crazymama30

Active Member
Alright ladies, help me out. difficult child started out the school year badly, very emotional about alot of things. We increased his Lamictal from 150mg to 200mg, and things got better.

Now, he is sooo hyper. He is on the go, cannot sit still, cannot quit talking. But he is not defiant. If I ask him to do something he does it without arguing. Now I may have to remind him several times, as he gets distracted.

The teacher is complaining about the same things. I am thinking this is ADHD stuff, what is the consensus here?

Just what I needed, I am a mess and now difficult child is one too. Next, maybe husband????
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Hyper and bouncy without the irritability sounds more like ADHD than hypomania to me.

Sorry you're having to deal with this on top of everything else on your plate right now.
Hugs to you,
Trinity
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Thank goodness he is not irritable. I really do not know how I would cope with that right now.

Yesterday, we discovered he had shot spit balls all over his bedroom walls, and on the living room wall across from the couch. We told him to get the broom and knock them down and clean them up, and he did with no arguing. Now at times, that could have been a knock down drag out fight, but it was no big deal. Other than being disgusting.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Eeeeew. I hate it when they do stuff like that.
Glad to hear that he cleaned it up without arguing or fussing.

I think there's something about this time of year that sets our difficult children off. My difficult child's psychiatrist said that there's been a higher than usual instance of Seasonal Affective Disorder and he's been doing more light therapy than usual with clients.

You're certainly not alone. My difficult child is wound so tightly right now that if you poked him in the ribs he'd snap in two. Yeesh.
 

klmno

Active Member
Two thoughts come to mind- of course, this is based on my experience with my son so it doesn't necessarily mean that either is the answer for your son. One, lamictol might help with depressive symptoms but might not help so much with hypomania or mania. Two, adhd doesn't switch on and off like hypomania/mania. Whether the cycle lasts for 2 days or 2 months, adhd doesn't work that way, in my humble opinion. My son first tried lamictol but was in a hypomanic stage when he started it and it made things worse, even though he tends to run more on the depressive side when not stable most of the time.

I think you should call the psychiatrist and let him/her know what you're seeing. My guess is that a different MS might be in order or an add-on. In any case, this is something the psychiatrist should be aware of.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
I did e-mail psychiatrist, just have not hear back yet. I have been thinking that difficult child seemed pretty hyper for a while, but I had not heard anything from the school. I have been in too much of a funk lately. I can usually get him to calm down by making him go outside and go for a bike ride or play tetherball, but the weather is starting to turn so that won't work.

We are kinda stuck with mood stabilizers, difficult child cannot tolerate depakote or lithium. We tried both, and they made him very unstable and violent. He threw a boy on the ground in soccer and had him in a choke hold because the boy did something small while on depakote. As far as I know those are the three main ms's, other than the AP's which I think can be used as a ms.
 

klmno

Active Member
Hang in there- I know it's a rough road, trust me, I really know. Too high of a dose of depakote made my son appear absolutely insane to me. It was reduced before we found out just how much it might have "cahnged" him. Still, he is on lithobid and depakote er daily now. I didn't realize it at the first trial stages, but little changes like going from a standard type of medication to an extended release and changing the daily dosage can make a world of difference. We are still tweaking my son's- trying to find a PRN add-on that he can tolerate and that actually helps instead of making symptoms worse. And, there is an issue that once he's symptommatic, how do I get him to try something else.

Anyway, you are probably on the right track but just haven't found the best solution for your son yet. I hope psychiatrist gets back to you soon. It might be worth a phone call to stress that something needs to be done Now.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Well, it also sounds the way my difficult child 2 was when he had too much stimulant. Could NOT stop talking and could NOT sit still. He looked and acted like someone on crack.

