K's latest psychiatrist apt.

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
So this was a big one without her. She has gained I think 17 pounds since starting Seroquel. She is pushing out of size 10/12. she is 7yo.
Yeah I have heard the stories from parents and others about how much their kids have gained on various medications.
But you know what? I would not do it to myself, so how in good conscience can I do it to my kid?

When nation wide, they are shoving weight loss in girls faces everywhere? When we talk about weight loss even on this board? When girls commit suicide daily because of poor body image? Eating disorders? All of the horrible things other kids do to heavy kids?

We eat healthy in our home, I watch her caloric intake, we exercise... I have kept track.

It is the medications. So the option is to try something different, not let her depression get worse because it may be helping one aspect of her mood disorder, but contributing to making her worse for the rest of her life.

Well our psychiatrist fully agreed! I love her.
We sat and went over every medication, what the situation was when she was on it, how much, with what other medication, how long etc.

The fact that we had no other supports in place, horrible Schools, horrible psychiatrist. All of this stuff comes into play on how well a medication may or may not work.
Well K now has a great School, great therapist, great psychiatrist!!!
But she can't start Lithium yet until she can learn to drink more water! Because where we live when it reaches 120 degrees the kid will go into shock.
So that is our mission.

I sat and went over why can't we try this and made her explain in all terms why or why not?
Why do we HAVE to be on an AP, ( I know the answer). K hallucinates and has Psychotic episodes.
So K gained the least amount of wait on Ablify, we only stopped it because we did not have a psychiatrist.

We will revisit Lamictal and see how she does, she did really well on this as well, her last psychiatrist had her on so many medications on top of it that she was spinning. So we will go solo with it and go slowly.
We will work on the water the whole time, knowing that if this does not work the next step is going to be the lithium. We have options for weight medications as well.

We start all of this tweaking very slowly on March 1st.
We have a very important trip to Mexico before that, to visit my Father. He has an illness that is incurable and we have no idea how long. He has lasted longer than they ever predicted. It may be 10 years, maybe 20?
He is also moving to the states in the next year. So he would like us to see where he has lived for the last 10 or so years.

All of these thing really make me aware that our move 6 months ago, more like our fleeing, was the right choice!
While K is not stable by any means!
She is still hallucinating.
Things are moving forward.
Our psychiatrist was telling us stories about her 21 yo BiPolar (BP) son. Awesome!
The School is offering K services. They want to help her. They are thinking about putting her in TAG classes for reading, this would help her with anxiety and depression so much!
We have such a long road and long way to go. But I have so much hope.
yes financially the move is going to hit us for years, but the kids are worth it.
Just wanted to share a pretty good story.
Sorry my usual novel.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
T....

can she go on the long acting Seroquel while taking her off it? I think it is more weight easy. As far as the water, get her a really cool water bottle and maybe try some of the diet kool aid powders to flavor the water.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Janet
we have her down to 50mg BID right now and are going to drop it as we add Abilify.
She has really COOL water bottles!
The School is actually going to work with us. Because, funny enough this School has a LOT of Special Needs kids.
They seek out this particular School.
So we went to the nurse and she went to the Principal. They require the kids to carry water bottles, but no-one was checking if they were drinking.
THe fire dept gave them water bottles to keep in the class also.
So everyone is working on it.
We got her the little single packets to put in her drinks also. She likes them.
But it is like most of our kids, unless you are standing over them no go. We also started the allowance thing with her, she is just starting to get money and monetary value. So if she can drink enough all week she may get a dollar extra.
She is doing better, but our psychiatrist has had problems here in AZ with the heat, and lithium.
She just wants it to be second nature for a little while with the water before we add it. Especially through one hot summer.
We get up to 120 at times here.
Luckily we have a great nurse at the school!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Better you than me at 120! I would absolutely die.

Sounds like you have the water thing down pat. I would go nuts having to drink all that water because I just dont like water. My step-mom freezes grapes and cherry's and lemons to put in water. Its ok...lol. I like to get to the bottom and eat the fruit. Are you considering topamax for her? I know you take it.
 

Janna

New Member
I'm so glad things are positive for you T. You so deserve it. The psychiatrist sounds like a Godsend.

Praying for an easy transition and easier days for K.

