Hi everyone, I haven't posted for a long time. Things have been going very well for my ds for months. He has been on 40 mg Metadate CD with a 5 mg booster of ritalyn in the afternoons. He finished up 4k with great improvement in both his studies and his behavior. At day care and home he has been doing very well...he has his moments, but nothing serious at all.
Then the last two nights have been terrible - for a very short period. It seems like something sets him off, and he becomes like a possessed child. Wild fits of anger, hitting, yelling, throwing, flailing, wild eyes, telling me he hates me. He did this very same thing when we first started the meds in October...it lasted for about a couple weeks, then went away and we havent seen this behavior since. Even throughout our meds trials when we were going through different meds combos.
It is terrifying to watch, the anger is very intense for a very short period - tonight I tried to hold him and calm him down and he was flailing and angry and yelling - then suddenly he burst into tears, his body went limp and he laid in my arms and cried. Then a few minutes later he politely asked me if he could please have some more corn on the cob.
Any ideas? He has been eating like a horse for the last two days, so possibly it is just a growth spurt. We also are having a change in weather conditions, and it has become very hot and humid, and I know that I have had a headache for two days, so maybe he is affected by the weather change too?
Our doctor is in tomorrow, but then gone on Fridays, and I don't know if I need to call her, or if I should just wait it out.
weather, allergies, sinus, a cold? Could be anything, i would give it a week to straighten itself out, then call the Psych.
A griend of mine has a son who is nearly 16. For many years they put up with the destruction of their house and alot of aggression. This peaked at about 12 years of age. Then things seemed to get better and he became controllable. His mother has just told me that things have once again taken a turn for the worse. He has begun a partime apprenticeship as a carpenter 2 days a weeks and attends high school for 3 days. So his stress level has risen incredibly. He is an angel at school and his employer thinks he is just great. But at home they are seeing a raging wild adult. What has changed is the stress of surviving at school and at work. He knows that he has to hold it in at these places but lets loose at home.
This has been our experience with our son all through his life. When the anxiety is huge then so is his frustration and it is let out in the place where he feel he can do it - home. We have also had big problems with meds. When ever we have had problems we look at what has changed in all aspects of his life.
How old is this child?I would call the doctor tomorrow while she/he is in the office just so you don't worry over the weekend.
Obviously it is the medication that is making this happening, rebound or not. I would call to be safe.
Just my opinion!
We have had rebounds like this before - is there something happening at school that would be causing anxiety. Get home and then explodes? Is there anything that he is eating differently that may be causing this? We have these melt downs when the pressure of school and socialising become too much. Usually iit is 3/4 of the way through the term and everything is just too much. Other times it is when he is being bullied at school. It would be interesting to see if the melt downs happen on a non-school day.
It is quite likely he just can't verbalise his anxiety and this is his way of letting go of this stress.
I would still contact the doctor, but if the meds have been fine under the same situation, I tend to think that something has happened in the environment that is creating extra pressure.
It is all detective work! Good luck!!
Thank you all for your responses. Diana, my ds will be 6 in September. He started meds in October, settled on the current meds combo probably around February or so, and it has been working like a charm.
Last night was better, he was very active, and had one little tantrum right before bed, but nothing like the two nights before.
The damp, humid weather is moving out, so I am hoping that that will help him. I also notice that if I lose my temper and yell at him, he doesn't deal with it well - it is like I am the patient, calming force for him, and since I have not been feeling well, I think that my patience has not been what it normally has been. So, it could be a combo of both of us not feeling well at the same time. My dh can be pretty high-strung himself, and he and ds do tend to butt heads a bit - so I have been talking to dh about trying to be more calming and such with him, but it is hard.
We will see how the weekend goes, but I am hoping that the problem settles down, if it doens't I will call the dr. on Monday morning.
Good luck. Definitely being calm is they way to go and the best way to avoid escalating a situation. It's just not always that easy to do![QUOTE=BL Moretti]Could the weight gain mean the meds are no longer the right dose? [/QUOTE]
Dosing of stimulant medication is not based on weight. This is only true of Straterra which is a non stimulant. It may be rebound or maybe something more is going on. I would definitely give the doctor a call.
Could the weight gain mean the meds are no longer the right dose?