Son is Distress !!!Help!!!!

I am completely at my wits end. 

My 10 yr old, "diagnosed" with anxiety and depression back in 2002 was recently weaned off of Zoloft.  The first week with out the med was uneventful, but the last two weeks have been horrid.

He is very anxious, afraid of the dark, worrying about natural disasters such as tornados (every day he asks me mom - - where would we go to be safe?), and is not engaging in school (even though it is the end of the year, this is not typical for him), and he is very moody at home with us.  Recently he also got into a fight with a student at school which resulted in us being called.

He is also taking 30 mg. Adderall XR once per day for ADHD.

Help!  I've called the pediatrician, and waiting for a call back.  We also have a referral into see a neurologist and neuro psychologist later on this summer.

Julie, I really have no advice for you but I hate to leave a post unanswered.  Can you tell me why you weaned your son off the Zoloft?  My 8 year old son is on Adderall XR 10 mg in the AM and Lexapro 10 mg and Strattera 40 mg in the PM.  He also has some fears of storms and such but with this combination he seems able to just shrug his shoulders and realize the storms will come and go and he has no control over that.  He seems to do pretty well on this mix of meds although he does seem to get defiant at times and moody later in the day.  I can't tell if it is the meds or just his personality.

I hope you have heard back from your pediatrician by this time and have some possible solution.  I wish you all the best.  Please keep us updated.  I have your family in my prayers.  -Gettingagrip-

I wish I knew! Did the dr  just take him off it to see if he still needed it? If so, maybe he can go back on it or something similar. Its heart breaking that a child so young would have all those fears, especially when they are unrealistic.

Maybe you could get him a book on tornados and help him  learn about them and that they are a real danger but most people live through them. He can learn himself about the best places to look for for shelter and what to do if you're caught outside when one is coming, etc.

My son went through  a tornado fear himself when we had one near here a couple of years ago. It went right by us within sight but not a single person was hurt although there was some property damage and a few people lost their homes. His sitter took him to see the path it took and the devastation a couple of days later. I didn't really think much of it either but it scared him. The book and researching it are what helped him.

I don't know if it will help since your son's is a clinical anxiety but its worth trying.

Barb

Hey Luv,

Would you mind submitting that website link to our newest forum? If you go to the message boards homepage, you'll see it...it's called Add/Adhd books and topics or something like that....anyway, that site could prove to be useful to lots more people, and in there they can find it  without shuffling through conversation!

Thanks!

PJ

Hi Julie.....Very often, children with ADHD harbor an extreme amount of anxiety thus creating a multitude of fears. From my own personal experience, my son also suffered extreme anxiety and fears along with a diagnosis of ADHD. I recommend that you have an evaluation done by a phychiatrist as they are most qualified in treating childhood disorders. Also, I would also recommend that you put your child into cognative therapy. It is a therapy used to reduce stress, anxiety and fears. Cognitive therapy in conjunction with stimulant medication has been proven to be very effective and certainly proved to be very effective for my child. Below is a link that will help you better understand what cognitive therapy is.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Institute: What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

Wow. Sounds like some pretty bad anxieties to me. You say you're waiting on your pediatrician to call you back....and you mentioned a neurologist and a neuro psychologist....how about a child psychiatrist? No offense to those pediatricians who are "up" on all this sort of thing, but most have not had the specialized training required to properly diagnose, let alone treat, neurological symptoms.

I'm not sure a neurologist would be your best bet....maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like you almost skipped a rung or two on the ladder by not seeking counsel from an actual child psychiatrist. This IS their speciality. They are best trained to tell you if this is normal, and if not, why, and if it's not, they are equipped to diagnose and even prescribe meds/therapy/counselling that can help to resolve/dissolve/solve/calm the problem. And, like the title implies, they are trained in children's afflictions, and at the rate new information is coming out not only about adhd, but everything else in the medical profession, I think I'd want someone devoted to nothing BUT children, as they are going to be the most informed on up to date techniques.

Good luck to you, and please, please keep us all posted on your progress and what your dr's say, ok?

PJ

Hey Julie in Ny.....

Ok....call me a doofus. I had no idea how much you'd already gone through, and quite frankly, it's making my head hurt just reading all of it!

I'll continue to keep you, all of you, in my prayers, and pray that the right diagnosis is found and that happiness and calm can be sent your way.

And please continue to keep us all up to date on how things are going, we really do care.

