Medications - Intuniv

[Guest guest]

Has anyone had any experience with Intuniv. My son has been taking it for about 6 months now. At first it really seemed to help bridge the gap between when his adderall ER was kicking in and when he is coming off of his adderall ER in the evening. Now he is having some really bad behavior - flashing, screaming at people, tantruming. Behavior we have not seen in a long while. It is the behavor that had disappearred plus way more. We have tried other medications that really did well in the beginning but long term became a nightmare. Any help would be appreciated.

I am against prescription medications unless they are absolutely warranted. That would mean that the child absolutely cannot function or the parent cannot control the child. If the medication is need in order to keep the child in the home with the family as opposed to being institutionalized, then by all means....

I made up my mind not to do psychotropics (unless it came that my son became self injurious or seriously agressive to the point of not being able to be in the home) when he was three and his dev ped said he would never get any better and that I should institutionalze him immediatly and just "get on with your life."

Of course I refused, and then she said, "Well, then...if you can just hold on until he is a little older, I have drugs I can put him on that willmake your life easier." Of course this angered me, and I told her I was not interested in making my life easier but making the quality of my son's life better and I stormed out. Every thing this doctor said my son was NEVER going to be able to do, he can already do at the age of 12.5. the only exceptions to date are drive a car, go to college, live on his own, and get married.

For these we have time. Christ didn't leave home until he was thirty.

I made up my mind not to put my son on these meds for many reasons. One is that I beleive it was the drug companies who damaged my son. I beleive they are notorious for giving a drug which then causes another condition or state of being so that they can then prescribe another drug and so on -- so there is a wealth of profit for them there. It sickens me to have to give a nickle to those who poisoned my child, and so I don't do this unless absolutely it becomes necessary. He had to be on steroids for a considerable time thanks to the damage done to immune system from vaccines. I had no choice as my son has to be able to breathe.

But since the institution of the AC Protocol and including adrenal support, my son has not had to take a steroid. He has needed Xopanex from time to time, but usually this is a sign he needs more adrenal support. The AC Protocol has improved his immune function beyond our wildest dreams.

In the early years of his regression, my son could be aggressive and self injurious. He would throw himself up against the wall so hard he would fall down. He was given to tantrums where he hit, bit, and kicked me. I dealt with these using an ABA type approach to change the behavior. For us it worked. I learned that food intolerances had a direct effect on his behavior, kept a food diary, and eliminated the offeding foods. Still accidents can happen, and about three years ago he got an offending food and changed into Dr. Hyde, had a tantrum and tried to choke me.

This taught me that with him I have to be extremely careful about food. It has never happened since. He has bad days like any other kid but he has not been self-injurious or physically aggressive since.

However that day did scare me, and so I know if it were a common occurrence and I could not find a way to change these things, I would give my son a drug if it would keep him at home. I cannot bear the thought of my son winding up in an institution. So each parent has to make that decision based on their circumstances.

I am happy and do feel blessed that I never had to put my son on psychotropics. Doctors did suggest it for the hyperactivity and the stimming, but I rejected it. For us we felt these should be considered only when not doing them would put our son or us at risk (or others at risk) of bodily harm. I would exhaust every natural means of finding the root cause of what is going on before resorting to a drug that will merely cover up the problem and not heal it. That is just our thinking, but no one can judge another parent for deciding to do so. Each parent knows his own limits and what their child may need and what the parent can handle.

My own opinion is to try every natural thing that can bring about an actual healing process. For me, I just cant give another nickle to people I believe are inherently evil if I can find a better way and bring about actual healing.

These drugs carry with them myriad side effects, and some are dangerous, so simply be fully informed before making a decision.