Abilify question and Pop can pipe

[comatheart]

I haven't posted in awhile, but I lurk from time to time. We still struggle with or son and have been seeing the psychiatrist every 2-4 weeks.

I have 2 separate questions/concerns...

1. He started difficult child on Abilify (5mg) a couple weeks ago to help stabalize his mood swings. He was a hyper maniac child the entire 2 weeks. Don't get me wrong, he was HAPPY as a kite, just out of control giddy and over the top. Not knowing much about medications, I assumed it was the Abilify since we had just started it but after meeting with psychiatrist yesterday he says no, Abilify should do the opposite, it doesn't cause hyperness. Thinking back, he was indeed headed to top of the "rollercoaster" (husband and I we refer to the mania/depressive mood swings as a rollercoaster) when starting the Abilify so perhaps the psychiatrist is right. He increased the dose to 10mg. I know many of you know these medications very well. Thoughts?

2. difficult child accidentally left his backpack in the car after our appointment yesterday. I noticed later when I went out for a girls night out. When I got home I took it into the house and noticed he had a pop can just inside that was bent funny so I investigated further, sure enough it's a pop can pipe. I also found a scribbling on a piece of paper not in his handwriting that is basically showing him how to make it. It has not been used and I didn't find any drugs in his backpack. difficult child does not have the means to purchase drugs. No job, no allowance. How much should I worry and what do I say to him!? I'm so worried to go down this path with him.

 

[HaoZi]

On these so-called "stabilizers" mine is either bouncy/hyper or self-destructive. So far there is no in-between for her, but I'll take hyper and happy over the alternative any day.

 

[Jena]

hi

abilify we have tried, yet for us it super sedated and made her totally loopy. we had to go off of it. has he ever been on an ap before?? antipyschotic? kids can have diff reactions to diff medications even though doctor's say they shouldn't i for one and i think haozi also have experienced opposite effects. kids with bipolar if that's what he has can have diff wiring bigtime in their brains. opposite medication effects can happen often. id' watch him on the 10mg and if he doesnt' stabilize i'd pull it personally and go to a diff category. if he is manic that should control it somewhat. bottom line for me was always if the medication doesnt' do what it should than i pull it within the right time frame.

a pipe for pot is what your saying, right? i'm sorry if that's what you meant. kids like ours try to self medicate often, they can't take the racing thoughts the ups and downs. id' talk to him sit him down, ask him first without accusing so his guard doens't go up than you wont' get anything. than just do the drug speech, iv'e done it alot with my almost 18 year old. tell him how dangerous it is when he's on medications to do it, drill it into his head. that's all you can do.


good luck it isnt' easy. good for you by the way that your takign your time!

 

[HaoZi]

Alternatively, find his stash and spike it with some herb that will blend in and make him sick (not deathly ill, just want-to-throw-up ill).

 

[gcvmom]

I would confront him and ask him what he planned on doing with it. Then I'd remind him that street drugs can un-do all the hard work you and he have done to help him -- they'll mess up his medications for sure and make his issues WORSE.

As for the Abilify, it sounds like it's addressing his depressive symptoms, but because he is taking nothing to treat the mania it is coming out in spades. He probably needs another medication (like Depakote) to address that aspect of things. And FWIW, SSRI's like Zoloft can be activating for people with a mood disorder like bipolar. It certainly did for my difficult child 2. If I were you, I'd call the psychiatrist and ask some more questions about the symptoms you are seeing and what else can be tried to address them. Don't wait for your next appointment -- medications like Depakote can take up to 6 weeks to build up to therapeutic levels, so the longer you wait, the longer it will be until your difficult child gets any relief.

Good luck!

 

[smallworld]

Abilify can be activating for some children. It's in the medical literature. So if you see your difficult child getting more hyper and giddy on more Abilify, definitely call the psychiatrist ASAP.

And gcvmom is right, Zoloft can cause hypomania/mania as well. My son had a horrible reaction to just 25 mg Zoloft. We needed to take him off Zoloft to get these symptoms under control.

 

[BusynMember]

Abilify can activate kids or sedate them. I haven't really heard many good things about it, but that's not universal experience either. It is also an antipsychotic, not a mood stabilizer, although sometimes they are used to try to stabilize moods (with various results). Now if you add Abilify to an antidepressant, they SAY that it can make the antidepressant more effective. Perhaps it is the Abilify added to the Zoloft that is making him act manic. The medications game, which I've played myself, is very hit or miss and requires a long time before getting the right combination. And, of course, kids grow so fast. It's harder than medicating adults. Hang in there.

As for the can, I would assume he has already tried street drugs. I know it's not what you want to hear, but my daughter started at 12 and she didn't have a job either. Kids share the pot. They don't make their friends buy it. Any time she wanted drugs, she got them and we cut off all of her money the minute we found out she was smoking cigarettes (this was even before we knew she was doing drugs...she still got cigarettes by the way). My daughter, at first, was very careful not to have drugs around the house. She got more careless as she got older. And no child will confess to using drugs to the full extent that he/she does. My daughter said she "tried pot but didn't like it and I get sick when I drink." Now that she is 26 and clean for eight years, she told me the full extent of her drug abuse AND drinking and it is appalling. We are lucky she's not dead. I'm not saying you should panic, but what you found was a big red flag for drug use. Fourteen year olds can find drugs very easily and they can be deceptively great at lying while staring you straight in the eyes and melting your heart. In truth, a high percentage of depressed people self-medicate, but the drugs usually make it worse in the long run.

Good luck to you and your child. I hope it works out and he's not using drugs.

 

[comatheart]

****! I'm literally sitting her at the computer reading your responses and I smell something in the air.... it's POT.... IN MY HOUSE. The kid has balls, I'll give him that. I'm more ****** that he chose to light up and smoke pot in the bathroom just on the other side of the door from my 10 and 12 yr olds who are now coughing and gagging. Great big thumbs up goes to difficult child, he deserves a "Big brother of the year award". Seriously, so ******. And of course angry with myself for putting it off just a few more hours so we could have an enjoyable family time with dinner out and decorating the Christmas tree. So much for a calm, well thought out and planned discussion on smoking pot. Oh, and I got the classic "It's my first time, I just wanted to try it!" The exact same BS line I gave to my mother when I was a teenager.

So does anyone know if there's a place I can get this tested to see if it's just pot or a mixture of other drugs as well?

 

[HaoZi]

http://www.drugtestyourteen.com/

And don't give him any warning.

 

[BusynMember]

Assume he's been at it for a while. You're a lot nicer than I would have been. I'm very anti-drug.

No drug test catches all drugs, by the way. If this were me, I would probably call the cops, but that's me. I was very tough on my daughter and, in the end, she DID quit. She used drugs from 12-18 and it got quite serious. Pot was a gateway drug for her. As it is to many kids.