New Dr. New diagnosis

[jal]

Just a little update - difficult child was diagnosis'd Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-Aspergers today. This new dr is actually good friends with difficult child's original psychiatrist who says he's 99.9% sure difficult child is Bipolar. I haven't been feeling the bipolar diagnosis for a long time, I have more and more felt he was on the spectrum. When he first started therapeutic school they mentioned Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) too as did his in home therapists/clinicians. Before I jump on this diagnosis (which I believe is correct) I will wait until the second specialist concurs. We have met with him once and have 2 more appointments.

The other dr is ruling out Fragile X. difficult child has a few of the behaviors, but none of the real physical characteristics. difficult child had to have 6 vials of blood taken today. Luckily, he doesn't mind it at all.

Then on top of it we had a 2 hour delay and difficult child had to be driven to school by husband (which is out of district) because of our appts. and he'll have a whopping 3 hour day!

 

[TerryJ2]

Well, I'm glad that the docs' friendship is not influencing their dxes. Sounds like he's working hard to get a good diagnosis.
That's a lot of blood. Good for difficult child that he doesn't mind! I had to take my difficult child out for french fries for one vial last time.
Yes, that is a short day for difficult child. I hope you get something done during your short day!

 

[susiestar]

We have a family rule that says any time a needle is involved we get ice cream. Six tubes would mean sundaes!

Glad he didn't mind. In our house it is usually ME getting stuck (attacked by the vampires as the kids describe it, LOL! My strange kids always want to watch. They even watched when they took out the power PICT line in the hospital a couple of days ago - 42 cm long! thank you was disappointed they wouldn't let him keep it, LOL! He wanted to play with it to see how it worked.

I am glad the docs are being cautious with the diagnosis. in my opinion an Asperger's/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnosis is very hopeful. many don't even need medications, though sometimes medications are used to control symptoms, esp anxiety. My Wiz is actually in ALL regular classes with very few supports needed now. He is active in the drama club, working to learn to be a machinist, and really enjoying both school and his job (bagging groceries at a local grocery store). He does take medications (for the ADHD that is part of the Aspergers, and for depression and to help him sleep - with-o medications for depression he is suicidal, NOT a good thing.)

BUT many with Aspergers can learn to live full lives. I hope fragile X is not part of the picture, and that with this new diagnosis proper supports can be put into place so that he can learn to live a full and happy life.

Gentle hugs,

susie

 

[jal]

Thank you both. No medications have ever worked for difficult child and we have tried. He is very hyper and not 1 of the stims works for him. The dr suggested introducing a small amount of prozac for his anxiety and that it may help with hyperactivity. She's keeping hi on the Seroquel, because there is a chance of the mood disorder being there (BiPolar (BP) runs on husband's maternal side), but I think the dr is right. Susie - that is encouraging. difficult child now is in the therapeutic school and we have been lucky to have supports coming out of our ears. It will be interesting to see what original psychiatrist thinks after talking to the new psychiatrist because he was really 99% sure difficult child is BiPolar (BP) because he can engage and interact and can "play" you if he wants, but has very low frustration and is socially awkward, hard time maintaining eye contact and can't really take a joke and is very literal.

 

[BusynMember]

It is common for spectrum kids to be misdiagnosed as mentally ill and the new misdiagnosis seems to be bipolar. I never saw the bipolar either with my son, yet the psychiatrist wouldn't consider anything else. We finally re-evaluated him, weaned him off the medications that didn't work, and got him into Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) interventions. He's doing great. I'm angry that I didn't go with my gut sooner. A big problem is that Psychiatrists are looking for psychiatric problems and many know little about neurological ones, such as high functioning autism. That's why i go with NeuroPsychs. They have a little knowledge of both.
Glad you feel more comfortable now. Get your son into school interventions. They really work with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids.
Our original psychiatrist was unwilling to consider Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) even after the neuropsychologist diagnosis and my son doing well off of medication. I think it was his vanity, really. He also seemed clueless about Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), telling me that if he was autistic at all he wouldn't be able to transition from one room to another without crying and he wouldn't be interactive at all...(sigh). We never went back to him.

 

[Janna]

Wow, your son sounds just like mine LOL!

I, personally, think docs have a hard time earlier on, but I'm gonna tell ya, now that D is 12, I really REALLY see the Aspie in him. I mean, just listening to him talk is enough sometimes. Our therapist hangs here for 4 hours on Saturdays, and we'll all be talking, and D will just come off with something, and she'll have to explain to him, to us, etc. And he'll walk away and she'll say "that's typical Aspergers" LOL!

But, when they're so small, it's so different, I think that's what the problem is.

We had a very hard time with the is it Bipolar is it Autism with psychiatrists. Psychologists always missed it. He was always ADHD/ODD. We had better luck with the neuropsychologist and people that have spent alot of time with Autistic kids (like our therapist, who's got a Masters and been with Autistic kids for 20+ years, in HOME). Ya know, it's all up to the doctor too.

Good luck with the medications. D is on Buspar. It works good, but does nothing for ADHD stuff, nothing works there. He's on Seroquel, too, which is great for sleep, and seems to have helped with aggression/anger, BUT, packed on the pounds, and I'm not real thrilled over antipsychotics. They always, always die out eventually for him. He can't tolerate a medication either - he's been on over 30 trials. I'll tell ya what, though, over 30 medications, over 8 years - that Buspar is the ONLY one that EVER did ANYTHING for anxiety. Love it!

 

[Janna]

MWM, this woman that JUST did an evaluation on D in school, she said to us in the meeting

"he was very pleasant, made eye contact, and was appropriately making a birthday card with another peer"

Her diagnosis was ADHD. LMAO!

Now, this woman has a ton of letters behind her name, doesn't mean squat to me, but hey, she's a psychologist.

WOW, he made eye contact, I said. So no WAY he could be Autistic, huh?

 

[Marguerite]

easy child 2/difficult child 2's pediatrician insists she doesn't have Asperger's because she makes good eye contact with him. As she says herself, "I know him. But I have to work at making eye contact with customers."

I wouldn't be hard on a doctor who gets it wrong. Especially when the kids are younger, sometimes it's really difficult to get a diagnosis right.

Our former GP was a lovely bloke, but he was puzzled by difficult child 3. Then I did some reading one day and said to him, "What about Asperger's?"
He smacked his forehead. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"

Then the pediaitrician diagnosed autism rather than Asperger's. I challenged the diagnosis, got another clinic to assess. They confirmed the autism. The pediaitrican was quite OK with me for doing this, he supported the 2nd opinion.

Marg

 

[jal]

Janna - Buspar was mentioned too for the anxiety. I will keeep that in mind if the Prozac doesn't work. We had a nueropsych done in 07 when he was a lot younger. Just found out it wasn't a true neuropsychologist (my ins paid for it) but it was a crock and he was young. No real testing was done, so we will be pushing the school to do a new one when we meet for the results of his Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation (the evaluation is happening this week).

So far the Seroquel has not caused any weight gain, but he has been on it since August. I had him up to 300mg but had to back him down to 200mg because he got very nasty. The new psychiatrist seems to feel if the Prozac works that she will bring him down even more on Seroquel. At this point I'd almost prefer him on nothing.