So, as of now, Rye is not on any meds. This is not to say, however, that we have never tried meds. We have tried many and have not had good results so far. In fact, for us they seem to have caused more problems that we had originally sought treatment for and this in turn would, according to his doctors, require more meds to fix the problems caused by those meds and so on and that is why he is off all of them for now.
Anyway, I thought I’d list the ones we tried and when just for the record.
At 5/6 years old:
Ritalin
Adderall
Concerta
Strattera
Risperdal
A whopping combination of Adderall & Risperdal (as yes, even back then when something went wrong or the meds weren’t working they just said “keep upping the dose”) resulted in him becoming psychotic and then dropping onto the ground into a grand mal seizure (the whole event of which was terrifying for me)
This landed him in a psychiatric hospital at 6 where he was given:
Risperdal (yes, even after that had partially caused the problem)
Depakote
Lithium they were staring him on when I demanded they let him out after about 5 days and I’m so glad I did as even today he can recount nearly every darn minute of the time he was there and how scary it all was to him
From 6 years old to 11/12 years old: No Meds
11/12 years old:
Adderall – started again to help with inability to concentrate at school. And again, he ended up with a psychotic/manic reaction to this and this landed us on:
Risperdal, which caused him to not be able to breathe after a week
Seroquel, straight dropped him to the ground and knocked him out
Lamictal, made him super hyper within 2 days and gave him a rash
Abilify, did correct the psychosis and worked well for a while (about 2 months) until he started to complain of a stiff neck and started rolling his neck and that was the end of that as those “tics’ can become permanent overnight with no warning and stay forever even once off the meds. The psychosis has stayed corrected (it is gone) though and he is back to normal.
12 years old: No meds
And so, this is where we are now and why we are on no meds. And hopefully we will stay here indefinitely or at least until he is older and can make his own informed decisions but one never knows what the future brings. At least now with Rye I know that everything that is happening with him is organic to him and not the meds or a med reaction or the meds reacting with each other etc. etc. and this brings me a great deal of peace for now.
4 Comments
I read this and want to shake my head that it happened to your son at such a young age, and a decade after it happened to my daughter at age 11. Psych hospitals only use medications and send kids out with multiple dx and drugs—and so much damage is done, emotionally and to the child’s body, these people should not be allowed to use drugs on kids that are 5/6 years old. I saw it for myself a decade ago when my daughter was in the first (hospital I regret sending her to)inpatient stay there were 4 and 5 year olds and that was back in 1999.
I hope your son keeps up in a sport or art class or something, anything to avoid the drugs, he will make it through his teens fine, sure it can get rough as it does for most teens, and the psych meds just complicate the whole thing and make it worse. Risperdal increases prolactin and in some boys they will grow breasts, one woman i knew in a child bp group’s son had to have breast reduction surgery after using it!
i just found your blog from adventures in bipolar land. i’m so sorry you had such a bad run with the meds. maybe bipolar isn’t the right dx if none of the meds are working? my son is on risperdal and seroquel now but it’s helping him a lot. if we start seeing side effects obviously we’ll take him off. i totally understand why you wouldn’t want your son on any meds now. after your experiences, i wouldn’t either. anyway, good luck. i hope you don’t mind me peeking at your blog now and then.
oh, and i read your post about medicaid and psychiatric meds. that’s really too bad but my son has medicaid (he’s adopted from foster care so we are automatically entitled) and i’m so thankful we’ve found a really good experience psychiatrist to work with. my ped wouldn’t perscribe anything even IF we didn’t find a psych to work with. some doctors are just better (and more careful) then others. but i’m thankful for having medicaid.
Hi J-Momma. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you stopped by. I’m actually grateful for the reactions my son has had to the meds he has tried so far as they made it so he couldn’t stay on them very long and I believe he is better off for it – especially in the long run. And it really forced me to heavily research the medications and their effects, side effects and long term efficacy. If he does need a med at some point we will look to Lithium. And he did fine on Depakote as well for the short time he took it.
A person’s reaction to atypical antipsychotics is not indicative as to whether they are correctly diagnosed or not. Many bipolar children and adults cannot tolerate atypical antipsychotics and this has no relation to their diagnosis.
I think that that is great that you adopted your son from foster care. We were foster parents as well for a while and I would like to someday adopt from foster care once our son is grown. And yes, there are some great doctors that take Medicaid and I’m so glad you have found one. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on the availability of doctors who accept Medicaid though (as well as Medicare) and depending on what part of the country you live in this problem can be really bad.
Also, as I’m sure you know with regard to foster children it is not unusual for foster children to have other complications such as RAD and PTSD on top of mood disorders simply because of what they have been through. And this can complicate their situations as well as to what medicines work well for them. Until now I’ve not heard of a child whose only diagnosis is BP and is on Risperdal and Seroquel as long-term mood stabilizers, as they are both heavy dopamine blockers.
Interesting note about Risperdal and Johnson & Johnson. They are being sued by the United States for paying the largest nursing home pharmacy in the country to increase the number of elderly patients taking the antipsychotic Risperdal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/business/16drug.html