I haven't blogged in a while because I made a very stupid decision to change wifi provider. Learned that was a bad idea after 10 mins and took over three weeks to get fixed. ALOT happened in May and I had it all in my head ready to blog about and then got writers block, or is it bloggers block?
Anyway, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but my son is on medication. It seems like a lot to me and hes been on it along time. Of course hes a big boy for his age in height and weight and hes on it so long it looses effectiveness and you need to increase the dose. but to me it didnt feel like it was doing anything. I might as well be giving him fruit juice. The only thing I could see was the side effects, and not even the good ones like drowsiness for a better night sleep. No, more weight gain and increased appetite. So many of his aggressive behaviour is down to food, I give him medication to calm the aggression and the medication makes him hungry. See the problem? And the more he eats, the bigger hes getting and the stronger and aggressive he becomes.
After one to many calls from his school (thats a whole other blog) I thought enough was enough. I know its not all hormones, the medication is making things worse. So I arranged another appointment with his psychiatrist and told her I wanted to wean him off it. Boy did she think I was crazy. As did his respite. I didnt tell the school because I dont think they'd allow him in. I explained I was tired of giving him all of this medicine when I dont know why im giving it anymore. Im not against medication, its gotten him this far, and it did work at one time. Im not increasing it anymore because you can only go so far. Theres no other group of medication we can try from because they are too addictive and short lasting for a child his age so im done. I want to wean him off them slowly, extremely slowly to give his body a break. I'll do one medication at a time so if there is a difference I'll know which one its from. And then in the future if we need to think about medication again I can start him again on a lower dose and it might work that time. She genuinely thought id lost it this time but I didnt care. I was fed up with it.
So we agreed to reduce the milder of the two 1st. He is on abilify (aripiprazole) in the morning and respiradol in the afternoon and evening. The abilify is the milder of the two. Think of it like the respiradol is pure vodka but the abilify is a vodka and mixer. You need more abilify to have the same effect. Anyway, we reduced the abilify 1st. 0.5ml a week but if I thought i should stall it at anytime Id stop for a week or so.
Thats where im at now. Hes down to his last 0.5ml and then I'll decide whether to start on respiradol.
Well ladies and gentlemen it was the best decision I have made this year!! He is a different child. His behaviour has been overall a dream. Not the demon man child everyone was expecting. Hes happy, hes laughing, his aggression has been cut in half. Hes cooperating in school better, in respite better and over all at home its fantastic. Now his hunger and size problems are the same but I havent got any bruises or scratches often from telling him its not pizza for dinner or he cant have that slice of bread. Dont get me wrong, its not perfect. He still has bad days, hes still gets angry and he still has bad days. School still ring and I've had the days where you dont know if your too mentally drained to cry but them days have reduced by at least 80%. And get this, he wants to exercise. He actually wants to move. He voluntarily goes out on the trampoline and jumps for 10 mins, and hes learning to cycle a bike in school.
Im not even half way there. I still have the respiradol to start but this I was right! I knew it. Mammy does know best sometimes. I followed my instincts and my child is so far better off for it.
*que happy dance*
