Having a bad day

[Pamster]

I don't think we're going to be able to keep him on any allergy medication, not if it continues to make him this aggressive. :(

[MaryEvelyn]

(((hugs)))

[JungleWoman]

Im sorry you're having a bad day!! I hope you get this all sorted out very soon!!! ((((hugs))))

A<><

[Pamster]

I am just not going to give him the allergy medication, period. He's just going to have to live with a little allergy to whatever it is that aggrevated his nose. I just can't go on like this....It's really been bad today. :( ANd this is the second medication we've tried, the first one made him act out too but worse, even so he's had that one out of his system now for awhile and he was back to singular which is still making him act out, but in a hyper way. :p

Can't win for losing you know? :(

[tgrimes]

Pamster, what else can you do, if the side effects are worse than the reason for the drug, you have to discontinue it if it makes more sense.
Is that what they gave him for nosebleeds, or allergies, or both?

[milivica]

Good point, sounds like the side effects are worse than the allergies. It's hard not to take it to heart when your child hurts you, laughs about it, autism or not it gets hard to take. I know you deal with a lot of pain as it is, plus phantom pain which of course, you can't 'take' anything for something that's not there.

Gosh I'm sorry (((((Pam)))))
Lisa

[matika]

hi Pamster.

Rachel too hast to take medication, she is in Zyrtec, or is it Zyrtek, well something like that.

I do notice agresion on her when she first starts taking it,, I do not give it to her all the time, just at the beginning of fall, and through Spring, then the summer she don't get it.

have you tried, starting him on a low dosage of it,, just like, 1/4 of the ammount?

Not sure in what form you get it, but if it's liquid, like the zyrtec Rachel gets, it don't taste like much more then sugar, and I used to mix it with her regular juice and she didn't even know it's there, now she takes it straight and don't gives much fuss.

When she started taking this a couple weeks ago, the school did notice some agresive behabior on her at first, but ofcourse it leveled out, she still has outburst, like the insident at the field trip I mentioned last week, but not sure if they are stronger due to medication, or due to sensory overload, there was so much going on there.

In Rachel's case, doctor insist on her getting it due to her Asthma, and the fact she landed in the hospital with pneumonia last spring, one thing leads to the other, and pretty soon you are really sick ya know, but if a runny nose is all there is, I would say would be safe to get him off of it,, maybe just try tea, something that will boost his immune system to fight the allergens.

Best of wishes, I wish I could be more of help.

Blessings.

matika

[matika]

Oh yes, when Rachel was really really bad with allergies, I took the courtains off, and I purchased new bedding, got rid of the old stuff, and got rid of most of her stuffed animals, and the ones she has get in the wash often, at least in the dryer to kill any bugs. No carpet in her room, or the living room, infact, the only room there is carpet is my room, the rest we have vinyl, and things get vacumed often, getting rid of dust, but not having carpets has helped her a great deal, it was like day and night when I did all the changes thank God, oh yes, and Joshua's room just recently got vinyl, he still had carpet, and I have seen another improvment including me, as I too have allergies and Asthma.

Well thought I mention.

[Pamster]

It's been horrible this morning, he's thrown shoes at me, hit me with the darn broom, slammed a phone book into my back, crunched 1/4 of a bag of corn flakes into the carpet and all kinds of towel slapping. He even hit me with the guitar straps for the Guitar Hero II controllers. I've had enough, his dr is going to increase his clonidine or else give us something else to help calm him the heck down...

[peglem]

Oh, Pam. I hate that you and Jackie are going through this. Are you sure its the allergy med? Does this happen every time he's on it? I'm just wondering, if being back at school he's maybe picked up a bug, like strep?

[Isabelle]

instead of relying on allergy medicine which you can see disagree with your son making aggressive, unstable and abusive, try large amounts of vitamin c, quercetine and vitamin b
perhaps the house is making him sick and he feels better with fresh air and going to school
excessive use of clonodine lowers dangerously the heart rate which in itself could be behind his acting out behaviour.....
hugs :( :(

[Pamster]

Nope he's just got a runny nose, no fever, nothing. I hope that we can increase his clonidine, or that she offers something else that can help because it's really frustrating. :(

[Pamster]

Well maybe she will offer something else, I sure can't go on like this, he's going to hurt me bad here in time...and that scares me. This thread is going to be edited though, I don't want it up for long, because it's just too sad.

