About two hours ago, I spoke with Christopher's pediatrician. Because Christopher seems to be more emotional, violent, and out of control, she thinks we need to take him off of the Straterra. The reason she wants to take him off and NOT put him on another medication right now is to allow his system to be completely free of chemicals in order to monitor his behavior with nothing in his system. Christopher is only four years old; there are no medications that are approved for a child of his age. We have had to go through many appeals and approval systems in order to get the past three medications or medication dose changes. Christopher can not sit still, at all without medication...heck, even with medication he struggles. I've been told that is because we haven't found the right one for him yet. Finding the right medication is the hardest part of this. When Christopher doesn't have medication, you can literally see him trying to physically keep up with his brain...he goes from one thing to another, he is anxious...more than he is now, he gets angry with people because he can't focus... I hurt for him for what the next two weeks, and maybe longer will bring. When I told him he wouldn't be getting medication for a couple of weeks, he was not happy. He knows it does help in so many ways. Tonight, when I tucked him in bed and did prayers, I told him that the Bible says with our words, we can speak life over us (Proverbs 18:21). I asked him if he knew what that meant, and he said "no;" which I expected. If he had said yes I would have had a spell.... anyway, I explained to him that I am speaking life over him, that tomorrow he is going to have a perfect day, that he will be calm, that he will be able to speak clearly (his delayed speech is worse without medications...he is two years behind in his speech as it is); that he will have a great day. He sat up in bed, grinned from ear to ear, hugged me so tight, and said, "thanks mom." So, as I have asked before, I am asking and believing that every person that reads this will be doing the same. I am asking every one of you to share this prayer request. Pray for my son for the next 14 days. If she decides to keep him off longer, I will let you know. Pray for Ms. Casey, Christopher's teacher at school. Pray for me and Chris, Kayla and Kaitlyn as well. If Christopher becomes too hard to handle at school, then we will have to keep him home until ...well, until we know what to do next. This will definitely affect Kayla's homeschooling/learning.
I treasure your prayers.
Continuing to trust in Him....
1 comment:
I have been reading your blog and wanted to comment.
Have you ever read the Bipolar Child? If you have not, I highly recommend it. Even if your child is not bipolar it gives great incite about children with behavioral problems and mental health issues, and its a great resource when it comes to meds and finding resources that might be available to you.
I will not spill my story here in your comments, but we have a child, now 8, who sounds much like your son Christopher. Our son is currently not on meds, but he was for nearly three years. (and he will be on meds again as it looks right now) It took some trial and error but we did find something that worked for him. We also saw a great doctor here in Mobile that came highly recommended to us that has worked with children as young as your child.
I would be happy to share any information I have with you. Feel free to email me.
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