11.21.2008

Abilify and Et Cetera

What I need to document right now is that we started Leelo on Abilify last night. I'll put down details later.

There was some debate between Seymour, Supervisor M, and myself about whether Leelo should resume Claritin (after a few months' hiatus) before or after starting Abilify. We decided to have him start Abilify first, even though his seasonal allergies appear to be emerging. His violence is what we need to handle, and we want him to have a several-days long stretch adjusting to the drug before Seymour and the girls take off for Thanksgiving.

Leelo had a hard time going to bed last night, was up from 2 to 3AM (which I didn't even know as Seymour took over and let me sleep, bless him), then woke up at 6:30 with a poop (there was some damage control), and then barfed up his breakfast. Barfing seemed to make him feel better, and nausea is one of the most common side effects of his new drug, so I watched him for an hour, decided that as he was no longer green and was acting like himself (e.g., roundhouse to the side of my head when I didn't spool up "reindeer" fast enough) he was fine, and sent him off to school. It's been 2 and 1/2 hours and I haven't heard anything yet. Crossing my fingers.

What I also need to document here is that I am slammed. And weary. CISWYII review books are gorgeous but have a few formatting issues that Jennyalice and I need to fix. And in looking them over in hard print, I feel as though I didn't do my best work as an editor (Jennyalice, of course, did everything she said she would do, and more. Slackard = me). The beauty of Lulu.com is that we can take another pass at the MS before releasing the books for sale next week.

So chewing on the MS is what I am doing. And publishing the notes from this week's two SEPTAR meetings, which were really wonderful, especially yesterday's presentation on Helping Peers Understand Your Socially Challeged Child. And cleaning up poop sheets and vomit floors. And trying to replace Therapist R (one of the reasons I didn't want to push it when she asked to leave early on Monday is that she wants to stop doing ABA with Leelo in general but agreed to stay on until I found a replacement). Oh, and getting ready for Mali's 4th birthday party tomorrow. Which means Leelo and I should probably finish opening his birthday presents when he gets home today (Check out how much he loves the floor puzzle from Susan, and how much better he is at it than his very silly mother).



Have a lovely weekend. If you want someone who does tired and overwhelmed and grumpy but still really damned funny, may I recommend SJ or Julie.

P.S. Thanks again to every single one of the wonderful people who offered advice on medications, both on and offline.

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5 comments:

  1. This post makes me wish I could just hug you and tell you it will be okay, even though we both know it might not be. You are, an extraordinary mother, doing the best you can. It is a TOUGH surrender, been there and done that. Prayers and good thoughts that this will be the miracle we are all looking for.

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  2. We have to make some shitty, hard decisions along this journey. The things that lead you to try Abilify have no doubt been beyond trying. I hope that it is the thing that helps your sweet boy to be able to feel calmer within his own body, so that your family is able to continue to give him loving care in your home. I'll be thinking about you guys. Keep us posted.

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  3. The best thing we EVER did for our Aspie was to put him on Adderal. I am in love with drugs.

    This also causes sleep disturbances. Did your doc suggest melatonin? Both I and Arie use it at night and it's like magic, but since it's just a hormone your body automatically releases as the sun goes down, you don't have a drugged sleep.

    Arie gets it an hour before his bedtime; I get it two hours before.

    I have no idea if I've commented here before, and can't remember who suggested your blog. I am at haddayr.livejournal.com.

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  4. Anonymous4:04 PM

    The best thing we've done for Julia's Asperger's so far (aside from just treat her like a NORMAL kid as much as possible and not shut her away) is put her on Strattera. It's meant the difference between holding a 3 minute talk-at-her session and a true give-and-take conversation of any length. Pictures in textbooks no longer pull her attention to the point of inaction, she can work with sounds or actions around her, etc. It's made all the difference. Night and day. If you'd told me it would do so much before she'd started taking it, I would have walked out assuming you were lying.

    Maybe Abilify won't be the same for Leelo as Strattera has been for Julia. But maybe something else will be. Just a matter of trial and error.

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  5. Looking forward to seeing how the Abilify works for you. Kayla is on Risperdal, but it makes her eat nonstop, so her dev ped thinks that maybe Abilify will work as well as the Risperdal (since it's in the same class of drugs) without the insane appetite.

    I think drugs are a sanity saver. My older daughter has a PDD-NOS diagnosis and is on Prozac because anything that she can't control makes her anxious (which is just about everything). She couldn't function without it.

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