XOXOX
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Gosh, I'm pretty much set on not trying Seroquel for my difficult child if the psychiatrist every prescribes it. I've just heard SO many people complain about the wt gain. :(
I'm glad you have a plan in place.
I am so sorry about your dad. :(
Yes, that move was a good choice. Sometimes you just have to make the leap. Way To Go!
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I know that things are by no means perfect. But I had gotten so used to just having NO help at all, like Janna and so many have posted, the no return calls etc.
When K was screaming for me to light her on fire, to kill her.
Screaming about the voices in her head... I just thought I would never get help.
The rages that seemed to never end, her trying to knock me down flights of stairs all of it.
She just has a hint of stability I honestly think it has to do with some of the right resources in place as well as not just shoving her on medication after medication.
It is just so nice to actually have people who are trained to deal with this stuff and actually want to help. Huh, weird concept.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
It is so awesome to hear that you have a psychiatrist and therapist and school staff that are working with you. Just having the psychiatrist go over all the medications and when and why they were rx'd was amazing!! I have had to fight tooth and nail to get that with some psychiatrists.

Sending gentle hugs, and lots of support. For the water, maybe having a reward if she drinks X number of bottles during school, or in a certain amt of time at home would help? I know until last year our kids each had water bottles in class and were expected to drink at least 1 bottle per day (they refilled them).

Do you have one of those dorm sized fridges? My parents kept mine when I moved out of the dorm. When they redid the kitchen they made a special cabinet around it to keep drinks in that is AWAY from the main cooking path. That way anyone can get a bottle of water with-o getting in the cook's way. The kids have always found it "cool" to get a chilled bottle of water out of it. They drink more water that way AND since they can be resealed, we don't dump half empty bottles of water. I have the same at my house, minus the fancy cabinet built for it.

We use various things to mark which bottle is which persons. Elastics for ponytails work well when each person has a color. There are also a LOT of things designed to go around wine glasses that work on the tops of the water bottles. Those might be a neat "carrot" to encourage drinking.

Also, not sure your school knows this, but Nestle Pure Life water bottles have a label collecting program to benefit the school. You would have to go to the nestle water bottle site to get more info. It includes all the flavored waters AND the unflavored ones. "Drink Water so we can earn X for school" was a good carrot at our school. First it was to earn playground equipment (the equipment was old in 1983 when I moved to Stillwater and was still there in 2006, so the kids REALLY wanted an upgrade!)

Awesome appointment, and you are a great mom.

Hugs,

susie
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Totoro,
Glad to hear that the schools, therapist and psychiatrist are so great! My son was on Lithium for a short while. Before being on Lithium he drank little to no water. As soon as he started it he started drinking HUGE amounts of water each day. When he stopped the Lithium he went back to little or no water.
 
M

ML

Guest
Sounds like a great plan, Totoro. She has a lot of supports in place now, and losing the weight will be very good for her self esteem. I wish it was that easy for manster. He's 10 in a 14H. Hugs, ML
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Thanks ladies as always!!!
Susie thanks for the suggestions!
Wiped out I have heard that a lot of kids will automatically crave water when on Lithium, I said that to psychiatrist she said well here in AZ, she wants them drinking it before hand just in case.

Janet the weight medication is Metformin. It is a Diabetes medication that is now being used as an adjunct medication for weight loss with AP's. The studies have all been good for it with a lifestyle change as well.
But it promotes weight loss by itself as well. I have found no side affects either. psychiatrist said no side affects either, lowers the blood glucose levels which drops the hunger levels. You take it prior to each meal.
 

Steely

Active Member
:DThis is such happy news!!! OMG. So glad that you are starting to find a path for K's little life that is working. YAY!

I am with you on Seroquel and APs - and I am so glad psychiatrist was too. That is amazing that she completely supported you!

Matthew had a bit of a hard time on Lithium one summer when he had been outside all day in 110 degree heat - but as someone else posted, the minute he started Lithium he just started consuming copious amounts of water. It was night and day. The body seems to know what to do to take care of itself. I think it is just when the kiddos get too busy to listen to their bodies, like with younger children (like K), you have to be careful and extra cautious. Matthew started Lithium when he was 12, and for the most part, it has been flawless.

It is funny, because current psychiatrist has told me the medications Matthew is on now are a strange combo for most bi-polar kids that are hypo-manic like Matt. Usually Lamictal is not used in conjunction with Lithium for hypo-mania, I guess because they both target more of of the depressive side of BiPolar (BP)? Plus he is on Paxil, which is rarely recommended anymore by psychiatrists, and again it targets depression. But by god - it took us 18 years to find a combo that sort of works, so let us give credit where it is due. Even if it not the "norm" it works better than any other combo!

I believe that is the trek you are on. You will someday find a balance for K, although it is trial and error - (thankfully you have a head start on most of us) - soon you will find a combo that she can at least have some normalcy with. It will probably never be perfect, but when she can think straight more than half of the time, and she is starting to move forward instead of back, then you know you are on the right track.

I am rambling now. Again, happy! Many hugs.
 
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