Splat Goes Life.

Last night marked 5 nights (or 5 doses) of Elavil. As far as I can tell, Jack seems to be tolerating the dose pretty well.. though I think starting him off on 20mg seems like a lot. There's no easing from the lowest (10mg) dose. Just diving right in. We took him back to the lab yesterday morning for more blood work. This time to check blood levels and make sure he's tolerating the medicine, and I also asked the Dr. to check his thyroid levels. Since we pay for the lab work, and the county doesn't, maybe that's why she wasn't hesitant.. but we did mention to her before our concerns, based on Jack's older male cousin having issues around the onset of puberty, so she was fine with at least checking things out. There may be nothing wrong, but at least it gets it out of the way now. We can check back later if things seem like they're going wonky. He did have a great week at school, though they were only in school for 4 days. Monday morning he had some neg...

We got Jack in for an EKG on Saturday morning. The results of that were "normal", I guess. No troubling looks from the guy administering the test, and the Doctor didn't say anything negative. So we're off of the Strattera, and onto Elavil. You know, I have my doubts with any new med, just as I have my worries. What side effects will Jack experience? Will this help him or hurt him? How long will he need to be on it? What happens when we take him off of it? I guess I'm a worry wart by nature, so none of this is fun. Not fun for me, and certainly not for Jack. As it is, he hates taking baths, and wishes for a world where nobody cares whether or not you brush your teeth. He could also do without taking his daily inhaler for asthma. But These are all a part of his daily life. Now it seems that monthly blood work is in the future. I think this means (hopefully) that by the time he goes in for his 11-yr "well visit", he won't mind so much when he g...

Child attempts suicide after being bullied at school for being a fan of My Little Pony This story is just awful. An 11 yr old boy was bullied at school because he liked to watch "My Little Pony". He is now on life support after attempting to hang himself from his bunk bed. His parents found him before he died, thank goodness. But the oxygen had already been cut off long enough to cause brain damage. Every time I read about a child who has committed suicide, I get this sick feeling in my stomach. The fact that a kid can ever be in that place in their heads where they are willing to actually go through with ending their own life. I mean, most of us spend our whole lives trying to live. Most of us are afraid of death. Except those who are so far down that they are actually capable of going through with it. I just want to hold someone accountable. They may have physically done it, but shouldn't someone be responsible for creating that situation? On the other hand, my ...

Is that we're human. We make mistakes.. we may need to come up with our own way of labeling medication bottles to make sure we don't accidentally give our kids sleep medicine when they should be taking their ADHD medication (before school). We have to keep a dose chart to make sure we don't mistakenly give something twice in one day, because we can't remember if we already gave our kiddo their pill(s) or not. We also have to set an alarm on our phone to ensure our loved one gets their medication on time. So many things we need to do. Simple things, but very important things. Last night I didn't give Jack his second dose of Strattera until about 8pm. A few hours later than I would normally give it. Because it was so late, and I don't like the idea of giving two different kinds of meds at the same time (unless specified), I did not give him his Clonidine. He chose to go to bed about 9:30, which is probably the earliest he's gone to bed in weeks. It...

I spoke with the doctor at the clinic on (I believe it was) the 28th, to let her know about what has been going on, and to get her advice. I don't necessarily want to jump from med to med, but I still need to know if she feels we haven't given the full dose of Strattera long enough time to kick in. When I asked her about it, she did seem concerned, but also asked if we might give it another 5 days before weaning Jack off of it. In the meantime, she would mail out a prescription for more blood work, as well as an EKG for another medication she wants to try. ( Elavil . She says it's for pain, etc.. (and I was almost put on it for nerve pain, years ago). It's really an antidepressant. Scary that he needs an EKG to make sure his heart is good before going on it. Jack is slightly freaked out about the possibility of finding out there is something wrong with his heart). I told the school that we need to get through one full week of him on the Strattera before I will tak...