I'm not going to type out my son's life story here, but I'll give a brief rundown. He's never been diagnosed with Autism, but I do believe he has some characteristics of the condition. I'm a single mom who works full time. My son has been able to stay in school and not get in too much trouble until this year. He's an 8th grader, 15 years old, and he was recently expelled from regular school for an outburst in which he made "terroristic" threats to a teacher. He was placed in alternative education two weeks ago. On Saturday night he got angry with me because I would not buy him a pack of cigarettes, which he's managed to become addicted to by picking up butts off the ground and smoking them, and I think over spring break his friend gave him some as well when he was staying with my mother.
His tendency is to take things to the extreme when he doesn't get his way, almost like a chemical imbalance. He threatens to hurt himself, get himself thrown in jail, or kill himself if I don't give in. Alot of times I do give in, because I don't know what else to do and I sure don't want him dead or in jail. But one thing I will not do is buy him cigarettes. So he ran out the door, down the street, and according to the police officer who saw him, threw himself in front of a bus. Luckily the bus did not hit him. The police officer, after receiving my consent, took him to the ER. They recommended he be placed in an inpatient program so he could get help from a doctor immediately. He's been there since Saturday night. When I left him, he was perfectly fine, coherent, not suicidal, and in pretty good shape. As of last night when I talked to him on the phone, I can tell he is not doing well at all. He begged me to come and get him, said he wanted to kill himself, called me a bad mother (which is not something he normally does), and just seemed to be doing really poorly.
While he's been in the hopsital, they've started him on prozac and depakote. I was told the depakote was to treat his mood disorder. Seems to me like its making him worse.
I'm not even sure he has a mood disorder. I believe most of his behavior stems from a neurological condition. How should I proceed? How much control do I have over influencing the doctor? Can I pull him out and put him in an outpatient program?
Please help.
His tendency is to take things to the extreme when he doesn't get his way, almost like a chemical imbalance. He threatens to hurt himself, get himself thrown in jail, or kill himself if I don't give in. Alot of times I do give in, because I don't know what else to do and I sure don't want him dead or in jail. But one thing I will not do is buy him cigarettes. So he ran out the door, down the street, and according to the police officer who saw him, threw himself in front of a bus. Luckily the bus did not hit him. The police officer, after receiving my consent, took him to the ER. They recommended he be placed in an inpatient program so he could get help from a doctor immediately. He's been there since Saturday night. When I left him, he was perfectly fine, coherent, not suicidal, and in pretty good shape. As of last night when I talked to him on the phone, I can tell he is not doing well at all. He begged me to come and get him, said he wanted to kill himself, called me a bad mother (which is not something he normally does), and just seemed to be doing really poorly.
While he's been in the hopsital, they've started him on prozac and depakote. I was told the depakote was to treat his mood disorder. Seems to me like its making him worse.
I'm not even sure he has a mood disorder. I believe most of his behavior stems from a neurological condition. How should I proceed? How much control do I have over influencing the doctor? Can I pull him out and put him in an outpatient program?
Please help.