Mood issues becoming more apparent in difficult child 1

[gcvmom]

We had our usual psychiatrist appointment yesterday. I went over my obeservations again about difficult child 1's Daytrana patch and Focalin seeming to lose effectiveness at times. The psychiatrist said that it means there's a mood issue at work and that we may need to bump up the Tegretol if it continues.

So far this week difficult child 1 has been doing well -- very focused, probably because he's under extreme pressure to catch up on assignments before the semester ends. But the two or three weeks preceding I could hardly get him to sit in his room and work on homework. And he was just all over the place and being really silly (psychiatrist said it sounded hypomanic).

psychiatrist isn't calling this BiPolar (BP) yet, but I have a feeling this may be an eventuality by the time difficult child 1 is on the other side of puberty. Hopefully not, and hopefully we can keep it from deteriorating further. But I won't be suprised, given the gene pool he came from.

 

[TerryJ2]

Well, it sounds like all you can do right now is up the medication he's on, as you said, and take is one day at a time. Sounds like the dr is working with-you. I'm sorry for difficult child's increased moodiness. Does he say anything about it, like he feels weird? Or just act out?

 

[gcvmom]

He says he can't think straight and his mind is all over the place, can't concentrate, etc. And then he's acting really goofy, like he's not on ANY of the stimulant medication at all -- since usually it sort of "sobers" him up and he takes most things seriously. He says he doesn't really enjoy feeling like that, so that's a plus! Like I said, he's been o.k. this week. We'll see how he is once school's out.

 

[ML]

Hopefully the lack of pressure with no homework or deadlines over the summer will do him some good.

 

[gcvmom]

I sure know it will do ME some good!