I needed to vent and feel better now. But I am gonna ask a mod to delete it later. :)

[matika]

Well if it's just a runny nose Pamster, then I say take him out and buy lots of Klenex.. how old is he? I don't remember. If he is a teen, I say yes you need help with his behabior, does he gets any direct behabiot intervention? I am wondering if anyone here has any kind of support directed specific for this type of behavior on their kids. Rachel gets agresive, and I know as she gets older she will just get stronger and will be harder to control, I like to hear if anyone here has had experience with it and what the outcome (good, bad, none at all) has been.

[peglem]

I am wondering if anyone here has any kind of support directed specific for this type of behavior on their kids. Rachel gets agresive, and I know as she gets older she will just get stronger and will be harder to control, I like to hear if anyone here has had experience with it and what the outcome (good, bad, none at all) has been.

With Allie's aggression- she began going to a school that specialized in behavior modification. I loved that school, and still do. They were very good at behavior mod and did it with so much love and caring. The problem we ran into last fall: We(at home) were beginning to suspect that there was a lot more going on then just behaviors- that there were medical reasons for the behavior. We thought that some of the behaviors they thought were just defiance were really seizures. She went through a period where she was randomly dropping to the ground or slipping from her seat to the ground. I didn't know about atonic seizures then, but I'm convinced that's what they were. I feel bad that this was treated as noncompliant behavior- how confusing it must have been for her to try to figure out how to stop doing something she had no control over and scared her as well because she couldn't figure out how she ended up on the floor. I also think she was having other small seizures that scared her and the behavior was due to terror over not knowing what was happening to her. Of course- these behaviors could not be modified out of her. Then I began to think sometimes she was in pain(acted like it in her own way), which also couldn't be 'modified" out of her. We ended up moving her out of that school-lots of misunderstanding. After a year or so of lots and lots of tests and treatments-we found that she was indeed having seizures, was in pain and was ill as well.

My point is...please make sure there is no medically underlying cause for the behaviors before you start a program at which your child can not possibly succeed unless they are able to control or learn to control their behavior.

[Pamster]

Wow, atonic seizures? I bet that was scary for her. Any seizure are scary I think. Well she didn't want to do anything so we're not increasing his clonidine or anything. I just feel so disillusioned you know? :(

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

UGH!

I don't really have anything constuctive to add...wish so bad that I did!

I know what it's like to have a sick kid that reacts BADLY to any meds...even children's tylenol! I'm fairly certain though, at this point, that allowing him to go med free and battle these things out himself has strengthened his immunity and his tolerance. It was hard to do, and truely didn't think we would see progress in the area, basically just knew he couldn't have stuff so used old time rememdies for stuff...steam baths, cool tubs, tea with lemon, vicks, etc etc. And we've been surprised...but boy I can feel your pain...I still shutter at the thought of putting any chemical into him...he can't even handle aspartame or msg!

As for the behavior thing...I carry SO much guilt about that...being strict, ignoring bad behavior, time outs for it, etc. And it turned out to be signs of much worse!

You know...just my opinion, and frankly I'm no expert, but I'm REALLY starting to believe that half these 'autistic tendencies' are cries for help that the medical community knows nothing about, has hypothesized about it, and in turn convinced us and the 'expert' therapists that some sort of behavior modification is necessary.

On one hand I think that if there is something going on internally that will not subside, ever, that of course the child needs to learn to deal...can't even think of an example...maybe like Coley's LBS issues...before he becomes a big mess he needs to learn to eat a cracker so he can stay focused, versus lashing out at every one because he is grumpy.

But on the other...they are just KIDS! If something is wrong they are going to tell us in the best way they know how, and THAT needs to be listened to...and even more carefully if they have a particular difficulty communicating!

not sure that adds anything...just the place I'm at right now!

My thoughts are with you...I know how hard it is!!!!! (((hugs)))

[milivica]

I was reading this again, wondering how's it going today?

[Pamster]

He's still acting up. Now he's sleeping but not for long, once dinner is done he's up and I am gonna make sure he stays up until around 9:30. He got up at 6 am today. I have to say it's a little better but not much, at least no more shoes are coming my way. :p