PJ

Thanks for all of your thoughts.  We have been quite thorough with evaluations since 2002.  This is the timeline:

• Preschool years 1996/1997 - Started having problems @ daycare (biting, temper tantrums, 10 ear infections in one year).  Almost kicked out of day care (but I advocated for him).
• Summer 1996 - evaluated at BOCES (local school district site that evaluates preschoolers for our school district).  IEP put in place.  Outcomes were Speech/Language impaired and developmentally delayed by 2 yrs.  School district had a school psychologist come on site to our daycare to work with him 3 days per week on behavior modification and social skills and a SLT to work with him on speech/language.  That last until Pre-1st grade (1998/1999).  He stayed at the daycare to attend private kindergarten.  IEP in place then too.
• Pre First Grade 1999/2000 (special class for developmentally delayed kids) - IEP still in place.  Receiving Speech Therapy, remedial math/reading and social skills group (designed for kids having trouble adjusting to a school setting).  Teacher is awesome!  Very patient!  Notices Zach is not a risk taker and not engaging in assignments requiring him to write or read aloud.   When pressured too much "melts down".
• First Grade (2000/2001) - IEP still in place.  Great teacher again!  Very kind and patient!!  Getting S/L therapy at school; enrolled at school's social skills group again.  Enrolled in remedial reading and math.  Not engaged in writing activities or reading aloud too much.  Teacher identifies our son as not willing to take risks or to be a "risk taker"  i.e. fearful of  making mistakes.  When pressured too much "melts down".
• Summer 2001 Enrolled our son in a summer reading program at a local private school for LD children.  He bottoms out emotionally, "can't get it" and cries a lot during class (there's that melt down factor again).  Teacher suggested we see a child psychiatrist and gives us a name of a good one.  Zach is evaluated in August/September.  All that was done to "evaluate" however, was done during discussions with us and our son, and by analyzing the results of questionnaires the Psychiatrist sent to our son's teacher(s) and before/afterschool program.  He is placed on 10 mg. Adderall XR for ADHD, and 25 mg. Zoloft for anxiety and depression.  We begin therapy with a clinical psychologist on Saturdays.  He is also evaluated at a local Hearing and Speech Center for Central Auditory Processing Disorder.  The findings are conclusive.  He has it.
• Second Grade 2001/2002 - IEP still in place.  Remedial math and reading still in place.  S/L therapy still in place.  School discounts our evaluation for CAPD and doesn't recognize it to appropriately target CAPD accomodations in the IEP.  I am spitting mad!!  I have him evaluated by the school SLT and some from BOCES again, but they don't test the same way the clinical setting did.  IEP is adjusted some what for testing accomodations.    Psycho-Therapy on Saturdays still happening.  We all notice some sensory intergration issues and have him evaulated by the School OT for SID.  He has it but does not qualify for OT services in the school setting.  Teacher notices our son is fidgety and not able to focus.  Still not willing to take a risk on writing assignments.  We increase Zoloft to 50 mg. and Adderall to 15 mg.  Some improvement noted.   
• Third Grade 2002/2003 - IEP in place but doesn't qualify for S/L therapy any longer.  I advocate (again - - they must hate me by now)  for a push in (classroom) module so SL therapist can at least keep in touch to see how things are going because of the CAPD.  School year was uneventful and he did well. Teacher said he had great potential and leadership abilities.  We were elated!   Still receiving remedial reading; math was discontinued. Was enrolled in a social skills group at school, went to remedial reading.
• Fourth Grade 2003/2004 - Current.  Very difficult year.  Med check with ped showed a growth spurt so the Adderall was increased to 20 mg. in the Fall.   Zoloft level was left unchanged.  We wonder now, in retrospect if the third grade teacher prepared the kids enough for 4th grade.  Hard work and studying prove beneficial but not with out lots of tears and the "I give up" "I'm just a stupid kid with stupid ADD" attitude.  Teacher and we both wonder if med levels need reevaluating and decide to get a full blown clinical evaluation for ADD/ADHD by a renowned clinical pyschologist, Dr. Leon Schofield.  His recommendations in May 2004 were to adjust the Adderall XR medication level and try removing the Zoloft.  Medication was adjusted to 30 mg. for the Adderall XR and we weaned him off the Zoloft. 
• Not satisfied with Dr. Schofield's evaluation, the ped won't adjust meds.  Hence, the Neuro Pysch route.  So you can see his has been through the gammot of tests, have been the child psych route, the psycho therapy route, the IEP route, and now the 504 route with upcoming sessions with a neuro psychologist and child cognitive/behavioral neurologist at University of Rochester.  See attached link.
• As of yesterday, we were in crisis.  I called the ped office 4 times which finally resulted in putting my son back on 50 mg. Zoloft.  Now....I know it doesn't work that fast, but just giving him the pill last night had a huge positive psychological factor.  He told me "he's in his happy place"  (for those who watch ED, EDD and EDDY on Cartoon Network, you'll appreciate that - - our son is a huge fan!)
• Our Neuro Psych appts begin in Mid August (we couldn't get in sooner).  The link to our son's Neuro Psych is here :  http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/neuro/fac/Palumbo.htm

Hi All,

We just had our appointment with SMH Neurologist, Dr. Roger Kurlan and Neuropsychologist, Dr. Donna Palumbo.  WONDERFUL!   We are switching from 30 mg. Adderall XR to 54 Mg. of Concerta.  We are definitely keeping our little man on the 50 mg. of Zoloft.  They seem to feel that the Adderall may not be working because our son is in prepuberty and his brain chemicals and the way his body metabolizes the medication may not be working.  Both Dr. Kurlan and Dr. Palumbo are perplexed as to why Dr. Schofield would have recommended removing Zoloft from our son's med regimen. 

The morale of our story is - always get a second opinion - and a third if you have to.