Wow..I'm falling back in here after nearly 10 years. S3 was newly diagnosed ODD when I found this site and now he's 17. I remember reading all of the posting by parents of the young children and recognizing my son, I had hoped I would not find myself here and recognizing him as a teen, but here I am, back again. I'm exhausted, used up and spit out, but still loving my son til it hurts. I thought his older brothers with plain old ADHD/ADD wore me out, but this is something well beyond anything they ever put out.
Over the years, we've seen a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes, had long running IEP's, gone from school to school trying to re-organize and survive each grade until this year he was asked to leave an alternative school that has worked wonders for so many kids, but not him. We've given up on public school entirely. I know I'm PTSD from it..he's just been released from a cage. Man did I get tired of teachers rolling their eyes when I mentioned ODD..grrrr right? So, here we are, no school going on, not even a GED, no job, badly maintained diabetes (which is such a lovely compliment to the ODD attitude), mostly not living at home because living with people who have parents that party with them and don't pay attention to whether he's about to go into a diabetic coma is so much better, realizing there are oh so many small things missing from the house, did I mention lots of Weed smoked..yep that too. No arrests so far. No trips to the hospital so far. Lexapro helps him enough to keep him from Cutting/Burning (that was and still is a major concern and scares the **** out of me when I discover it), but he doesn't take it consitently..interferes with the Weed don'tcha know. We've done counseling of different types..but an ODD kid learns quickly how to charm anyone in authority if he wants them to leave him alone. We have holes in doors and walls where he's had anxiety fits and stabbed at them with pointed objects. He's never physically gone after me. He overly attaches to people he thinks he loves and then unattaches just as quickly. He's smart when he wants to be, charming when he needs to be, amazing when he holds a new baby, good looking and undoing himself at every turn.
I'm empty. Can I lay down in here and rest for a bit?
Over the years, we've seen a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes, had long running IEP's, gone from school to school trying to re-organize and survive each grade until this year he was asked to leave an alternative school that has worked wonders for so many kids, but not him. We've given up on public school entirely. I know I'm PTSD from it..he's just been released from a cage. Man did I get tired of teachers rolling their eyes when I mentioned ODD..grrrr right? So, here we are, no school going on, not even a GED, no job, badly maintained diabetes (which is such a lovely compliment to the ODD attitude), mostly not living at home because living with people who have parents that party with them and don't pay attention to whether he's about to go into a diabetic coma is so much better, realizing there are oh so many small things missing from the house, did I mention lots of Weed smoked..yep that too. No arrests so far. No trips to the hospital so far. Lexapro helps him enough to keep him from Cutting/Burning (that was and still is a major concern and scares the **** out of me when I discover it), but he doesn't take it consitently..interferes with the Weed don'tcha know. We've done counseling of different types..but an ODD kid learns quickly how to charm anyone in authority if he wants them to leave him alone. We have holes in doors and walls where he's had anxiety fits and stabbed at them with pointed objects. He's never physically gone after me. He overly attaches to people he thinks he loves and then unattaches just as quickly. He's smart when he wants to be, charming when he needs to be, amazing when he holds a new baby, good looking and undoing himself at every turn.
I'm empty. Can I lay down in here and rest for a bit?
