Just a quick update. Lauren had a great day in sch today - she was fairly good this morning getting ready for sch (Sat and Sun mornings were pure Hell w/ her..afternoons OK and evenings argumentative again)….anyways…after sch was even OK..and after an initial “NO!” about doing homework this evening she came around after my 2nd calling and did all that she was asked.
Seems as if the STRATTERA is moving right out of her system. THANK HEAVENS! (last pill she had was Fri morning)
Loves,
S
Re: LAUREN IS CALMING DOWN (no more Strattera)
Oh Kelly…I can only hope and pray you don’t have the same exp that we had.
Lauren was dx’d by the Psych w/ INTERMITTENT EXPLOSIVE DISORDER and put on ZOLOFT back on Dec 24th 2002….I was very excited….she argues about everything says no to me all the time hits her sister EVERY DAY….just totally hard to get along with…woudln’t get ready for sch in the morning til it was a screaming match and me banging the hair brush on the counter (yes I lost it more times than not).
Anyways….ZOLOFT helped immensley and still is working quite great. She has eye contact w/ adults now - and even says hey to her previous teachers who always say hey to her in the hallways….(she would ignore them before w/ her head straight down to the ground while walking).
So…in her IEP mtg we discussed how she’s still not focusing (Psych thought the Zo might help w/ this as well but it’s not)..and how disorganized she is (her rm is usually atrocious sp?)…anyways…so brought it up to Psych at next appt and he said, here are your options - ritalin, adderall, concerta and THE NEW STRATTERA….he’d only be prescribing it for one month since it only came out in Jan.
So on a Fri we tried it - I have to say I noticed after day 4-5 that at home she was improving - being even more agreeable at home - but AT SCH was a totally diff story - she was actually worse than she’d ever been even being on NO MEDS!
(I’m not pro med but I’m also not anti med…I like to take care of things as a whole, which is why she’s in OT (occupational therapy) for SID (Sensory Integration Dysfunction) and I also have her either on no dairy products or I have found an enzyme capsule that she can take if she wants something w/ dairy in it that helps her digest - I noticed a BIG IMPROVEMENT w/ her behaviour at home when we took her off dairy products back in Nov (prior to any meds being started)…….
Anyways…..she hit a girl in sch, she mouthed off, she yelled out answers instead of raising hand and would NOT do anywork…most was being sent home to do on top of homework already assigned.
I told teacher to rate her days, 1-5, 1 being best, 5 being worst…well this past Fri…she got a 5….I’d had it…I called the Dr at 4:20pm on a Fri afternoon and he called me back…I just told him we couldn’t do another 2 wks of this, we’d done 2 wks and she was deteriorating in sch and it was too devastating to let continue.
He pulled her off immediately He said it would take 4-5 days to have her completely off the med.
Sun was completely hell..she was aweful……Sat was much the same.
Mon and Tues were OK days….she got 2’s in class each day….that’s a big improvement from 4’s and 5’s!
Loves and hugs, and please ask more questions as they come up. I have no idea what her Dr will want to do next at our next appt in April…..maybe try concerta…I have no idea. I’m very afraid to try anything else….very afraid…but Zo works great and I love it
S
SHARON -
WOULD LOVE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH STRATERRA. WE JUST STARTED OUR SON, WHO IS 7 YEARS OLD, ON THIS MEDICATION. HE WAS ONLY RECENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH ADHD, AND I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN VERY MUCH AGAINST GIVING MEDICATION TO CHILDREN FOR THIS KIND OF A DISORDER; HOWEVER, SINCE IT ISN’T A STIMULANT, I REALLY THOUGHT IT SOUNDED PROMISING. WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE? THANK YOU! KELLY