Meds

A quick recap: Joseph had been on Adderrall. At school he started getting more and more violent. His pediatrician prescribed Risperdal. He took it for a day and a half, then I read about all the possible side effects and decided that we needed to rule out all other options first. And I read that Adderrall can cause irritability, so I took him off everything for a week. He was a little extra hyperactive at school, but guess what? He went from serious biting incidents 4 out of 5 days, to a single minor attempt to bite ONCE the whole week that he was sans meds!

Kristy has been the one taking him to the doctor for meds. I have been encouraging her to inquire about the non-stimulant meds, Strattera and Invuniv. They started giving us sample packs of Intuniv (the pharmacy said Joseph's Medicaid will not cover it?). He's been on it for about a month and a half and other than falling asleep at inconvenient times, he's doing great! We got Maria on Intuniv last week, and the improvement in her behavior is amazing. The Adderrall and Focaline worked for her, but they would wear off. The Intuniv she takes once a day, and that seems to be enough. When she goes back to school, I think her teacher won't recognize her. :)

Since we got his Medicaid approved, we've gotten home health aides to work with him. Two started a couple of weeks ago and it's been really great for him to have someone more energetic than me around to play with him. :) We need to get the third aide in place, then we go on Children's Hospital's waiting list for an ABA coordinator. But more about that later.

Escalating Violence

Joseph's tantrums at school are still getting worse. He's begun throwing things at the other students. The kids pediatrician gave Kristy a prescription of Risperdal for him. We had it filled but didn't start giving it to him until last night. This isn't like Adderall or Focalin, where we will know if it works or not immediately, and the possible side effects are much more serious.

It's devastating to get an envelope full of "Critical Incident Reports" from the school, or to hear when I pick him up from his 2 hour school day that he spent half of it throwing things, screaming and crying because he wanted to play with cars instead of washing his hands and it took 5 staff members to keep him from hurting himself or someone else. Or that he broke the skin when he bit his teacher, and now she has a staph infection because maybe that impetigo wasn't really gone. I heard somewhere that you're never supposed to apologize for your parents or your children, but I feel like I should. His teacher tells me that they know that this behavior is not him, and he's the sweet little boy when he's not hulking out, and we're doing a great job considering the situation. Anyway, we're lucky to have one day a week that passes without an incident at school (well, we would be if it happened).

I used to think that ADHD was over-diagnosed. That people just didn't know how to discipline their kids, so they went and asked their doctor for pills to solve the problem for them. I used to think that it was outrageous that someone would diagnose a child with bi-polar disorder and treat them with serious drugs like lithium. When we started the kids on Adderall, I justified it by thinking that it wasn't too different from giving them caffeine. The Risperdal is not so easy though.

It's so discouraging. He has been making so much progress over the last 12 months. He used to throw tantrums, but they were the short kind where he would throw himself to the floor and scream a little. I could scoop him up, get in in his car seat, and once we were on the road he would be fine. Now, when he wants to go outside at grandma and grandpa's and he's not allowed, he starts throwing things and knocking things over. I had to physically lay on top of him on a couch for an hour while he screamed at the top of his lungs and tried to bite me (the bruises from the bites lasted for about a week).

I'm doing the best I can. We'll get through this. Everything will be fine.

I'm emotionally exhausted.