AK0603
New Member
Hello everyone, this is my first time here. I found this site looking for some support for parenting children with different diagnoses. Here is a quick history of my 10 yr old son.
1. Having issues since 6 yr old, noticed some severe depression, found out he was mildly sexually abused about 1 month prior to noticing the behavior. Was in counseling immediately from that ~ has seemed to deal great with that. After 2 yrs the sex abuse dr. let us come "as needed basis"
2. 6 months after stopping counseling he started failing school, bulling others, defiance, physical with brother, moody, and severe problems with attention, daydreaming and organization. So I took him to an independent ADD/ADHD doctor for testing, he did some testing and called me 2 wks later, stated this: ADHD - inattentive kind, severe depression, severe anxiety disorder, Mood disorder and can not rule out bi-polar.
3. Medications: He has been on 25 mg Zoloft, 5 mg Abilify, and 40 mg Strattera, the straterra is fairly new, school does think this helps but at home I don't see it helping much. He did stop taking the abilify for a short time, and within 2 wks he became severely violent at school and uncontrollable. So he went back on it. He has been on Zoloft and abilify for about 3 yrs now.
Recently, in the last month, things are getting dangerously worse in my opinion. School - he's failing, he has an IEP due to emotional dysfunctions, he does counseling alone 2 times a month, and we do family counsel 2 times a month, and sees his psychiatrist 1 time a month for medication checks.
Yesterday he was grounded for telling he to shut the F*** up, and he hated me, and cursing other words. When he found out the next day he was still grounded (he did know this) he got angry, broke his bedroom window screen out and ran away, it's -15 here, and he left in shorts, sweatshirt and 2 pair of socks. I called police, he was at a friends house. He told PD that he does think of killing himself, so they called mobile crisis unit, but they did nothing saying he was not in danger of hurting himself or others at this point.
My questions or concerns is how can they tell if it's more bipolar than the ADD? I have been reading about the BiPolar (BP) and he has almost each and every symptom, bed wetting even at 10 years old from time to time.
Also I read Abilify helps BiPolar (BP), but since he's been on it so long, mabye he needs to increase dose? I am scared of all these medications. We have tried herbal medications, as well as things like "crawling" reward systems and more. He basically tells us to our face, he does not care, not even a little, he hates everyone. He has kicked me, and I have lost complete control. He's not my little boy anymore. If he's told NO for something, he looses it, the mood swings are scary!
He's getting kicked off the bus due to mood swings, everything sets him off, nothing sets him off.
I'm so worried and scared.
Any help is appreciated.
1. Having issues since 6 yr old, noticed some severe depression, found out he was mildly sexually abused about 1 month prior to noticing the behavior. Was in counseling immediately from that ~ has seemed to deal great with that. After 2 yrs the sex abuse dr. let us come "as needed basis"
2. 6 months after stopping counseling he started failing school, bulling others, defiance, physical with brother, moody, and severe problems with attention, daydreaming and organization. So I took him to an independent ADD/ADHD doctor for testing, he did some testing and called me 2 wks later, stated this: ADHD - inattentive kind, severe depression, severe anxiety disorder, Mood disorder and can not rule out bi-polar.
3. Medications: He has been on 25 mg Zoloft, 5 mg Abilify, and 40 mg Strattera, the straterra is fairly new, school does think this helps but at home I don't see it helping much. He did stop taking the abilify for a short time, and within 2 wks he became severely violent at school and uncontrollable. So he went back on it. He has been on Zoloft and abilify for about 3 yrs now.
Recently, in the last month, things are getting dangerously worse in my opinion. School - he's failing, he has an IEP due to emotional dysfunctions, he does counseling alone 2 times a month, and we do family counsel 2 times a month, and sees his psychiatrist 1 time a month for medication checks.
Yesterday he was grounded for telling he to shut the F*** up, and he hated me, and cursing other words. When he found out the next day he was still grounded (he did know this) he got angry, broke his bedroom window screen out and ran away, it's -15 here, and he left in shorts, sweatshirt and 2 pair of socks. I called police, he was at a friends house. He told PD that he does think of killing himself, so they called mobile crisis unit, but they did nothing saying he was not in danger of hurting himself or others at this point.
My questions or concerns is how can they tell if it's more bipolar than the ADD? I have been reading about the BiPolar (BP) and he has almost each and every symptom, bed wetting even at 10 years old from time to time.
Also I read Abilify helps BiPolar (BP), but since he's been on it so long, mabye he needs to increase dose? I am scared of all these medications. We have tried herbal medications, as well as things like "crawling" reward systems and more. He basically tells us to our face, he does not care, not even a little, he hates everyone. He has kicked me, and I have lost complete control. He's not my little boy anymore. If he's told NO for something, he looses it, the mood swings are scary!
He's getting kicked off the bus due to mood swings, everything sets him off, nothing sets him off.
I'm so worried and scared.
Any help is appreciated.