prescottsunshine
prescottsunshine
I am new to this forum, but not new to parenting a difficult child. My son's dad and I began getting help for him when he was 2 and he is now 13. He has had the priviledge of receiving some of the best care in the state of Arizona, which came at a heavy cost to us as we did not have insurance. He is diagnosed with ODD and Anxiety disorder and also has learning disabilities at school but is able to attend regular education classes at his middle school with moderate success. Recently, we have had hard times with him such as running away, smoking a cigarette, telling us to 'F' off, calling us names, stealing, and ditching. On one hand, I understand some of these behaviors are normal for his age but now we are becoming more concerned about his medication. He has been on Wellbutrin for 5 years with amazing success (he was disfunctional to the point of not being able to go to school until 3rd grade and we were told we would probably have to hospitilize him). He was also on Risperdal for 4 years but we took him off last year after he acquired neurological tics. He has done moderately well without risperdal but we are considering switching his medication from Wellbutrin to either Invega or Cymbalta in hopes of decreasing his anxiety and increasing his happiness (decreasing depression). I would appreciate any input from anyone who has had personal experience with these medications. It is a scary world out there!