Janna
New Member
to when Dylan was 3. 5. When I came here and he was 7 years old. "Severe ODD" is what he was labeled, haha! ADHD/ODD. He had been diagnosis'ed in the past. Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Mood Disorder, not otherwise specified. Disruptive Behavioral Disorder or something hahaha. Yeah, he was disruptive.
Slammed his head through a window at 4 because I was trying to take a piece of gum out of his mouth (after 3 warnings). Constant tantrums. Sooooooooooooooooo hyper. OMG is so hyper. I mean, 10xxxxx more hyper than an ADHD kid.
Defiant. Wouldn't listen to a word. "Dylan, please brush your teeth". "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" ....followed by "wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" for 3 hours.
:grrr:
You guys remember why you all know him as Dylan? Because I couldn't stand the thought of claiming him as a gift from anything, LOL! Dylan, his name is DYLAN, not difficult child, is what I remember typing.
Drawing on the dog. Ahhh, Becky, remember the tools being laid outside? Yeah, $3,000 worth. Ahh well.
Breaking windows out of the chicken coop. Throwing the dining room TABLE across the room. Talking to himself, barking like a dog, asking the wall if it was drunk :hammer:
Bossy. Tattling. Couldn't get along with anyone. Hateful. Mean. Cried over every THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oy vei! :crazy:
Bedtime. Hahahaha. "Mommy, you forgot my cream". "Mommy you forgot my light". "Mommy you forgot...." 100 times a night from the top of the stairs. OMG! I wanted to choke that kid :smile:
Ritalin. No, Tenex. No, Clonodine. Oh, that's not working? Ok, try Tenex in the A.M., Clonodine in the P.M. (looking back that blows my mind). Oh they didn't work? Hmm, maybe he's manic. Try Seroquel (never did find out what he thought by "manic", and back then I had no clue what that word meant). That didn't work? Ok, Metadate. Nahhh, try Risperdal. No, Abilify. No Tegretol. He's angry - let's try Topomax. Depakote. Concerta. Geodon. Zyprexa. Lithium. Wellbutrin. Risperdal three times, Abilify three times, individually over years.
I forget them all now. Hell, he's been on them all.
From ages 3 to 9 we had no luck with medications. 6 years - wasted, for nothing. Drug to drug to drug to drug.
9-11 we say he's Bipolar. I think I see mania. Heck, he's dancing and twirling like a ballerina up the boardwalk at the ocean. psychiatrist says "yep, that's mania". Watches him in the office, "he's hypomanic for sure". Lithium/Abilify. Abilify takes a poop. Let's try Geodon. Nope, doesn't work. How about Zyprexa? Nope, doesn't work. Hmm, what next?
How about NONE?
So, now he's 11. In the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF). No medications. No Bipolar. Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified, ADHD. They took him out of the "ODD" house. I dunno what, exactly, those kids are diagnosis'ed with, but they're the kids that don't listen, don't follow rules, kick, hit, punch, spit at teachers, do all that stuff. I call it the "ODD" house, but I dunno what it is. That's the behavior mod house. Irregardless, he's out.
And this weekend we moved him into the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) house. The kids are a little lower functioning than him, but all Autistic. He's medication free. Pretty hyper. No focus or attention whatsoever. But maintaining. It's been 3 months. Maybe he's honeymooning? Maybe he's tired of throwing tantrums? Maybe he's maturing some, going through puberty? Maybe he's just blossoming into his normal self now that he's finally medication free?
He needs a medicine. Maybe two, or three, or 12. LOL! I dunno. He needs help with focus and attention, no matter what. We're gonna try a stimulant again. Focalin maybe. Dexadrine. Dunno.
He is doing so good. He is maintaining, following rules, getting therapy, PARTICIPATING in all the therapy. Listening, I dunno how, but he is, and learning, just in tiny pieces (as much as he can pay attention to LOL) but nevertheless, learning something.
It's amazing to me what can look like what with these kids. What looks like mania might not be mania. What people perceive as mania may not be mania. Ditto with depression. Ditto with Bipolar. Ditto with the whole thing.
I remember when Dylan was small, in 2nd grade for example, he'd be standing at a tree, alone, at recess, singing. I knew that was part of his "Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)" thing, but just didn't get it.
