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agee

Guest
Sooo...difficult child started back on a stimulant yesterday after about 5 weeks without and he is WIDE OPEN this morning, and has been since 4:30.

By WIDE OPEN I mean a mile-a-minute-talking, making noises, running around the house, constant bugging us, bugging the dog, etc. acting like a nut. I can tell this is going to be a long, hard Sunday for all of us.

Is this mania? It's like him in typical hyper mode times about 3. If he keeps it up I don't see how I can send him to school tomorrow.

He is taking Vyvanse, at about half the dose that he was on before. It didn't have any effect yesterday. We also went up on the Risperdal - again, didn't seem to have an effect but since new doctors. didn't call back on Friday when we were supposed to talk I just went ahead with the plan they'd mapped out.

Oh - and here's another piece of this - we haven't met with psychiatrists about conclusions from visit last week, but they did mention depakote and lithium. Am I correct in thinking they may be thinking bipolar? On Tuesday they said Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD).

Also, I don't know if we should keep with the Vyvanse in case it triggered this.

Aaaaaaggggh!

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agee

Guest
Update: I gave the vyvanse since I didn't know what else to do and he's more calm but weepy. Which is *good* news because it means that even if he wakes up like this tomorrow morning he should be ok for school. I've taken so many days off this year that I'm suffering big guilt every time I think about taking off another. I should probably quit my job already.
I wish I knew what to do. I wish I felt like I had some support. All my husband wants to do is ignore/yell at difficult child. I had to beg him this a.m. to go to the follow-up/results visit next week. And I can't tell you how disheartened I am by our new psychiatrist's office not calling when they said they would.
Just feeling low,
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BusynMember

Well-Known Member
in my opinion and from taking Ritalin myself to me it sounds like he is reacting to this medication as speed, which is what it is. It makes you sometimes go clean your room when you haven't done it for years. You have so much energy you don't know what to do with it and you are not manic but "high." Then when you crash, it reeks havoc with your moods and you crash and burn and get depressed (for me the depression lasted months).

Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) kids are not all ODD. They get better as their Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) is treated with interventions. My son is now an angel. He used to tantrum, bite, scratch his face, scream like I was killing him, you know the routine. It seems like stimulants are maybe not the answer for him your child. You could try longer acting stimulants like Concerta but my guess is he will always be on a "high." The medication is supposed to slow him down and he is not responding to it. My Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) son could not take any stimulants or antidepressants. His first diagnosis was ADHD/ODD, but that turned out to be wrong. My particular child, and all are different, does much MUCH better on no medications. As my son is now sixteen, he has no interest in medication and is still doing very well.

You may want to focus on the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). in my opinion, having a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) son, the other diagnosis. are just part of the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). I don't know why doctors attach extra labels to Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Everything listed is a consequence of the Autistic Spectrum Disorder and many Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) kids are medication sensitive.

Of course, this is just my own experiences and opinion, but I'm one of the few moms who actually took stimulants. Unless you have honest-to-goodness pure ADHD, stimulants can make things worse. They sure did for me. And for my son.

I know how hard this journey can be. Especially adopted kids, of whom we have little background information, it seems sometimes like we are twiddling our thumbs and that nothing works. I was fortunate...my son is doing great. Yours can too. But it takes a lot of going for evaluations, hit and miss, and seeing what actually works. in my opinion the best thing you can do for your son is to fight until you GET...autism interventions in school. Don't take no for an answer and get a free student advocate by calling your State Board of Education (usually in the capital). As for the stimulants, you can try other ones, or Straterra, but in my opinion go slow and if he keeps getting worse on the drugs...your son is either too sensitive for them...or the ADHD is just part of the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). We had my son work with an aide in school and it was amazing! (((Hugs))). I totally know what you are going through. It is so much easier when you have a background you can offer to the diagnostician. They are going in blind without one. But hang in there. You can do it.
 
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agee

Guest
Thank you so much for replying. I was at a low point this a.m. Since went on a walk and feel much better.

I realize you can't possibly know our whole history, but my son has been on every single stimulant there is since age 4. We recently had a 5 week break while we were waiting for a new dr's appointment - in that time he slept for a weekend straight, was completely nuts for a week, then evened out. Only last week were we given this Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnosis - before that it was ADHD.

Here's my first post to this board:
http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27371

and here's a more recent one:
http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31293

His behaviors this morning (the mania-like behaviors) were before we gave him the stimulant. Afterwards he calmed down a little. This is now day 2 back on a very low dose. The last time I saw him act like this was when he'd been on intuniv for 2 weeks - it happened one day and we never saw it again. He was on Vyvanse then, too, but the Vyvanse didn't calm him down like this a.m.

And you mention getting services for autism - I know that Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) includes autism...but no one has said autism to us. From what I've read Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) is an umbrella term that includes autism, but isn't only. We will have more information when we have our follow-up on Feb. 3rd.

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BusynMember

Well-Known Member
My son's diagnosis was Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified (not otherwise specified). He got autism interventions anyway. We fought for them and I shudder to think of how he would be if we hadn't. Don't let Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) fool you. It means autism. Get him help ;)

Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) by the way is an umbrella term for unspecified autism. It doesn't included ODD/ADHD, etc.
 
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