Adrienne

[Guest guest]

<<What meds have you talked about with docs? What kinds of side effects? Just

curious...been thinking about this for the past few days myself.

And I think they might refer us to a doc for his tics, grimaces, ect... A.>>

Hi, Everyone....Adrienne.....Gareth had tics and weird facial expressions

when he was younger (4-6ish) and had the dx of Tourette's at age 6......along

with the DS/autism/ADD/ODD. They have since stopped and I see no signs of

true Tourette's syndrome. As for meds......I would be the first to tell you to

at least try them. I was so afraid Gareth would be brain dead from his head

banging. If you don't like the changes you see in , then you can

always go off the meds. Gareth has been on one med or another for over 12

years.

He's been on the SSRI/Risperdal combo for over 8 years and I thank God for

that. It brought him back into our world and we were able to connect and

start redirecting him. I know that others don't agree, but it's like you said,

if you don't at least try it, how will you ever know if he could have done

far better in life with the meds than without them? Some kids only need

Ritalin to help them, some kids like Gareth need stronger drugs.....at a VERY

low

dosage. My DH was soooooooooooo against putting Gareth on meds, but he wasn't

the one dealing with him 24/7. He'd be off for a week at a time with his

job. Once the meds did kick in and start working, he acknowledged that he was

wrong about them. It's 2006.......everyone knows that the brain works like a

chemical factory. If some chemical is missing, then there shouldn't be any

stigma in trying to replace it.

Take care, Everyone.

Margaret