothing yet. I think some of that is maturity. He's getting alot, and I mean ALOT, of therapy where he is. Keep in mind, again, he is in a treatment facility. 7 people, 24-7, watching him, intervening every minute when he needs it, FOUR therapies, four days a week, horticulture, art, equine, pet, plus individual and family, once a week, plus the music, dance, art therapies. He is in a place that therapies him to death LOL! You figure, in this type of environment, things are alot clearer for him. It's not always that way for every other child. Some parents see things and go to the psychiatrist, psychiatrist thinks they're crazy. Some parents get to the psychiatrist and tell the psychiatrist things that maybe aren't the whole truth, and get diagnosis'es that aren't true. Some people see psychiatrist's that don't believe in Early Onset Bi-Polar (EOBP). Some people see psychiatrist's that don't believe in alot of medications. You see what I'm saying? Every situation with every child is going to be different. I have been looking for the medication answer all these years. That's been alot of our problem. Mainly my problem LOL! I still insist Dylan needs medications. He's here this weekend, and I am fully exhausted from his constant movement. He hasn't stopped talking. Even does it in his sleep. My head is pounding, I have a migrane, and it's only 8:20 AM. He goes back today. Whew. He is bouncing all over the place. Wants to draw - no, wants to watch tv - no, wants to go outside - no, never mind, I'll draw - no, never mind, I want a snack. Within 60 seconds, all this changes. It's wild. So, I know I said about the pills, and I read what Jannie said too, about Dylan, and yeah, the pills were great. But, in HINDSIGHT, we got 16 good months, yes, but, what kind of reprocussions will this have on him that are lifelong? And yeah, the Lithium was great, BUT, it caused hypothyroidism, it caused massive weight gain, it caused enuresis. The Risperdal caused encopresis - held his bowels TEN MONTHS. Was it worth it? No. All the wild side effects from everything. Was it worth it? In hindsight - no. So, yeah, I feel like I have the right to tell people, in my opinion, to chill on the drugs. If you walk into a psychiatrist office for the first time, he sees your kid 15 minutes and writes a script for something, STOP. That comes from experience. Doesn't mean anyone has to listen to me either. Doesn't mean if your kid, or someone else's kid, is diagnosis'ed Bipolar, that is going to change later on, just because mine was. But, for Dylan, it makes more sense, because I've always had doubts. I THOUGHT I saw Bipolar mania, because that's what I was steered to believing it was. But it wasn't. I don't know if I'm just rambling, if anything I say makes sense. We have the power of the internet, that's a big help to us. I would make sure, no matter what your child's diagnosis, you go online and read. Read and read and read. There are alot of pages that explain what Bipolar mania looks like in kids. Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the whole nine. There are pages just for Autism. You have NAMI. You have MySpace. Go to MySpace and you'll find hundreds, I mean HUNDREDS of pages, dedicated to Autism with information all over the place. Some for Bipolar. TONS for depression, SI, all of that. The Autism Society has chapters everywhere. There is no good reason for ignorance today. So, the more I read about Autism (due to my ignorance, all I've read about is Bipolar), the more I see Dylan. Although, no doubt, he's got ADHD, too, quadrupled LOL! I know, too, it's hard to go slow when your kid is wigging out. You want a pill to calm him or her down. You want immediate help. You hope you're gonna get to the psychiatrist, get the pill or pills that are going to work the first time, every time, and life is going to go back to normal. That doesn't happen. That's not realistic. But, I think people need to slow down. There are alot, I mean ALOT, of kids being diagnosis'ed Bipolar, and that diagnosis morphs later over time. Again, I have talked to so many people in the last week that say to me "my son started out BiPolar (BP) and turned out to be xyz as he got older". I'm not the only one. This concerns me. So, although it may not seem that way, say here at this board, there are so many other communities and people out there that have gone through what I have gone through. Hope I made some sense here. Migraine is getting worse lol, need to get aspirin. *hugs* [/QUOTE]
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