I really convinced myself he was Bipolar. Everyone here, too, I think. I mean, we were all set to live the life with a Bipolar kid. And honestly, I don't think now that he is.
I think he's Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). I KNOW he's ADHD. Combined 3x over LOL.
I dunno what the point is to my post. I have been talking to alot of moms of little, I mean LITTLE kids lately, that have been saying "my son is 4 and he was just diagnosed with Bipolar". FOUR!?!?!?!?!?
"My son is 5 and he's on Depakote, Seroquel, Clonodine, Topomax and Tegretol".
Holy cow!
I don't know how to respond to these people anymore. I feel like I have alot of "in hindsight" stuff I could throw at them. Ya know, when Dylan was 4, I wanted "the drug". There wasn't "the drug", nor does "the drug" exist. You know? The drug that will settle him down, make him listen, pay attention in school, and not cause me any problems. Doesn't exist.
I want to tell all these people with 4 and 5 year old kids to slow down. But I don't know that I should. I mean, heck, if someone would have told me that 8 years ago, I woulda told them to stuff it LOL! But why ask my advice then?
I feel blessed. I'm very fortunate for the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) being where it is, the interventions they have, and what is given to Dylan. We had his IEP meeting Friday, and his teacher is awesome. I mean awesome. I wish I could carry him with her until high school graduation! LOL! I love her :flower:
I don't know that the "Bipolar" won't come back. Heck, maybe 10 years from now he'll go up and down and be BiPolar (BP), and who knows? But I feel so comfortable right now with the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). I feel like we found the answer.
How many people find that?
I know many of you feel labels are unimportant, but if you know me, you know for me, I've always wanted it. IS HE BiPolar (BP)? IS HE Autistic? We did the neuropsychologist because I WANTED TO KNOW, is the Rule Out yes or no? Is he? Neuro said yep. psychiatrist said nope LOL!
Geez.
Guess I just needed a place to yak. Sorry. The bottom line is Dylan is doing awesome. Learning to interact with others. He's so quirky. Wow, do I see it now with him being around sooooooo many other kids. Ha! I still love him the most, anyway :its_all_good:
Guess maybe I just want people that have younger children to stop and read this and think "hmm, maybe there's a light there at the end...". I never thought I'd get through all that h*ll with Dylan, but ya know, right now, I am so thankful for my son. And he's the most courageous child I've ever met.
Janna
Slammed his head through a window at 4 because I was trying to take a piece of gum out of his mouth (after 3 warnings). Constant tantrums. Sooooooooooooooooo hyper. OMG is so hyper. I mean, 10xxxxx more hyper than an ADHD kid.
Defiant. Wouldn't listen to a word. "Dylan, please brush your teeth". "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" ....followed by "wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" for 3 hours.
:grrr:
You guys remember why you all know him as Dylan? Because I couldn't stand the thought of claiming him as a gift from anything, LOL! Dylan, his name is DYLAN, not difficult child, is what I remember typing.
Drawing on the dog. Ahhh, Becky, remember the tools being laid outside? Yeah, $3,000 worth. Ahh well.
Breaking windows out of the chicken coop. Throwing the dining room TABLE across the room. Talking to himself, barking like a dog, asking the wall if it was drunk :hammer:
Bossy. Tattling. Couldn't get along with anyone. Hateful. Mean. Cried over every THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oy vei! :crazy:
Bedtime. Hahahaha. "Mommy, you forgot my cream". "Mommy you forgot my light". "Mommy you forgot...." 100 times a night from the top of the stairs. OMG! I wanted to choke that kid :smile:
Ritalin. No, Tenex. No, Clonodine. Oh, that's not working? Ok, try Tenex in the A.M., Clonodine in the P.M. (looking back that blows my mind). Oh they didn't work? Hmm, maybe he's manic. Try Seroquel (never did find out what he thought by "manic", and back then I had no clue what that word meant). That didn't work? Ok, Metadate. Nahhh, try Risperdal. No, Abilify. No Tegretol. He's angry - let's try Topomax. Depakote. Concerta. Geodon. Zyprexa. Lithium. Wellbutrin. Risperdal three times, Abilify three times, individually over years.
I forget them all now. Hell, he's been on them all.
From ages 3 to 9 we had no luck with medications. 6 years - wasted, for nothing. Drug to drug to drug to drug.
