Wow! What a rage...

klmno

Active Member
I'm still re-grouping from all this. difficult child has been on lithobid and depakote er for many months. He had been doing well but like many, he had a "blip" or whatever a few weeks ago. He's already in lots of legal trouble from a 2 hour crime spree last year (he was on prozac then) and as a result of that and a medication-wash, his diagnosis was switched to BiPolar (BP). Anyyway, as is his typical pattern, he was great and then screwed up and broke the law again. This time was much less drastic then the past 2 years- he went into a detached shed in someone's back yard. No stealing, etc. psychiatrist still raised lithobid dosage because there had been other things going on- raging, sleepliness, etc.

SSOOOO- here we are tonight and difficult child goes on a rage that is as bad as when he first started with this 2 years ago. I don't get it. Initially, the lithobid took care of the extreme stuff- like raging and severe sleepliness. But he was waving a kitchen knife around tonight, stuck all his medications in his pocket and left the room, cut off circuit breakers for power in part of the house, and saying the "I don't care about anything" stuff.

I know if I call police they will lock him up in detention- he's on a suspended sentence and he has this other break-in in the shed to be decided upon. I swear though, he goes months (like 8 to 10) and he is fine. Do I change psychiatrists? Do I just let them lock him up? I don't think he's faking the months of typical normal behavior- I don't think he could, much less, would. He has punched holes in walls and torn up doors. I kept trying to reason with him (we all know how that goes) - then after a whaile of reminding him of his choices, he finally went into the bathroom for a bath. He's in there now- in the tub- knocking on the side wall.


Suggestions?? Can lithobid work on the "extremes" for over six months then become completely ineffective? I never thought the medications were "exactly" right, but things haven't gotten to this point in a VERY LONG time. psychiatrist mentioned we might have to change medications completely. GEEEZ- you think it might be time???
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Klmno-Very scary to me that he was waving a kife around and cut off the circuit breakers. If you don't want to call the police what about taking him to ER? I would definitely be calling the psychiatrist-they must have someone on call to talk to.

Gentle hugs.
 

smallworld

Moderator
I'm sure you've heard about "March Madness," when lots of kids with mood disorders become manic or hypomanic as the winter doldrums end and the daylight lengthens. Many parents on the BiPolar (BP) listserv I co-moderate are reporting similar maniclike symptoms in their kids.

If this is occurring regularly at this time of the year, I'm wondering if you could pre-empt it with the addition of an atypical antipsychotic (like Seroquel) at the end of every February. In the meantime, you should ask the psychiatrist for an AP now to settle your difficult child down. You could wean him at the time of year his symptoms typically subside.

I'm sorry things are so rough. Hang in there.
 

Loving Abbey 2

Not really a Newbie
That must be scary for you. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

If I understand correctly Lithobid is Lithium, so has he had a blood level done recently? that may give some answers as they grow and thier bodies change, the blood level may change and may drop below the theraputic range.

I also would suggest an ER as opposed to detention. If it's possible.
 

klmno

Active Member
Waving a kitchen knife around and saying he doesn't care about anything- that is why I took him to a psychiatric hospital 2 years ago. I don;t want to sound numb or like I don't take it serious, but I'm not as shocked as I used to be. Yes, I would get him in psychiatric hospital again if I could- the great wisodm of the courts though- who tried to find him "help" last year, actually made sure that no hospital around here will take him- unless- there is a slight possibility that I could call an ambulance and get them to take him on a "mental" but God only knows where they would take him (it wouldn't end up local ) or when he would come back- stable or not.

I can call psychiatrist office on Monday. We have an appointment. a week from Mon. - due to increase in lithobid dosage. I could call their line for a call from the psychiatrist on call- I tried it before- you get a little sympathy but no change because "they can't change medications without knowing history, blood test results, etc".

It is hard b/'c difficult child really hits the extremes- he's a typical teen or really "normal" kid from late April-early May until the Christmas holidays. Then he goes 3-4 mos. being ciompletely unpredictable and erratic- off and on. It started 2 years ago- this is the third year. I know everyone here underands- it really hurts as the parent- and I am at a loss.

psychiatrist and I have talked about this- (mainly I begged) and we are going to talk about a more pro-active approach. From my side, why weren't we already doing this? I guess I should understand- before it was like a coincidence that it had happened twice. Never mind that it started out with me going to 6 profs. saying "I don't know why, my kid just started acting like a different person" then a few months later, it stopped at fast as it started.
 

smallworld

Moderator
Has he been worse since the Lithium increase? Do you know what his blood level is?

Ask about an AP. It will help keep this kind of over-the-top behavior in check.
 

klmno

Active Member
It is hard for me to say if he is really worse- he was pretty stable until the night he broke into the shed- although there had been an increase in raging, it had not been "severe" raging. So, I am not sure if this is a progression of that or a reaction to medications.

psychiatrist raised lithobid dosage about 7 to 10 days ago- over the phone- because I called saying he's raging, can't sleep (went from 9 to 9 1/2 hours to about 5-6 hours, and went into that shed). He is 13 and is gaining weight, so psychiatrist raised dosage without a blood test. He did say that as he "calms", a blood test would be needed, but, difficult child had been on 1200 mg of lithium before and was in therapuetic range, and we just raised from 900 to 1200 mg of lithobid. I thought it would be ok. He weighed about 15 lbs less when he was on the lithium carbonate.

psychiatrist did mention seroquel and others- I think he got my point that we need a pro-active approach. With my difficult child, this can go from "there is no problem- why is Mom accusing him of things" to "OMG he is CHO" in one month.
 

klmno

Active Member
Good question, MM! When this first started in winter-spring of 2006, I thought drugs could be what caused it (although I did think he was a little young for it). I searched everything of his time and time again and scrutinized his friends and school was searching. There were no signs whatsoever of drugs. Then, he was on probation every spring and early summer 2006, 2007, and this year. This means there are "surprise" drug tests- with no positive results.

This year, he had a friend involved in the illegal activity- difficult child says it was friend who initiated the activity (he might be telling the truth- we think- for several reasons)- that boy's mom gave hime the "thorough" drug test and he tested negative. So, even though I will be the first to say this is the way difficult child acts- there is no sign nor indication that this is what is causing it.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I am sorry for your scary time!!! I can tell you I chased my Father with an electric knife once when I was 14 yo... it was actually kind of funny... because the cord stopped me!!!
Not to make light of your situation. But I thought maybe I could make you smile!!!
I hope you can avoid psychiatric hospital and you can remain safe. I didn't really want to hurt anyone, I just wanted to be heard and needed help... (I was self medicating)
Maybe he needs something? medication check different medication I don't know???
It seems we get a little bit of stability and relax a tiny bit, then wham... Destabilization all over again.
HUGS
 

Steely

Active Member
Just wanted to send hugs.
Others have given all the advice I would have - so all you can do now is hang in there until you can talk to psychiatrist.
So, so sorry - I have been there done that - and yes, every spring!

PS - One thing you can try is Benadryl as a temporary solution to stopping the rages. It was suggested by our psychiatrist, since it calms people and makes them sleepy. I used it with difficult child and it worked pretty well as an interim, emergency, solution.
 

klmno

Active Member
Thank you all for the support. He went to bed after his bath last night. He did accomplish writing his apology letter to the owner of the shed he had gone into. He's still pretty short-fused this morning but seemed compliant about the plan to clean up some nearby areas for community service.

We just increased the lithobid because of the "signs" but this increase so far isn't working- it has been about 10 days now- if it was going to do the trick, wouldn't it be working by now?
 
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