Mr. Hyde at the top of his game this morning.

[gcvmom]

He is provocative, oppositional, loud, annoying, hostile when confronted, obnoxious, irritating... did I say annoying? And oppositional?

I don't know WHY my buttons are so easily pushed this morning, but difficult child 1 has been exceptionally oppositional and obnoxious this morning. Perhaps he didn't get enough sleep and that's why the Focalin did not work as well. His patch is starting to kick in, thankfully, but I've already had my own meltdown because of his in-your-face antics. All it took was for me to smack my head on the coop door this morning and I completely lost it. I sent myself to my room for a timeout and bawled my eyes out over these angry and violent feelings difficult child 1 brings out in me. And then he acts like nothing has happened. I tried to explain to him that I cannot just turn my feelings on and off when he behaves this way. That I cannot just "get over it" that quickly. Maybe he gets it because he yells at us to help him fix his head. But he has to take ownership of some of this. He cannot rely on a pill to control everything -- and we tell him that.

Sigh. We cut back on his stimulant because of all the skin picking he'd been doing to his arms, and now his knee. There are dozens and dozens of small scabs, some that got infected because of his picking. I don't know if this is going to work.

Wish us all luck this weekend. Hopefully things will improve, and if not, then I'll be calling the psychiatrist with my frustrated update.

 

[hoobear]

I wish you a better rest of the weekend. Hopefully things will calm down. You are in my thoughts.

Holly

 

[Christy]

He is provocative, oppositional, loud, annoying, hostile when confronted, obnoxious, irritating... did I say annoying? And oppositional?

Are you talking about my difficult child?!

I hope things take a turn for the better and Dr. Jeckell returns to stay.

 

[smallworld]

I'm sorry.

Didn't the psychiatrist listen to our recommendations?

I guess not . . .

On Monday, tell him to ditch Celexa and return to Elavil. And it sounds like difficult child 1 needs his Daytrana patch at full strength. But remember, I'm not a doctor. I just play one on the internet.

Hugs.

 

[flutterby]

Put that patch back up to full strength and duct tape socks to his hands so he can't pick until you get ahold of the psychiatrist.

Ok. Kidding. Sorta.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Ugh! I feel like I'm reading about Son. I know your pain.

 

[crazymama30]

Hugs. Sounds like quite a morning. I am a fan of the duct taping socks to his hands. You could even use colored tape, red, camo--could be quite the fashion statement.

 

[Thinking Outside the Box]

I was sorry to hear that the morning was so rough,; hopefully the rest of your day was much better. The sock/duct tape idea from flutterby was great and crazymama30 is right-there is such a wonderful variety of colors and designs for duct tape now. But I can greatly sympathize with you regarding your difficult child 1's behavior. I find myself that the weekends wouldn't start until noon, then my son's "in-my-face" antics wouldn't at least start at the crack of dawn (as he wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 every morning). The moment he opens his eyes is when he starts, so I understand how you feel! I have felt very alone on this road I'm on with Brenden, but I am realizing that I am not alone and neither are you. I can give no advice, as I am on here because I am desperately seeking all the advice I can get. Sincerely, I hope that your day got much better and I am sorry that it started so rough. Take care and I wish you the best for tomorrow morning!

 

[gcvmom]

Thank you all Yes, the day got better with him as the patch started working by mid-afternoon. I gave him another lecture on the way to his soccer game when he spit on the floor of the car. He does this in the house sometimes, too. I asked him if he had any idea how frustrating and infuriating it is to talk to him about something like that (the spitting) over and over and over again to no avail. I told him it left me with the feeling that he didn't give a (fill in your favorite expletive) about anyone but himself. And of course, by now the medications were nearly in full effect so he felt incredibly sorry and apologized. He truly is a different person on his medications. It worries me for what he'll be facing as an adult who has to remember to take medications on his own. (Sigh). We'll cross that chasm when we get to it, I guess.

 

[bearded one]

Your son sounds about like mine! And I'm the one with the temper who understands exactly where you are coming from. Right now, I'm listening to Gregorian and Plain chants to help keep me in a better mood. I wish you the best of luck for a better weekend.

 

[house of cards]

I hate when one difficult child's irritability triggers an increase in anger and stress in the whole house. I am guilty of falling into it as much as anyone else, I think it is a "normal" reaction. (((hugs))), wishing you a bit of sunshine or at least a little break.

 

[Wiped Out]

Sounds like a really rough morning (hugs). by the way, my difficult child does the spitting thing to, annoys me to no end!

 

[rlsnights]

Glad your day got better and I completely understand the anger thing - but I don't have a chicken coop to blame when I lose it, just myself

I know we all strive to be as detached and capable as the perfect psychiatric nurse on her/his perfect day - but we are not psychiatric nurses and we are all human so I hope you have forgiven yourself by now.

I hesitate to offer online links, given your achievements in the Worthy and Astute Researcher (WAR) category of life but have you seen this article linking skin picking with PANDA's and Syndenham's Chorea with the suggestion that autoimmune disorders can trigger this behavior?

neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/17/4/544.pdf

And here's a list with detailed descriptions of neurocutaneous disorders. Who knew there were so many? -

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1911167/

An expert interview on this subject from 2006 with a Canadian doctor that briefly discusses glutamine's possible role in this disorder

http://www.primarypsychiatry.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=638

And just in case you didn't have enough contradictory data in your life, glutamine has been studied at a small trial level as a treatment for Crohn's because the small intestines rely on glutamine for healing. But glutamine can also up-regulate the immune system so who knows what the real deal is for your kiddo?

But it got me wondering if you saw any connection between the onset of the skin picking and the renewed CD symptoms? Could this be a weird signal that his CD is not as well-controlled as everyone thinks?

Or, contrarily (just to make sure you're driven crazy with mutually exclusive possibilities) could the skin picking be a result of an increase in available glutamine flooding his brain now that his gut is in remission and isn't absorbing every available molecule of it????

Have you discussed this issue with pediatrician gi? Wonder if she's ever seen this in anyone else with CD. If she hasn't she certainly has the resources to check in with other big centers like CHOP and Mayo to see if they have and what worked to treat it.

 

[gcvmom]

Patricia, I should know better than to read your posts BEFORE I've had my morning coffee... now my head is spinning! I'll come back to this later.