frustrated, angry, needs a miracle

Yes, you are not alone. 

We had to leave a psychiatrist this summer who used poor judgment in treating two of my children.  And both kids had diagnoses.  For my 12-year-old son (dx ADHD, anxiety, tic disorder and migraines), the pdoc kept throwing stimulants at us and "forgetting" that my son also needed anxiety treatment.  In May, I asked him about anxiety meds (for what seemed like the 17th time) and he said we should wait until the fall because my son was going away for two weeks in July.  Meanwhile, my son's anxiety became so high that he nearly didn't make it through 6th grade.

My 10-year-old daughter's story is even worse.  She was diagnosed with depression in April and prescribed an anti-depressant.  She began to experience episodes of strange uninhibited and aggressive behavior.  When reported to the pdoc, he upped the AD dose.  The episodes continued.  He upped the dose.  The episodes became stranger and more frequent.  When asked point blank if the AD could be causing the strange behavior, he said no.  We lost total confidence in this pdoc and found a new pdoc, who immediately took my daughter off the AD.  Whenever we relate this story to other doctors, they are incredulous because the first pdoc did not follow the standard of treatment.

The moral of this story is that if a professional is doing things that you believe are not in the best interests of your child, you need to find another.  As fast as you can.

Fortunately, my kids are now in the hands of better mental health professionals.  But we lost several good months in their treatment.  And my daughter had to suffer through a month of nasty AD withdrawal, which is finally coming to an end.  We are now definitely on firmer footing with both kids.

I know from previous postings that momoftwoboyz is in the diagnostic process.  I have to tell you -- I would be very concerned about giving your son meds before knowing what is going on.  Some of the drugs can make him worse, and I would just want to know that what I was giving him was actually suited to his condition.  Iworrytoomuch, I don't remember if your son has a diagnosis either, but the same thing should be true in your case:  You can't treat until you know definitively what's going on.  We found our neuropsychs by asking our ped, other doctors we deal with, friends who have kids with issues.  We are fortunate to live in a major metropolitan area where neuropsychs are plentiful.  In fact, there are several large groups of neuropsychs here; all these groups do are test kids for various disorders and conditions.

Good luck!  I hope you soon find better paths to helping your sons.

I just returned from the psych appt. today.  We have been fooling around all summer with meds and side effects.  At any given time I believed he was suffering fromabout 10 different disorders(sometimes a little knowledge can be dangerous), etc.  Finally I hit the STOP button.  Told the doc that his behavior could not be any worse than on the meds.  They are sick of me, so they said to just drop it and show up on thurs. 

Ok.  we were rushed today.  I had my printouts, backup information by "believable professional" sourses ready.  I handed him the EFO sheet about ahdh parents (describes me in almost every way) to inform him what might be behind my frantic calls screamming"You're the doc.  The professional.  Do something and DO IT NOW>)  The counseling part is always brought up(hmmf!) at this point too. 

Bottom line:  we are on3rd day of no meds.  Anxiety is almost completely gone.  We will now have to retrain/releatn common ways to handle anxious situations.  Ok, I can deal with that.  When I asked about the possiblity of anxiety drugs, he didn't address the question.  My son was gidgeting in the office.  (apparently this is a red flage for docs).  I  thought he was doing quite well.  He actually trusts this guy. 

The med cleansing is taking a few days.  He is irritable, crabby, angry/kicking stuff, and generally a pain to have around.  He won't go outside and socialize, but with out the ritalin type drugs he may consider meeting new families again.  I aksed him how he felt and he said that his "funny side was back".  I was glad to hear that, although I saw a lot of old, old behaviors from the past.  But, he has slept in his own room 2 nights in a row now!! PTL 

The part that burned me the most:  I brought in copies of the article from the board about neurotransimtters, efo functions, neurotesting centers, etc.  He told me that this was a "counseling" prog.em and he didn't believe in the nero testing as a way to diag. adhd.  And he didn't wnat get involved. 

 Oh, I thought you had to be an md to use the service neurotransmitter info.  He was brusque and rushed us after these questions.  Guess he didn't want to discover what wlse might be involvid.  I told him that I felt my son was a particlularly hard person to manage drugs on.  I brought up the fact that the 3:30 pm rebound hits just as he is leaving scholl, the 4pm hypoglycemia strikes without mercy, and if school was hard, etc., we have frustration at home.  I have had 2 psychiartrics work with my son so far, and while one was gong-ho and bipolar, th other has a formula and you must stick with it . 

I know, I know, find a neuropshcy for a bood diagnoxix.  Bthere are many docs in my area and no known neuropsychs.  It is all so confusing.  And the thought of driving several hours out of town for mrdcial care is overwhelming to me, too.  require patience, strength, sense of humor and nerves of steel.  I am leaving the new doc?firing him? or whatever.  At one point I wanted to just stand up and scream:  I AM EDUCATRED YOU KNOW.  I HAVE LOTS OF KNOWLEDG ABOUT MEIDATIONS AND INFO FOR YOU.  humor mr, honor me by at least skimming the article to see if you can learn something new for your patients, families, and others.  I was too tird and felt stupid. 

