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Things are going pretty well. David took his last dose of Geodon, day before last. Since we began titrating the dose down, he has shown increased tiredness in the morning, and complained, yesterday, of feeling hyperactive, unable to sit, and being restless in the afternoons. I wonder if this is the result of the Geodon being taken away? I know that the Geodon was acting positively on his negative symptoms of social withdrawal, flattened affect, and apathy, even though it did not contain his agitation, severe anxiety and paranoia, his disorganized thinking, and he was still having great difficulty with executive functioning.
I need to talk to the pdoc about whether or not we may need to increase the Risperdal. Although 3mg was sufficient while David remained on the Geodon, he may need a higher dose to cover the benefits the Geodon was providing.
Other than this, David is doing remarkably well. He is not caught up on homework, by a long shot. I have concerns as to whether he will be able to get there. However, he is working on assignments, and is not completely overwhelmed at the thought. He is continuing to make progress in his ability to be flexible when things do not exactly match his pre assumed path, and is initiating more social contact.
I think this may end up being a good Spring season. :0)
Spring is, typically, one of the hardest times of year for our family. This is the time of year when Dalton's moods have a definite shift to mania and increased agitation. This year has been doubly so, with David's issues in the mix. As David has been highly explosive, Dalton is a mirror of the stress for a good period after David is done.
We did some medication adjustments with Dalton already. In February, Dalton began having more irritability, giddy, mania. He was having instances of aggression at home and school. A couple incidents at school landed him in the behavior room, and dropped his level down to Bronze for weeks. Then He had an incident on the bus where they had to remove him, took over ten min to get him off the bus, and then called me to pick him up. At this time, I increased his Zyprexa from 5mg/day to 10mg, it seemed to help a bit.
When we began seeing the new pdoc for David, I decided to switch Dalton as well. It is always helpful to have the same doc for both boys, then the pdoc knows the family dynamic and how it affects both. Dr. Robertson suggested increasing Dalton's Seroquel to possibly beable to eliminate the Zyprexa. Dalton has been on Zyprexa since 05/98, and it has resulted in a 15-20lb weight gain each year. I asked about replacing with Abilify.
We increased Dalton's Seroquel from 800mg/day to 1300mg/day. I did use 5-7.5mg abilify for about 2 and a half weeks when I completely eliminated the Zyprexa, but have stopped that since I was seeing him "Zone out" in the morning. The increased Seroquel is working, he was on SILVER level for a week, and just made GOLD level at school for the first time in months! He had two days in a row, this week, of PERFECT SCORE on his daily behavior report!!!!! This is a never before achievement. Dalton has also been ready and waiting for his bus to arrive, every day this week. With his teeth brushed, his hair comed, his homework done, his medication taken, and a smile on his face!
I keep thinking "Pinch me" this spring is likely the shortest transition so far. usually it has taken from Feb-May, or even June to get him stabilized from the seasonal mood shift. Ssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......... Don't want to spoil the moment.
God Bless, BettyJo
There is always a light, no matter how dim, if only we seek to find it.
Posted by TwoSons