First, I promise this isn't going to be my norm. I don't like to bitch. But kiddo started having trouble about a week ago. He's feeling like he's floundering. And why wouldn't he? He's a 16 yr. old with the social skills of a much younger person and a near genius IQ, forced out of high school & trying to make the best of it by taking college courses/getting his GED. He's feeling overwhelmed. As positive of an environment it is compared to his high school experience, its still college. He feels robbed. And I don't blame him. He's depressed, hopeless, anxious and lost.
Anyway, his meds aren't working. He's rapidly cycling 3-4 times a day. High ups, low low downs. And his psychiatrist is out of the country until the last week of April.
We were put into a position where we had to see a psych we've never seen before. He doesn't know the kid, doesn't know even what meds he's on, but the minute we walked in he announced he had the perfect med for us. He prescribed a very new drug - a stimulant - that can cause manic episodes. It's a drug that is described as being extremely close to speed with the effects of cocaine. He talked about how 'up' it will make him feel. While that might be great when he's down, what the hell is it going to do when he's up? 3-4x a day he's off the wall already. And nothing I said could get thru to this doctor. Why? Well he presented us with a very nice brochure from the drug company and a special credit card that will pay our part of the co-pay for a year from said drug company. Can anyone say kickback? Its just totally fucked up.
Am I going to give my rapid cycling kid this drug? No f-ing way! We saw the psychologist today (he says its definitely a med issue & was the one who said to call the psychiatrist) & told him the story. While he's no drug expert, he said putting a kid who is having rapid cycling on a drug that can cause mania when they're known to go manic from that type of drug (and we're talking "is my life in danger from this crazy person" scary manic) is "questionable" - especially when he didn't even ask what meds he was already on, if he'd ever been described this type of med before & what the reaction was to it, and what the problem that brought us there was in the first place - until after he'd written the script. He'd decided what med to prescribe before we even walked in the building.
S0, I'm stuck trying to keep my kid in a holding pattern by keeping him too busy to cycle too hard until his real psychiatrist gets back. Now, a depressed me trying to deal with an aspergers, anxious, bi-polar kid??? Holy f-ing hell. Not good. I hope we both survive.
Books read this month is at a standstill....sorry.
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