It's been a loooooooooooong summer with Ty this year. Even though the little one is out of the home, Ty is still a handful; he can't help himself. He is such a tragic little frustrated teenager. I think I managed to share about his last trip to the Dr. where he scared the livin' bejiggers out of our poor pediatrician.
Ty was doing his wild-eyed aggression paired with howls and leaning into your face thing.It was almost gratifying to see the Doc's eyes kind of bug out when Tyler went after him. (Couldn't say I blamed Ty too much since the doc made us wait for 40 minutes).
The doctor was like...."you want a referral to see a neurologist... DON'T YOU???"
So we got it. And now that I have it, I can't pull the trigger.
We tried the drug thing a couple years ago...abilify, risperadol and catapres.
It was confusing, disappointing and more than a little intimidating. We started out with the neurologist asking some simple questions and with very little ceremony she immediately said...."let's try this". Granted I had both of the boys with me and they were more than a handful. It wasn't an opportune time to chit chat about a long term plan...what to expect...etc. But that was certainly needed. To put it bluntly, I felt gypped.
There we were trying out some super serious meds on my boys and it seemed like we were just passing through the drive-through at Mickey Dees. (Would you like a side order of liver damage or tremors with you order, maam?)
It would help to have some guidance on how to do this drug experiment in a more thoughtful way. That, in itself, takes extra time and it is difficult to slow down when you are anxious to find the magic pill that will make it all a little better.
Tempering my expectations will be a little easier now after having gone through this before. And having Spence out of the house DEFINITELY helps me not feel so frantic.
But if you could do it all again.....what words of wisdom are out there for a mommy who is dipping into the pharmacy again for some help?
3 comments:
i hope there are other moms out there you can talk to who have been there, done that,and have some good advice.
all i can say is, keep on truckin.
I would go to the neurologist (a different one if you didnt like the last doctor) and talk to him/her. I knew when it was time for Nick to go on Luvox for his OCD and my daughter (the more behaviorial child) is not on meds. Funny how that is, right. Anyway, talk to the doctor, relay your concerns and be open and listen to what they say. Second opinions are always good, too!!
The bottom line is figure out what you would be treating, Nick had extreme anxiety and ocd that he couldn't go to certain classes at school, so it was problematic to his life...
Good luck!
The only advice I can give is DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT! Medicating is an art, not a science, from what I've seen, and the only way doctors can decide what's working and what's not is from the reports of the patient and the people who observe them on a daily basis. What do you document? Good question. I just write down any unusual (good or bad) behaviors, physical symptoms, etc and then after a few weeks, I look at my notes to see if I can suss out a pattern.
There really ought to be a more systematic way to do this, but for now "Mama knows best" is all we have.
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