New diagnosis is scary

[cheree03]

Hello this is my first time on this site.. I have a 5YO who has been diagnosed with ADHD for about 4mos and on Metdate CD. It is working but he has also had ODD and Conduct Disorder added to his diagnosis today. The prescribed him risperidone for him today ...

Im scared of this medication but also scared of what will happen if I dont do something more. Ive tried alternative therapies and behavioral plans and even changing his foods... Nothing has worked except for the metadate CD..

Has anyone had any dealings with this medication or these disorders together? Is it something that can eventually be overcome later in life? I just feel like everyone else's children are normal and perfect, therefore no one understands my son except me.. sometimes not even me...

**Please forgive me I know I should thank god that my son is healthy in all other ways and I do.. I am just overwhelmed..

any feedback is appreciated!

 

[SRL]

Hi Cheree, I'm glad that you found us.

What kind of specialist diagnosed him?

How much time did they spend with him prior to making the diagnosis?

Did they do any formal diagnoistic testing such as speech , fine motor, sensory, have you fill out forms, etc?

What justification did they give in assigning the Conduct Disorder diagnosis? Until recently that diagosis wasn't even applied to kids until they were teens.

As for the medications, if you're going to go that route parents of younger children here have reported that risperidone tends to result in less extreme negative reactions than some of the other medications. How has he done on the Metdate?

 

[BusynMember]

Personally, I'd get another opinion. I favor NeuroPsychs. Anyone who would diagnosis. a child with CD would make me leery of his credentials. I wouldn't be scared at all because most kids your child's age have that diagnosis change many times through their lives. He's too young to know for sure. You could see ten people and get ten different opinions. I like NeuroPsychs and MultiDisciplinary Evaluations because they actually test your child in detail. You get a better picture of your child and what may be going on. I say "may" because it is extremely hard to correctly diagnose a very young child. Things become clearer as they get older. If you are uncertain that the diagnosis. is right or don't want to try the medication, I'd wait. My son was on four stimulants and umpteen other medications, including Risperdal, before we found out he'd been misdiagnosed and didn't even need medications. Risperdal was very bad for my son. He had a bad reaction to it. Why not see if you can get a clearer picture of what is wrong? In hindsight, I would have waited much longer, and been more certain of the diagnosis., before starting any medications for my son, including ADHD stimulants. JMO

 

[totoro]

Fully agree with the others...
What symptoms are they trying to help with the Risperdal? What dose are they starting with? I would want to be sure and have a pretty good idea of what I was dealing with, or at least feel comfortable as to what symptoms they were treating.
K our difficult child used Risperdal as her first medication. It helped for her Mood Disorder... it petered out after awhile. We were treating her aggression, violence, auditory hallucinations, and some mood swings... but we had had a nuero-psychiatric and a psychiatrist at that time. We felt pretty good about her diagnosis...
Good luck and welcome!!!

 

[cheree03]

Thank you so very much for your replies! I have tried to answer all of your questions below…

What kind of specialist diagnosed him? The ODD and CD were diagnosed by a Family Psychiatrist, the ADHD was diagnosed by a Psychologist and certified therapist.

How much time did they spend with him prior to making the diagnosis? The ODD/CD she only spent one session with us but reviewed reports from the other people and teachers he had seen.

Did they do any formal diagnoistic testing such as speech , fine motor, sensory, have you fill out forms, etc? The Psychiatrist did not do any extra testing other than reviewing the reports I brought with me from other related persons.
The Psychologist and certified therapist made me fill out TONS of paperwork and had several sessions with him.
What justification did they give in assigning the Conduct Disorder diagnosis? She said that he met more than three of the requirements that would not be specific to teens only.

What symptoms are they trying to help with the Risperdal? What dose are they starting with? The ODD was the reason for the Risperdal and they are starting him at .05mg once a day. Some of the reasons for the ODD are of course is his naturally defiant but also vindictive. He usually hides and urinates in the corner when punished, of course I just found this out when his room smelled like pee. He is ALWAYS aggravating when he can and it doesn’t matter who.. adults or children.

My question is what is the difference between a Nuero-psychiatric and a regular psychiatric? I would really like to have him tested further to be sure before we start down a slippery slope..

I love my kids so much it just pains me to see him having social issues but also to have to take medicine. My pediatrician has been monitoring his behavior this whole time and he recommended the psychiatrist to me as an excellent resource. Of course that isn’t saying a whole lot I guess..

 

[Josie]

My daughter's psychiatrist said that there is no medication for ODD. The only thing you can do is discipline it away or sedate them enough that they are more compliant. I'm guessing that is what the Risperdal is for.

I think of ODD as a symptom of something else and not an answer in itself. If you can treat what underlies it, then often, the ODD isn't as dominant. My daughter was diagnosis'ed with ODD. Her real problem was food allergies. When she avoids her trigger foods, there is no problem with ODD. My other daughter could have easily gotten the ODD diagnosis at times but it was clear that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) was the real problem. If we tried to interfere with her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) behaviour, we got the defiance.

I agree with more testing as well as researching on your own to determine what the real problem is.

 

[SRL]

A neuropsychologist has a pHd and many hours of clinical training. Typically they will do 10+ hours of testing as part of the assessment. We have found that pediatric neuropsychologists or developmental pediatricians are far more likely to give accurate diagnoses than child psychiatrists because obviously they spend more time doing assessments. I do think you should pursue more thourough testing. We like to see these little guys see one of the two specialists I just mentioned plus speech and Occupational Therapist (OT) to cover the big bases.

Does he have problems sleeping?
Are there any speech delays or differences?
Does he seem overly sensitive to things like tags in clothing, noises, bright lights, etc?
Does he line up toys or other household objects?
How has bonding been between the two of you--was there anything such as illness or post-partum depression that could have gotten in the way of that?