Side Effects and no one to call....

[Alisonlg]

Poor M. He's been complaining about his "blue and white pills" for the past couple of weeks now and I was just hoping the side effect was temporary, but it doesn't seem to be going away.

It seems the Strattera is making him randomly nauseous and it's even causing vomit to reflux up into his throat. :frown: He also complains that it makes his breath taste bad. I mean, he's not all day long miserable or anything, but it just ticks me off that I have no one to call and tell this to. I just hate be dumped off into oblivion from the psychiatric hospital and having this span of time where I have no resources!

I was told on Thursday that M was being outplaced, Friday they confirmed that there was room in their school of choice, and I was told I'd get a call, hopefully by the end of the day Friday, to set up the emergency PPT meeting to get this done so M could start school early this week. Well, here it is the end of the school day Monday and I still have NO WORD on when this "emergency PPT meeting" is being held. Meanwhile, my child is receiving no education. He's been out of school and home with me and he's very anxious about returning, because as of right now, I've been taking it one day at a time with him not telling him until I know exactly when he starts the new school. He's starting to go bonkers with the long weekend! The Extended Day Program now wants to start him tomorrow, but still with no word from the school and no clue what services the school will provide and what their advice is and what psychiatrist will be primary (the school psychiatrist or day program psychiatrist), I feel SO clueless. So, yet again, I am ticked off that I am just dumped off with no resources...no one to pick up the phone and call and bounce all of these CHANGES off of and say, "What is best for my child? What do I do? YOU are the professional!"

AGH! This vast unknown is killing me and not being able to help my child who has vomit boiling up into his throat just pisses me off. I guess I'll call the pharmacy and see if it's Ok to give him childrens Pepto or something to at least calm the side effects until we have a psychiatrist to decide what to do with the medicine.

 

[totoro]

That does suck... I am sorry. Nothing worse than being on hold!!! I am waiting right now for someone from psychiatrists office to get ahold of me... I don't have a new script for her Abilify... which runs out today!!! Nice.

Why is school such a whirlwind of confusion for our g'sfg??? Why can't someone make it easy? A difficult child school!!!

Hang in there, hugs.

 

[Mikey]

Is Strattera the only thing he can take? I understand that it's not a "stimulant", but the reason neither I nor my son ever tried it was precisely because our doctor warned us of potential "stomach problems" (my family already has touchy digestive problems, no need to make it worse).

I'm not a doctor, but I think we've tried every medication under the sun (including the prescrip. stuff they used to give "housewives" in the 60's to help with their weight. I forget the name, but it was some kind of amphetamine). Both my son and I ended up discovering the limits of what we could tolerate.

My son can't take anything that's extended release. Don't know why, but it works differently (i.e BAD) for him. And neither of us can take Adderral of any form - it makes us very short-tempered and grouchy. I can only take Ritalin (normal and LA) and Focalin; the only thing he can take is Focalin (not XR).

I have one of the worst stomach's in the known universe, and Focalin doesn't bother me a bit. And it's a wonder my son can take it at all. doctor says it's because Ritalin has two parts: one part does 20% of the work, but has most of the bad side effects. The other part does 80% of the work with almost no side effects. Focalin is Ritalin without the first part.

Just my two pennies worth, but we both take Focalin with nary a whimper from our sensitve bellies.

Mikey

PS: most insurance companies (including my own) don't like to cover Focalin, would rather you take the cheap Ritalin instead. If your doctor wants to try it on your son, be prepared to fight your insurance company to get them to pay for it.

 

[oceans]

That is not right that you cannot contact anyone about the medication. It sounds like you need an outpatient psychiatrist ASAP!

I hope the school comes through really quickly...there is so little time left this year! Is there someone to call and be a squeaky wheel?