Anyone else have this expeirence?  How di dyou get a good neuropsych?  Do you follow the same guilelines when working with other docs?  I have a lot of years in the medical office business and know what is right or wrong, so they better be CYA-ing away.  Thanks for listening to my frustrations.  Would you be surpised to hear I was worrying again?

tired mommy tonight

I worry 2 Much,

Clearly you are at wits end; and I am compassionate with your experience.

However, I'm not clear on what it is that you are looking for support regarding.  It almost seems that you are frustrated that there hasn't been a diagnosis/treatment that relieves your experience.  I can relate to that completely.

What has your child been diagnosed with at this point?  And what about the suggested treatments for it are failing to meet your expectations?

Do you trust the professionals you have working with your child?

I need more information to offer more-- but if you don't trust the professionals you have dealing with your child, consider going to another..?

Hang in there, best you can-- and understand you need not be alone...

My experience has been that Ritalin takes a lot longer than a few days to get out of the system.  Oh I know Dr's and others will say its in and out of the body but believe me the body's reaction to not having the stim. after a long period on it takes much longer.  We stopped Ritalin in may after 2 1/2 years on it,  and my son had severe hyperactivity and agitation for at least 3 weeks.  Now, after 3 months off stims, I would question whether my son even has ADHD.  All those things that I thought was a part of the ADHD seems to have been a side effect of the stimulants.   His depression, anger, aggression, hyperness, sensitivity have all gone away since I removed the Ritalin.   (his Dr. by the way wanted to keep increasing the dose).

Did the stims help him?  YES, absolutely.  When he was in 2nd grade and even thru 4th he needed them desparately, and those side effects we dealt with were nothing compared to what he was dealing with in school due to the ADHD.  However, he seems now to have grown more and is more able to handle himself appropriately, and the side effects from the stims are now not acceptable any longer.

So my point is that if you seem to be at a breaking point, maybe you need to take a break and re-evaluate exactly what the true issues are with your child and what is a side effect.   Best of luck

Neurotransmitter testing is not for dxing.

For more on testing visit the alternative board.

Don't get upset with the doctor for not reading your articles you brought in.  I for one would not want my doctor educating himself through information found on a website.  The Internet is full of misinformation and bias and companies disguising advertisemnets as educational and scientific articles.

He clearly knows very little about the neurotransmitter testing as it is not supposed to be a way to dx adhd but rather to look for a chemical imbalance.  I would, if I were you, get a referral to a neurologist (It doesn't have to be a neuropsych- Tater eg., is seeing a neuropathologist, and I have talked to 2 plain old neurologists in my area who do neurotransmitter testing.) and then state that you want the urine test done and check for these various things, I would also request a thyroid function test.  I would not try to educate and convince the doctor of any new idea, rather request the test and then tell him what your results are. 

Good luck to you- I hope your son has a good day today.  Enjoy his funny side!

     i worry 2 much wrote:
   brougtt up the fact that the 3:30 pm rebound hits just as he is leaving scholl, the 4pm hypogycemia strikes without mercy

My heart totally goes out to you and I truly hope you find resolve with this situation as my heart breaks for your son. If Im correct, you state your son has hypoglycemia. Im sure your aware of this as you seem very well versed but hypoglycemia can look a lot like ADHD. My young cousin has hypoglycemia but if one observes her behavior, they would swear she has ADHD. Because so many disorders mimic each other, this has to be beyond frustrating for you. The ADHD meds seem to be excaserbating the probem and it was wise to take him off of them. Yovue been through so much trying to find some definitive answers that it might really pay off if you drive several hours out of town to have your son evaluated by a neuro/psych. Even if just for a formal diagnosis and then you can follow up in your town with a new psychiartirst based on the neuro/psychs recommendation in terms of diagnosis and treatment if in fact your sons behaviors are stemming from something else other than hypoglycemia. Determining the problem is half the battle as then you can treat the problem. You sound like a very educated, caring proactive mom and I know you dont need for me to educate you on the subject but these are just my thoughts on the situation. Good luck and please keep us posted.

My issue lacking of listening on Dr's parts. I feel unlistened to. I have herd behavior problem, not add, adhd, just boyhood. There is definently something here with our son. My son to me his issue is more than anyone seems to want to deal with.It's not just unable to concentration I know. We new at birth something was different but since first child is a girl I first thought this is just a boy. His symptoms to me could fit more than one area. I guess cause no one sees what we see at home we will never learn the truth. We are a family who bairly makes it as it is. Lack of money is also a issue for us. Poor developed skills, doesn't sit thru meals, doesn't like be confined, never played with toys til Eci started working with him at 15 months. Screamed all the time.Never smiled/babbled.crawled 1 legged.No speaking til Eci either just pointed. Since so many mixed symptoms  I can real guess what's going on. He was only happy as a babby when held.Had to be rocked to sleep. any ideas here.