Bruised and swollen due to my child :( | ADHD Information

My child takes a stimulant and Intuniv, but things sometimes don't go well when the stimulant is not in his system.  Tonight is one of those nights.  He wouldn't stop screaming and swearing as his brother was trying to go to sleep, so I tried to remove him from that level of the house at minimum, and probably take him out of the house and drive him in the car until his father called my cell phone and said that my younger child was asleep.  As I reached for ds' arm to get him out of the house, he bit me really hard --- so hard that a large area of my forearm immediately turned purple and swelled.  He also broke the skin, though drew no blood.  I've consulted with the nurse line at a hospital, and I don't need to go to the ER since my tetanus shot is up to date.  I should put antibiotic ointment on it 3x per day until the skin heals, and ice and ibuprofen for the swelling.  

He's hit me before, kicked me before, threw things at me.  I think he's even bitten me before, but never this badly. 

I'm ready to give up.  I invest so much time and energy in trying to help him academically, socially, and medically.  I don't trust being around him any longer.  Frankly, I don't even want to be.  I don't care if you have impulse control issues or not, nobody will abuse me.

There's also the issue of my younger child.  He saw what happened tonight, and he knows all of the times his brother has done things to him.  He's never caused an injury, but he's hit him, tripped him, pinned him to the ground, and done who knows what else.  Doesn't my younger child have the right to feel safe in his own home?  

He rarely gets out of control.  Nights usually go okay, but I'm scared by the severity of this incident.

Mom2ADHDboy40487.8605208333I am sorry that you guys had a rough night.  I've been there too!   It does get better.  My daughter had explosive anger issues for many years.   She is now 14 and the issues are few and far between.   Things improved when we found the right medication at the right dose (with for her is Concerta and tenex),  worked hard in behavior therapy and she matured.

A tenex dosage that was too high or a concert dosage that was too low made her very irritable. 

The other thing I would be cautious with is jumping to a bipolar diagnosis.  Mismanaged add in some kids can look like bipolar.   So many of the medications in the wrong dosages or combinations can cause a lot of problems that can mimic other things.

Related to your point, horsemom, last night they ran a story on the news about a child who was very hyper and impulsive, and he was in the process of pursuing an ADHD eval.  It then clicked for the mom that symptoms started when her child began Singulair.  He was taken off the med., and all issues vanished.

Singulair actually has been a blessing for my child and others.  For my child, he takes it only during bad tree pollen seasons.  It's with adding Singulair that we see the impulsivity go away, and he calms down a lot.  Obviously my son isn't one of the people who gets bad side effects from it.  Clearly there are many who do, and it's a point we all need to keep in mind that meds can cause additional problems. 

Thanks for raising this issue, HorseMom.  Corrina touched on a similar issue in the thread, too, and both of you brought up very valuable points.

Here's an update on my child:  he's back to normal!  Needless to say, we're now extremely careful about timing of his medications!

Great news!
I really don't know what that must be like, and I feel for you.  I'm sorry to say I don't have any advice to offer, I really wish I did.  I guess the only thing I can think of is to ask his doctor how to deal with this, if you haven't already.  Good luck.I'd check with his doctor about his medication. My son had rage spikes and
a really bad transition, and guess what, he didn't meed the medication at all.
Everyone has said he's better, more fidgety, but able to focus better, and
socially just much nicer, now that he's off the meds.

There are are multiple classes of medication that can be used to treat ADHD
- it could be that a different one would be a better match for your son.

Thanks for the support.  This is a real lowpoint in my life and I don't know how to go forward.

For my child, I don't think it's a bad reaction to the meds.  These instances aren't rebound.  Rather, they happen hours after the stimulant has worn off.  It's just ADHD.  It's how life was before meds.  That's not accurate.  His ADHD is better even at night, when the stimulant has worn off, since starting Intuniv (which he takes 8:15 am, by the way, so it's not a wearing-off issue).  I wish he could be on stimulants 24 hours a day!

By the way, this morning he's blaming me, no remorse or taking responsibility (and he's not ODD, so that isn't the issue).   

