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| http://www.livingdesign.info/2010/08/17/ghost-by-marco-brambilla/ |
I, once again, have some catching up to do to get everyone filled in on the events that have been unfolding over the past several days. To sum it up for now (I will post details soon, things have been incredibly hectic lately and free time non-existent), the Lithium was not a good fit, it caused aggression, irritability and O.D.D. in full swing. My birthday was Saturday and it was one of the worst days of my life. I gave her Ativan to combat the aggression and calm her and it worked well, I did this for two days until I could speak to the Pdoc on Monday (since my child was not going to the hospital voluntarily). The doctor decided to put her on Klonopin since the Ativan was working so well to counteract the Lithium and keep her calm.
Uhmmm, why would you change something if it's working? Klonopin is like Ativan only stronger, from my understanding, and therein lies the problem! She was supposed to take it three times a day and I got the prescription late Monday so she got one dose Monday evening and Tuesday was the first day she received the full 3 doses. Two hours after the third dose of the day, I found myself in a power struggle in my home with a child who looked and acted like she was in a drunken bar room brawl!
She refused to let me get on my computer to finish an assignment that I needed to turn in online in an hour. She became physical with me with bouts of crying between the acts of physical and verbal aggression. While this was going on her eyes were barely opened, she was slurring and her coordination was off. As a result I had to call 911 and she fought the police and paramedics that arrived and had to be forcefully taken to the hospital in handcuffs in the back of a police cruiser with me following along behind them crying so hard I could barely see.I am now way behind in my schoolwork, have chronic pain from an old 'injury' aggravated during our struggle, missed time from work and just a bundle of nerves and prone to tears for no reason at all and my poor child is so exasperated with all of the medication changes and not finding a good fit. I promise to fill every one in on the details, but let me just say it was an emotionally and physically exhausting several days. I keep tapping out an S.O.S. but nobody answers!!
Wishing you balance.
~Melissa
I Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your daughter's instability. It sounds pretty scary for you all. I have added you to my bog roll on my webpage at:
http://mysonhas2brains.blogspot.com/
I look forward to following your story.
Mama Bear
Welcome, Mama Bear! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for adding me to your blog roll. I am still tweaking my blog and I will return the favor and put you on my blog roll.
I think it's important for all of us going through this to connect.
Wishing you balance!
~Melissa
Hi Melissa. I am so sorry you and your daughter are having to go through all this hell. The suffering that this illness brings is beyond comprehension to anyone on the outside. I hope you can find the right med combo soon. In the meantime, you and your daughter will be in my thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDelete~ Cassie
http://wereswimminginalphabetsoup.blogspot.com
Hi, Cassie. Thank you. You're right, unless you live it, you'd never even begin to grasp the hell us parents and our children go through on a daily basis. It is heartbreaking, stressful, lonely, tiring and, did I say heartbreaking?
ReplyDeleteI'm following your blog as well and I have you, Blake and your entire family in my thoughts.
Wishing you balance.
~Melissa
Hi Melissa!
ReplyDeleteI am the mother of an 11 years old bipolar boy far away from you geographically (Sweden), but somehow living next door to your reality, the survival-project of parenting a child with emotions too strong to handle...
As our son seems to be more unbalanced and aggressive from Lithium too, I am very curious to know if your doctor is sharing your view that Lithium is to blame? Our does not and seem to alter every medication except the Lithium.
Now we have decided that it is enough and are slowly cutting down on Li. How did your girl answer to the withdrawal?
Whishing you a very peaceful Christmas
Hello! I am so sorry that you are living this same heartbreaking reality. Our doctor did agree the Lithium was to blame. He said it is uncommon to have that type of reaction but my daughter is very sensitive to medications and has had reactions to many meds that have been tried. Because of this the doctor only starts, stops or adjusts dosages of one at a time so we know for sure what is causing a reaction, should there be one. There was no doubt whatsoever the Lithium was to blame for my daughters' out of control behavior/reaction.
ReplyDeleteThere were no withdrawals because she was only on Lithium a short time.
I hope you get to the bottom of this soon.
Sending you hugs!
Let me know how it's going.
~Melissa
I hardly dare wrighting this - but removing Lithium is getting him back to ... normal. Well, his normal, that is.
ReplyDeleteStill very fragile and grumpy, still with ups and downs and aggressive outbursts far beyond what most kids have, but yet with less aggression, less paranoia and somehow a tiny bit more flexible.
Lithium is now down to a third of what it used to be.
Your daughter and my son did have a very odd reaction. I have seen it reported from a few other persons on the Internet, but not really in the scientific litterature before. That makes me think that the few persons that become irritable and aggressive on lithium might have a bipolar subtype of their own.
You mention that your daughter has "an alphabet soup of other comorbid conditions". Are there any autistic treats into this soup? My son has Asperger syndrome - but I'd say he is rather atypical there as well, as his autistic thinking is most present when he is depressed, not in hypomanic phases. And compared to most AS-people I know, he is a social genious...
Hugging back
- Anna