therapist today, psychiatrist tomorrow, Abilify seems to be working ...

[TerryJ2]

Speaking of jinxing, the Abilify does seem to be working. husband and I are going to tell the dr we want to go ahead and up the dose from 2.5 to 5 mg, (aka a whole tablet).
difficult child is doing weird nice things like saying "Please" and "Thank you," helping me bring in groceries, and actually getting off of his video games with-o yelling, at least 65% of the time. (That's a 65% increase in cooperation, for those who don't know us. )
Of course, today he came home with-a stomach ache and doesn't want to go to the therapist, and claimed he was refusing to go ... but I usually just put on my coat and say, "let's go" and he follows. Fingers crossed. We have a lot to talk about, mainly school issues ( I heard that he fell asleep in Spanish class, and he's behind in math again) and boundary issues at home.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Don't have to "double" the dose... ever heard of a quarter-tab? (We've done it with Ritalin...)

 

[HaoZi]

Sounds promising so far.

 

[susiestar]

I'm glad the abilify is helping and bringing out all those weird behaviors.

 

[StressedM0mma]

Terry that sounds great. We have been very happy with difficult child's behavior since she started Abilify. We are at 10mg. right now. They upped it from 5 to 10 while she was in the psychiatric hospital. SHe has been hungrier and has gained a little weight. Which is a good thing. She was soo skinny before. We had to go out and buy a couple pairs of new jeans, and we had to buy a size 1.! ooh. I hope the good behavior continues for you as well. We have noticed that the rages have calmed way down, and when she does get angry it is no where as bad. Fingers pretzeled for you.

 

[TerryJ2]

Thank you!

Had an interesting therapist appointment. difficult child was really grumpy, did not want me to drag him away from his beloved gaming. I gave him 45 min. notice, and then turned off the Internet and went downstairs and said, "Let's go!"
"Why did you turn off the Internet?"
"Because we're leaving."
heh heh.
So he went with-me, apparently thinking there was nothing to do at home anyway... and through the first 1/2 of the appointment, he rubbed his face, picked at his face, kept his eyes closed, slouched waaaaay down in the chair, you get the idea.
Dr. R asked me to bring him up to speed, and I said that the Abilify seemed to be helping (I try to start out with-good things) and I gave a cpl of examples. Then I said, "by the way, I heard from the Spanish teacher that you fell asleep in class. What's with-that?"
difficult child said, "I did not! I just put my head down."
Dr. R caught my eye and put his head down on his arm, on his desk. difficult child didn't even notice. I said, "Do you think Dr. R is listening to you?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think he's asleep?"
"No."
"How can you tell?"
"I don't know."
Dr. R sits up and says, "Look, when you do this in class, this is what it looks like to the teacher. Watch me." He put his head down, and this time, flipped the bird.
ROFL!
I had to bite my cheeks to keep from lol.
I asked difficult child to sit up straighter and keep his eyes open, which he did, and I thanked him.
Things picked up from there.

 

[Wiped Out]

I love your therapist (especially as a teacher)!!! Glad to hear the abilify is working!

 

[StressedM0mma]

Ha ha that therapist is hilarious!!! I bet the point was taken by difficult child better than nagging though. therapist sounds great.

 

[keista]

Most excellent therapist!

So glad the Abilify is working for you. It's truly been a godsend for son too.

 

[TerryJ2]

Yes, I was thinking that I am no longer panicing about sending difficult child away for the summer to a place we cannot afford. He is going to regular camps, one wk apiece. And I'm not going insane. I think the Abilify has really helped with-all that. He is still who he is, just less so. Tolerable.
I'm still chuckling about the therapist ...

 

[StressedM0mma]

Terry that is the best explanation about our difficult child's on Abilify. Tolerable. I am trying to get my difficult child up and moving they have a late start this week because of state testing. So she feels there is no need to be up. UGH. Going to go up and get ready to be yelled at for seeing if she is moving along. And, easy child is on her way home because a friend spilled hot chocolate on her pants and needs a new pair.

 

[TerryJ2]

Ugh! Another day, another drama, Stressed.

We are going to up the Ablifiy to 5 mg. The dr told us what to watch out for. I think it went over difficult child's head, because difficult child was bored at the end of the session and was texting.

Fingers crossed!

 

[buddy]

That is funny. Good therapist! So glad the medications are helping him. hope the increase fills in the gaps, smile.

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

What's with-that?"
difficult child said, "I did not! I just put my head down."
Dr. R caught my eye and put his head down on his arm, on his desk. difficult child didn't even notice. I said, "Do you think Dr. R is listening to you?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think he's asleep?"
"No."
"How can you tell?"
"I don't know."
Dr. R sits up and says, "Look, when you do this in class, this is what it looks like to the teacher. Watch me." He put his head down, and this time, flipped the bird.
ROFL!
I had to bite my cheeks to keep from lol.
I asked difficult child to sit up straighter and keep his eyes open, which he did, and I thanked him.
Things picked up from there.

Excellent therapist!! difficult child 1 had a therapist who used similar tactics to get through to him. The results were amazing. SFR

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

Almost forgot - Abilify worked wonders for difficult child 1. I can't thank the psychiatrist enough who prescribed it for him! SFR

 

[TerryJ2]

Yes, we've got a good team, even though they aren't actually working together. We just make sure that they know what's going on at both ends. Communication and cooperation is the key.

 

[StressedM0mma]

Yeah. The psychiatrist explained most of the side effects to us. Esp. the weight gain. difficult child has body image issues, so we did not mention the weight aspect. She had to be bumped up to 10mg, and it is still doing wonders. She still gets angry, but much more reasonable. Not off the wall crazy. I hope it continues.

 

[TerryJ2]

Great news, Stressed! Fingers crossed for all of us.
Does she look better now?