9-11 we say he's Bipolar. I think I see mania. Heck, he's dancing and twirling like a ballerina up the boardwalk at the ocean. psychiatrist says "yep, that's mania". Watches him in the office, "he's hypomanic for sure". Lithium/Abilify. Abilify takes a poop. Let's try Geodon. Nope, doesn't work. How about Zyprexa? Nope, doesn't work. Hmm, what next?
How about NONE?
So, now he's 11. In the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF). No medications. No Bipolar. Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified, ADHD. They took him out of the "ODD" house. I dunno what, exactly, those kids are diagnosis'ed with, but they're the kids that don't listen, don't follow rules, kick, hit, punch, spit at teachers, do all that stuff. I call it the "ODD" house, but I dunno what it is. That's the behavior mod house. Irregardless, he's out.
And this weekend we moved him into the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) house. The kids are a little lower functioning than him, but all Autistic. He's medication free. Pretty hyper. No focus or attention whatsoever. But maintaining. It's been 3 months. Maybe he's honeymooning? Maybe he's tired of throwing tantrums? Maybe he's maturing some, going through puberty? Maybe he's just blossoming into his normal self now that he's finally medication free?
He needs a medicine. Maybe two, or three, or 12. LOL! I dunno. He needs help with focus and attention, no matter what. We're gonna try a stimulant again. Focalin maybe. Dexadrine. Dunno.
He is doing so good. He is maintaining, following rules, getting therapy, PARTICIPATING in all the therapy. Listening, I dunno how, but he is, and learning, just in tiny pieces (as much as he can pay attention to LOL) but nevertheless, learning something.
It's amazing to me what can look like what with these kids. What looks like mania might not be mania. What people perceive as mania may not be mania. Ditto with depression. Ditto with Bipolar. Ditto with the whole thing.
I remember when Dylan was small, in 2nd grade for example, he'd be standing at a tree, alone, at recess, singing. I knew that was part of his "Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)" thing, but just didn't get it.
I really convinced myself he was Bipolar. Everyone here, too, I think. I mean, we were all set to live the life with a Bipolar kid. And honestly, I don't think now that he is.
I think he's Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). I KNOW he's ADHD. Combined 3x over LOL.
I dunno what the point is to my post. I have been talking to alot of moms of little, I mean LITTLE kids lately, that have been saying "my son is 4 and he was just diagnosed with Bipolar". FOUR!?!?!?!?!?
"My son is 5 and he's on Depakote, Seroquel, Clonodine, Topomax and Tegretol".
Holy cow!
I don't know how to respond to these people anymore. I feel like I have alot of "in hindsight" stuff I could throw at them. Ya know, when Dylan was 4, I wanted "the drug". There wasn't "the drug", nor does "the drug" exist. You know? The drug that will settle him down, make him listen, pay attention in school, and not cause me any problems. Doesn't exist.
I want to tell all these people with 4 and 5 year old kids to slow down. But I don't know that I should. I mean, heck, if someone would have told me that 8 years ago, I woulda told them to stuff it LOL! But why ask my advice then?
I feel blessed. I'm very fortunate for the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) being where it is, the interventions they have, and what is given to Dylan. We had his IEP meeting Friday, and his teacher is awesome. I mean awesome. I wish I could carry him with her until high school graduation! LOL! I love her :flower:
I don't know that the "Bipolar" won't come back. Heck, maybe 10 years from now he'll go up and down and be BiPolar (BP), and who knows? But I feel so comfortable right now with the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). I feel like we found the answer.
How many people find that?
I know many of you feel labels are unimportant, but if you know me, you know for me, I've always wanted it. IS HE BiPolar (BP)? IS HE Autistic? We did the neuropsychologist because I WANTED TO KNOW, is the Rule Out yes or no? Is he? Neuro said yep. psychiatrist said nope LOL!
Geez.
Guess I just needed a place to yak. Sorry. The bottom line is Dylan is doing awesome. Learning to interact with others. He's so quirky. Wow, do I see it now with him being around sooooooo many other kids. Ha! I still love him the most, anyway :its_all_good:
Guess maybe I just want people that have younger children to stop and read this and think "hmm, maybe there's a light there at the end...". I never thought I'd get through all that h*ll with Dylan, but ya know, right now, I am so thankful for my son. And he's the most courageous child I've ever met.
Janna