psychiatrist calls today telling me to get difficult child 2 back on Lamictal...

gcvmom

Here we go again!
but I'm not sure if it's really necessary yet? Or will I be circumventing an eventual unravelling that could take a long time to fix if I wait too long on this?

If you've been following our drama of late, we pulled Risperdal on Monday due to dystonic reaction. Prior to that, difficult child 2 was on Lamictal as well as the other medications listed. The Risperdal was supposed to help the chorea/tremor he has (he was on it two years ago for about two years' time and it served him well for emotional stability -- but no more now).

I left a message for psychiatrist yesterday just to keep him in the loop since the neuro was managing the new medication we added last night (clonazepam -- which didn't do anything at the 0.125mg level, except he said he felt crummy (like I just woke up and am still really tired) two hours after taking it and couldn't sleep).

difficult child 2 opted to skip his patch today since it was minimum day and wanted to see if he'd be o.k. He was in a great mood when I picked him up, but became reactive and obnoxious when easy child got in the car. He's impulsive and bouncing off the walls a bit, too. When we decided to add Lamictal back in January, he was emotional and picking at himself a lot. I'm not seeing that just yet. Could the stimulant have been contributing to that?

It's such a complicated issue. Sara and Smallworld feel free to share your wisdom here!
 

smallworld

Moderator
I agree with psychiatrist -- get him back on Lamictal. Why mess with stability?

And yes, the stimulant could have been contributing to emotional reactivity and picking.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Thanks smallworld...

He was a mess this afternoon off his Daytrana patch. Couldn't get a lick of homework done and kept bugging everyone around him. I finally gave him some short acting Focalin and now he's in his room cleaning like crazy for a play date tomorrow! Normally takes huge amounts of nagging on my part to get him to pick up a dirty sock, let alone tidy his room... so I'm a bit amazed. I guess it means he still needs this support.

I called psychiatrist back and they said his recommendation was based on my observation about his obesessiveness with the toothbrush incident at the store yesterday. I want to be sure that this isn't just a fluke thing, ya know? I want to give it a couple more days to make sure that I'm really seeing this consistently. We've got the medications on hand, so I can start the process this weekend. He won't be at his full dose by the time we leave for vacation, but he'll be 1/2 way there at least!
 

smallworld

Moderator
"Cleaning like crazy" makes me think of hypomania. If any of my kids did that, I'd be concerned rather than thinking they needed the support of a stimulant.
 

klmno

Active Member
Yeah- I tend to agree with Smallworld, based on what I see in my difficult child. And, when he's around the verge of hypomania, cleaning sprees and almost-like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) tendencies seem to appear. Actuall, they might appear when he is going toward the depressive side too, but the big sign is that it is coming out of normal range.
 

Sara PA

New Member
That reminds me of my roommate back in college. She always did speed when she had to clean. Cleaned the house and chewed the he!! out of her gum.

Skin picking is a tic and tic can be made worse (or caused) by stimulants.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Okay, I can appreciate the hypomania comments, I really can. But I'm also looking at a difficult child who has had very, very few play dates in his life and I told him he had to get his room picked up before his friend could come over tomorrow, so I'm weighing that factor in all this, too.

It just seems like he was able to focus enough and was motivated enough to dive in and really do a good job. He was happy to stop when we had to leave for difficult child 1's concert tonight. Wasn't stuck or perseverating. I think if he continues to want to clean when he gets home from dinner with-husband and can't sleep tonight, then I might look at a little differently... I mean, come on! Can't I relish a little "normal" moment here? Or at least pretend? :bigsmile:

(Now that I think back, when husband was hypomanic, he was VERY productive... got our brick-on-sand patio and walkways from front to back that way! Although, laying bricks at 11pm with the floodlights out back in the middle of January, even for California, is at bit extreme.)

Okay, okay. I promise I'm NOT in denial and I'll keep my eagle eye out tonight to see how things go.
 
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