Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Samples for Santa and Son

Great big thanks to our newish (Sept.) Pediatrician for G.  We discussed several options during G's med check.  At the last minute he switched to a different med and thought it would be a good fit.  He brought out samples to try, enough for over a month.  I told him Santa appreciates that.  Holy moley, this kid is expensive.  How do families with multiple kids w/dx's afford it?

Again, this is a combo med.  His new Adhd med works great for attention, but turns him into a tyrant.  He throws things, crosses his arms and stomps around very very hard.  He screeches.  He runs around and is hyper until 2 am.  He has potty accidents.  He has dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.  

The last combo med meant to chill him out made him even worse.  I stopped it after 2 weeks.

Let's hope this new med stabilizes him.  I asked him on the way to the Dr. How he thought his new med was...did he like it?
No.
Why?
It makes me say bad things and throw stuff.

What a breakthrough!  He has become increasingly self aware in the last 2 weeks.  Is that one of the "pros" in the comparison checklist?  Absolutely.
Other "pros":

He has wonderful attention. 

He is communicating better.

He seems to be more social.

He has an appetite.  He'd lost 18 lbs.  Since
Feb.  Today's weigh-in he's gained 3 lbs.  He was actually getting bony.

He's into music and singing, playing mytunes constantly. Yippee!  This also means he requests music in the car.  Before he often threw a fit if I turned music on (sensory)  I love to sing in the car!

He's increased his creative expression.  He's actually drawing, crafting, creating in amazing ways.

His tics are gone except the nail clipping/picking OCD, and sticking his fingers in his nose.  UGG!  Could there be a more disgusting obsession?  But it's still better than his previous magnitude of tics.

Meds.  It's all a delicate balance.  I have to consider that he could be growing naturally more self aware, social, etc.  But when changes appear simultaneously with new meds, I tend to believe it's the med.

I learned some shocking news yesterday.  I was skimming Facebook and saw a photo of G's prior ped.   He is being charged with peeping in a window of a 12 year old girl on 4 occasions.  I'm so hoping this isn't true.  I just can't imagine it.  He was so incredibly patient with G, and communicated well with him and me (with my 2000 questions).  He's the Dr who gave us the miracle of pharmacotherapy. I'd tried a couple others, called many.  Most wouldn't give meds.  He did on our first appointment.  He tweaked the meds, tried a few alternatives.  Ultimately though, he said he wasn't comfortable dispensing meds with multiple dx's present.  He advised a pyschiatrist to get it worked out, they knew these meds very well.  It ended poorly when after about 50 calls (no lie), I called back to let them know that insurance mandated him seeing a psychologist, going through the lengthy, costly process of evalution.  Only then would he be referred to a psychiatrist (probably with a multi-month waiting list).  Then the consults with them before dispensing meds.  Ugh!!!  I had neither the patience or time left for that.  I have a at least 30 dx's and detailed reports that I could supply any Dr. in order to document his precise issues.  Plus insurance mandated that he sees psychologist regularly for counseling therapy.  REALLY???  The NP relayed this to the doc and he said to keep trying, he was not going to give more meds.  I told the NP that it saddened me to have to now find a new pediatrician.  He was a brick wall, not budging.  So different than his usual kindness.  That scares me a bit as to why ...are the new class of drugs more dangerous?  Why the change of heart/compassion?   Maybe it's protocol.

I had to laugh and accept it, multi-task while I waited on hold endless hours waiting to speak to a human.  What would G's psych sessions look like?  Clearly NOT the typical lie down on the couch and bare his soul, discuss his issues.  He's 6!!!  He thinks the world revolves around him.  Therefore, he has no problems!  Life couldn"t be better!

I finally was referred to another doc from another mom who I struck up a conversation with when somehow G's Adhd came up.   I've been very pleased with the new ped so far.  He's gentle, kind and specializes in ADHD, ADD, ASD.  He picked up where we were, asking many questions and treating us both with ease, humor and respect, as our previous doc did.   Best of all, his office is closer to home.

Onward to new horizons.  I'd be stuck without a ped if we hadn't changed G's last Dr.  He took a leave of absence pending this accusation and legal action.  I'm afraid that true or not, his career will be affected poorly.  

Meanwhile, we'll be monitoring G.  I'm so Prayng for  SLEEP!