psychiatrist appointment

[Californiablonde]

psychiatrist appointment for both kids today. difficult child 2 just needs a medication refill. So far he is doing splendid on his Focalin. His teachers continue to report that he is focusing great in class, raises his hand to answer questions, and he is getting all A's except for 2 B's. No problems with him. difficult child 1 is going manic and not sleeping. She is my main reason for going. Geodon, which has been working wonders for her in the past few years, isn't having the same effect anymore. She is having a hard time sleeping, even with extra melatonin. Most nights she doesn't fall asleep till after midnight. Waking her up in the morning is hell. Sometimes I can't get her up at all. She's been staying home in the mornings and my mom has been picking her up later to take her to school late so she can at least make it to part of the day. She is way behind in first period math, which is her most difficult subject. She is also having some meltdowns that she wasn't having before. So we need either more Geodon or something else. Her not making it to school is really stressing me out. I am hoping this new medication change will help her sleep better and help with her atrocious attitude. She's even misbehaving for her dad, which she usually never does. So of to psychiatrist we go. Wish us luck.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Solve the sleep problem, and you'll significantly reduce the other issues. Sleep out of whack skews everything else.
Good luck...

 

[Methuselah]

If the medication stopped working, you can sometimes kick start it to work again by taking her off it long enough to clear the drug out of her system and then put her back on it. You can google or call your pharmacy to find out how many days that will take. I have done this in the past with great success.

 

[Bunny]

I agree with ICD about the sleep issues, but I had one thought. You say that math is her first period and also her hardest. Is she having trouble sleeping because she is anxious about that class?

 

[Californiablonde]

Well psychiatrist ended up prescribing her over the counter medications that contain melatonin, valerian, and something else I can't recall the name of. I was surprised. I thought he would give her a higher dose of Geodon but he said that sometimes it can cause heart problems in higher doses so he was being extra cautious. He also prescribed Intuniv to take in the morning. It's a medication my son once took for his ADHD and it was pretty much useless, but he says it will help calm her down and control some of the rages she's been having. We shall see how it goes. As for my son, he prescribed a longer acting dose of Focalin so he won't be as hyper when he gets home from school. I haven't had time to go to the pharmacy and get the new medications yet so I will see tonight what happens when I get them.

 

[InsaneCdn]

You can't really compare impact on kid1 to impact on kid2... especially with different genders and dxes. I can see where a medication that doesn't have any impact on ADHD focus issues, "could" impact anxiety... it wasn't like your son had a horrid reaction to the medication, it just didn't work.

Longer acting Folacin... low risk change.

It's actually positive when you have a psychiatrist who isn't jumping at increasing dosages and adding more scripts... the psychiatrist is thinking things through and working the issues one at a time. We'd often like faster answers - but this is safer.