I know you said you didn't think it was due to the meds but I had a simalar problem with my 7 year old DS. He did really great during the day while on the simulant(concerta) but about 3-4 hours after the simulat was suppose to be out of his system he had a horrible rage fit (he took it out on himself instead of me, PUNCHING himself in the face). He has been prone to lash out but this was so much more intense! He was taking Concerta and also Abilify I sure it must have been due to the Abilify since he was taking that in the afternoon. But when I talked to the nurse he told me it was a withdrawl symtom from the situlant. I also looked it up online and found that this truly was a side effect from a simulant! I was sad to take him off the Concerta cause he was doing so well at school during the day, but this rage scared me. He is now taking Intuniv in and 2.5mg of Abilify in the AM and 2.5 mg of Abilify in the afternoon after hes home from school. It has taken about a week but his mood really seems be evening out! I really feel for you having another in the house I just have him and it can be such a handful somedays I just don't know how I'll make it another day. I wish you the best of luck! I also suggest maybe looking at the topic here which I believe is title " Feelings of guilt" it really helped me see that I was not alone with what I was going through! 

Hi, how old is your son? I have a 9 yr old son diag ADHD (wih a little ODD, anxiety, tics and OCD) and my son has had rages in the past.......in fact 2 weeks ago he had a huge one. When he's in this rage, he will throw things around his room, kick his bedroom door (which has been replaced once) and will lash out at anyone within reach and has no fear of Dad or I.  My son is trialling meds at present but these rages (whilst rare) have been going for several years now. I have researched a bit on bi-polar as I thought that may be why my son has these rages. We are also currently seeing a clinical physcologist.

It is the worst when your child hurls verbal abuse at you and hits/throws things directed at you. Whilst I can't help you any, please feel free to vent here all you wish.........sometimes you just need to let it all out and share with others.

Are you and your son getting any therapy to help in managing his anger etc?

I wish you all the best.

Really, you sound just like me. I wish he could have been medicated 24/7.
And he was very explosive before he was medicated. But his brain chemistry
has changed - the rages are gone. It's scary to think of getting rid of the
only thing keeping him in check, but it happens sometimes that it really
causes bad side effects, and they change over time. If it's really this bad,
you might think about making a radical change and trying a new med. Even
if you don't want to do that, you've got to try something new. Don't bury
your head in the sand.

Keep us posted!

I had a lengthy talk with the doc today.  We pinpointed this likely was a very bad reaction to mistimed meds yesterday.  He'd gotten the morning Zoloft a little late, and I didn't realize that my husband had given the evening Zoloft early (not worth explaining why).  Doc thinks too much was in his system, and given his history, it sent his impulsivity skyrocketing.  His history is that he can't take all 25 mg at once, but he does well with taking 12.5 mg AM and 12.5 mg PM.  When too much was in his system, we saw enormous impulsivity reflected in many ways through his behavior and schoolwork.

Doctor said that he's never had a patient as sensitive to dosages and timing as my son (and he's been one of the two top docs in my area for quite awhile!).  He said that he often cites my son as an example of the importance of timing meds, dosage sensitivity, etc.  Apparently he's an interesting case study.  Gee, lucky me.

Today he seems back to normal, and my husband and I have learned a good lesson on not fiddling with the time he gets his medicines.  We'll have to pay closer attention in the future to keeping things evenly spaced.

Let's hope this solves our problem!

Corrina, was your son sporadically raging, or was it a consistent thing?  Also, was it occurring only a few hours after the meds wore off, or while the stimulant still was in his system and/or during rebound time?  I'm of course still keeping open the possibility that it might be a reaction to the medication.  He's 11,  so he's nearing that time of hormonal shifts and when his body might change how he reacts to things.

Mom2ADHDboy40488.6242013889He would just go off without warning all the time, even when it was in his
system. Like at school - he has had 2 in school suspensions so far this
school year.   He'd just explode. But that has stopped. :)

My daughter was explosive on Guanfacine.  Guanfacine does not normally cause these kinds of reactions, usually it is the opposite. It took a long to figure out that it was the culprit.  My daughter is also sensitive to meds, so much so that I had to try to find natural routes.  Just keep it in mind.  It is so hard.  I feel for you.  My daughter's 8th birthday was a horror.  To the point that I was counting the years until she could leave.  Things are so much better now.  My child is back and it isn't a slam dunk, but we are happy and thriving.

Good luck to you.  I know what it is to feel that bad.