What's he like if you lower the Daytrana (trust me, it's o.k. to cut the patch in half -- been doing it with psychiatrist's blessing for three years)?
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
What about Trileptal? Have you tried that? Or Topamax with the Lamictal? Or Seroquel with the Lamictal?
Just throwing things out their off the top of my head...
K is winding up right now and having some very horrible manic and hypo episodes.
I am sorry he is struggling. We are really pushing ourselves with the whole *no negativity* thing ala' Mani Pavuluri. She has a CBT program called the RAINBOW program and No Negativity is the biggest part of it. We are trying to build up our fragile and already negative kids, discourage negative and pessimistic thinking in an already depressed child... It is all good and I think applicable, but some days. Sheesh!

It is very hard to see the big picture some days.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
I haven't heard back. He usually gets back to me the same day in e-mail unless he is out of the office. I will send of another e-mail.
 

smallworld

Moderator
The MS Trileptal would definitely be an option, as would the AP Seroquel. I know some have had luck with Topomax, but clinical studies have shown it not to be all that effective as an MS.
 

Jena

New Member
hi

That doesn't sound like hypomania to me or mania... my difficult child has adhd and bouts of mania and there is a def. difference.

i'm sorry your dealing with so much also.

((( hugs)))
 

crazymama30

Active Member
I heard back from psychiatrist, and he wants to increase Daytrana. We have tried this before with bad luck, but we haven't been on 200mg of daytrana when we tried, just on 150mg. We can give it a shot.

FWIW, husband did horrible on trileptal, and that makes me leary. He and difficult child tend to react similiarly to medications.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Oops! I hope you meant 200mg LAMICTAL and not Daytrana!!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that more stimulant does not activate him. Unfortunately for my difficult child 2, we can't go higher on the stims because of what it does to him.

Keep us posted on how he does with the dosage change.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
I won't even start untill Monday, a friend kept both kids overnight last night. Was nice to have a quiet night, We will do this again, but when I do not have to work again the next day at 7am.

I am leary of the medication change, but when am I not leary of medication changes??? Between husband and difficult child they scare the dickens out of me. I do think I am seeing ADHD and not mood stuff, but we will see. I would completely disagree if I did not agree. I want to do something, difficult child was doing so well at school after the first month. Now he is at the back of the class in his own island. I hate to see that, but it does work and it does not seem to bother him. He starts therapy this week, and I really like the therapist. The only thing we disagreed on was boxing. difficult child has done every sport possible in this area (except baseball, no interest) and does not want to do them again. He wants to box. I think it is not safe to teach a child with an explosive tempter and self control issues how to box, it just scares me. psychiatrist agrees, but therapist said try it. I am on the fence. I have seen him use wrestling moves on unsuspecting kids and hurt them, wouldn't boxing be the same? The therapist said it is important for him to be good at something for his self esteem, and I agree, but think his peers need to be safe at the same time. We will see if she changes her mind after meeting him for a few times.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Well, I would have reservations about boxing as well. I also agree that it's important for a kid to find something they are good at and ENJOY. Did he ever try one of the martial arts? There's a lot more self-discipline and control involved there, which could help with the impulsive anger. Many therapists I've talked to have recommended Tai Kwon Do or something similar for kids with impulse control issues for this reason.

difficult child 2 is giving basketball a try right now. He's not the fastest kid, but he's trying his best and having fun. That's all I care right now (and remind my husband about this as well when he starts in at critiquing).

I wouldn't worry about the island issue at school if it's not bothering difficult child. My difficult child 2 got to the point where he PREFERRED to be slightly removed from others because he knew it was less distracting and he got more work done that way.

Fingers crossed the medication change helps and that it brings him a little bit closer to stability and success in his daily life!
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Yep, tried martial arts. The instructor had a bad accent, and difficult child could not understand him and never wanted to go back. Next we may see if they have a local archery 4-H club, he does like archery.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
My difficult child 1 LOVED having archery in PE for the first time last year. I found a local archery supply store that has a range upstairs above their shop where they give inexpensive lessons. difficult child 1 is sorta interested by hasn't jumped at my offer to take him just yet. I did learn that there are MANY bow hunting and archery clubs in SoCal. Especially in the more rural areas (San Bernardino County and Riverside County near me).
 
Top