meds

Well, after a lot of thought and exhausting every other possibility we could think of, we decided to put Asher on medication. It's been decided by his neuropysch that Asher not only has the sensory integration but also has a slight mood disorder along w/ADHD. And both the neuropsych and psychiatrist agree that while normally they don't prescribe this young, in Asher's case, meds were needed.
The first drug we tried was called clonidine. It's a med that used to be used regularly on ADHD children, and is used on adults to lower blood pressure. The thought was that it would slow him down a bit so maybe he'd have a better control of himself. We put him on the absolute lowest of dose, and it was not a good result. It was like he was stoned. He was not responsive at all. And when he did finally come off it, he was 10 times worse than on a normal day. So, we stopped that immediately!
The next drug we tried was focalin. This is also given to ADHD children, and again, it is to help him be more in control of himself and to be able keep a train of thought. The side effects for this are that it can make the mood disorder to be more pronounced and can cause loss of appetite. Asher has been on this drug for a little over a week now, and I must say he's making improvements! It does effect his appetite, so we have to make sure he eats good enough. And at times, it does seem to bring out an anxious/aggressive side of him. But, the majority of the time, it results in good days. Asher seems to be calmer. He can carry on a conversation and not lose focus or bounce from place to place. Today after being woke up to go to his appt and seeing that brother got to stay home and watch tv, instead of that ruining his entire day as it did just a month ago, he bounced back and had a very pleasant morning! His psych was just amazed at home happy he seemed, and how well he was able to converse w/her. We all knew that he was a smart little person, but when he can think straight, he just blows your mind w/what comes out of him.
We're still keeping him in the OT to help him learn self regulation and get a better control over the sensory integration disorder. And his psychiatrist thinks that maybe as he matures, his needs for meds might decrease. But for now, I'm just happy to see some improvements in behavior, but most of all, it was good for my heart to see him smile and be happy.