At the end of last school year Larissa was weaned off of all her medications. She was having headaches, seizures and was generally pretty miserable. Over the summer she didn't take any medications. She still has her nocturnal seizures and she does have a referral for the neurologist. She had these seizures for years before we realized what they were. At one point she started having break through seizures during the day. She hasn't had any of those since she has been off all her medications.
Last year was a mess. Larissa's anxiety medication was increased. Her ADHD medications were increased several times. It all seemed out of control and she was a wreck.
Larissa's anxiety medications were for her selective mutism. The difference that medication made in her life was amazing. I have read that the child with SM will improve with medication but can fall back to SM once the anxiety medication is taken away. I have seen some of that with Larissa. Slowly I have watched her return to her silent ways. She maintains her talking with family and friends but with strangers she has gotten more and more silent. Because of this we decided to put her back on anxiety medications. However, since she is at home and not in school we feel that the lowest dose will do well. Even though she is homeschooled Larissa still has a lot of activities outside of the home. She goes to homeschool gymnastics, competitive dance class plus three other dance classes and church activities. Plenty of opportunities to interact with others.
ADHD medication has been a challenge. We started this school year at a lower dose than what she was taking at the end of last year. However, after 2 days I stopped the medication. She was a zombie. I don't know how she was functioning at school last year. The increases were based on her teachers observations. Last week she was put on the lowest dose of ADHD medication. However, I am not happy with it. I think that at this time she will stay off of ADHD medication. I like the Larissa I have without them better than the subdued Larissa on them. She couldn't eat lunch today and just seemed very quiet and depressed. That is not her at all. I guess that for now we will just have to live with the Larissa who can't sit still long enough to eat but who is also bubbly and happily busy. Strange thing I have noticed on the medication, she gets bored. When she is not on the medication she is much more creative and has no problem finding some type of trouble to get into.
So right now Larissa is only taking anxiety medication. Nothing else. I believe that this will help us to see if she has a problem with the seizure medication. Now we wait on the neurologist.
Anyone else living the medication balance? Trying to make sure that the benefits outweighs the negative.
We tried Focalin, Vyvanse, and finally Intuniv. Focalin was good, but didn't last long enough. Vyvanse worked wonderful as far as improving his attention span, but it turned our son into a tempermental, rage filled basket case. Intunive is a non stimulant that has worked really well for him. He is in 8th grade year and has had a 3.3 or above GPA. He was tired on it initially, but that eventually wore off. We have increased his dose twice now. He gets tired with each increase, but eventually returns to normal. He is the most true version of himself on this medication with the added bonus of being able to concentrate and get good grades. I think that is the best we can hope for as parents of kiddos with ADD/ADHD!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware that Intuniv was used alone. Anthony was on it to help his primary ADHD medication to work more efficiently. Interesting. With Anthony they increased and increased his ADHD medication until they finally put him in mood disorder medication. After that his ADHD medication was lowered and he is doing great.
DeleteWe went to the daytrana patch because there isn't the jag like there is when she comes off of oral meds. We do jump start her with a 5mg focalin in the morning. But if she were homeschooled, I wouldn't bother with that. I would just give her more active things to do until the patch kicked in. It kicks in gradually and wears off the same. They say leave it on for six hours and it's good for another three once it's off. In our case it's on longer than that because she's gone longer and pulls it off when she gets home.
ReplyDeleteADHD meds are tough to balance. Both my ADHD girls have had good luck with Concerta. I have one on 27 mg and one on 36 mg. I'm glad to took Larissa off the meds...I think you'll get a better opportunity to get to the bottom of things. I hope you're able to find the right med for her seizures, and soon!
ReplyDeleteMichelle is on Concerta and has no problems with it. However, it gives Larissa terrible headaches. Larissa seems to be prone to headaches and a lot of medications make it worse.
DeleteI raised my GS from birth til 11. He was on ADHD and ODD meds along with Asthma meds. Then I started tracking trigger foods. with the Dr support I reduced his ADHD meds and ODD meds over MANY MONTHS while making homemade bread (calcium Propionate) is in many baked items and THAT seems to trigger many of the ADHD and ODD symptoms, Tomato based anything and anything with Nitrites were all huge triggers. Once I had all that in hand he was totally off ALL the meds. No more zombie! it sometimes took longer to accomplish school tasks but it also did with the meds. Then he moved away living with his Dad. Now he is back on the ADHD meds and is once again a zombie when he does take the meds.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if sensory was a issue for her but is it possible school was overstimulating her?? Once we taught my nine yo sensory tools to use we were able to lower her meds and she can tell us what she needs!...just a thought
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