mom22
New Member
I posted for the first time a few days ago just after my son was admitted to the psychiatric hospital straight from his regular psychiatric appointment. He is almost 9. The plan or reason for admitting (as I understood it then) was to get him off all medications (abilify, risperdal, and concerta) because we have been seeing increasing aggression, lack of motivation, super mumbly speech, general downhill slide... There seems to be a lack of communication between all his caretakers. The first day he was given regular medications because the covering Dr. said "by the time I read his chart and saw that we were going to be weaning, he had already received medications for the day". Then next DR. called me the next day to say they wanted to start Triliptal. I said "wait - I'm not comfortable with that as I thought the plan was to get him off everything and then see how he does and start over...."
Meanwhile I just got the report from the Neuro-psychiatric evaluation which indicates he needs more/better supports for autism diagnosis. He is high functioning and it is easy to see him as "normal" but the Dr. outlines quite a few areas that were really challenging for him during the evaluations that would also present significant challenges at school and home. And she added a diagnosis of dyspraxia to his list.
When we started medication 2.5 years ago it was to help with the extreme hyperactivity. Then we were adding medications to treat anxiety. Then aggressiveness. Now mood disorder and slurred speech.... I feel like we are going down the wrong path. He has always had a really poor/sensitive response to stimulant medications as well as non-stimulants (we've tried them all).
Yesterday when I saw him (way down on the abilify but still on risperdal and concerta) he was completely flat in personality, detached, and tense. Today when I saw him (no abilify and no concerta) he was off the charts hyperactive but more happy and no tension in his face.
Couldn't it be possible that we were causing this worsening with the wrong medicine approach? When I asked the Dr.s they responded by saying "we treat the symptoms". That is fine but I think we also need to uncover the root cause.
Meanwhile I just got the report from the Neuro-psychiatric evaluation which indicates he needs more/better supports for autism diagnosis. He is high functioning and it is easy to see him as "normal" but the Dr. outlines quite a few areas that were really challenging for him during the evaluations that would also present significant challenges at school and home. And she added a diagnosis of dyspraxia to his list.
When we started medication 2.5 years ago it was to help with the extreme hyperactivity. Then we were adding medications to treat anxiety. Then aggressiveness. Now mood disorder and slurred speech.... I feel like we are going down the wrong path. He has always had a really poor/sensitive response to stimulant medications as well as non-stimulants (we've tried them all).
Yesterday when I saw him (way down on the abilify but still on risperdal and concerta) he was completely flat in personality, detached, and tense. Today when I saw him (no abilify and no concerta) he was off the charts hyperactive but more happy and no tension in his face.
Couldn't it be possible that we were causing this worsening with the wrong medicine approach? When I asked the Dr.s they responded by saying "we treat the symptoms". That is fine but I think we also need to uncover the root cause.