ER visit today

[Guest guest]

Hullo,

In the ongoing saga of Mikey And Sara's Sleepless Nights, you may recall

that Sara was anxiously awaiting a call from her pediatrician today. Said

call came at 10am. Sara begged the doctor for a more appropriate

medication, and the doctor kindly responded by suggesting we double the dose

of the sedative we are currently using, put Mikey in his own room, and shut

the door. We could either do this cold turkey or Ferberize him. The

sedative should reduce the length of time he screams to a tolerable level,

although she admits Sara would still be up several times a night to

re-medicate Mikey. Sara would also have to wait for the screaming to stop

before she would be able to sleep, herself. Why this would be an

improvement upon the current situation, neither Sara nor Matt understand;

although Sara grasps the theory that eventually Mikey would perhaps learn to

sleep alone without the repeated wakings. Past experiences with crying it

out have proven otherwise.

Our Heroine was in tears when she hung up the phone, although she tried

mightily to keep this fact from her helpful doctor.

After a lengthy discussion with Our Hero, Matt, the Byk family calls upon a

dear friend, . suggests an ER visit in the hopes that a doctor

at Children's hospital might have a different suggestion. also

volunteered to babysit Gabe, which was absolutely saintly of her, especially

since Gabe has returned to the land of Seperation Anxiety (I can't leave the

room) and is teething and/or has an ear infection too. Gabe fussed most

of the time we were gone but he was not hysterical or screaming. Gabe has a

rather " nice " cry which actually makes you feel badly for him and want to

help him, rather than wanting to smother him with a pillow or throw him out

the window -- Mikey's cry tends to have that affect on people. Oh, Gabe

also started crawling during his visit. We knew he was close.

The doctors, nurses, and social worker the Byks spoke to were all

wonderfully compassionate. They understood the gravity of the situation and

the need for an immediate resolution. They heartily approved of an ER visit

for this case and repeatedly stated that the Byks are Good Parents for

coming for help before the situation got " out of hand, " by which they

obviously meant mom deciding on the " beat the child into unconciousness "

method of sleep training. The Byks are welcome back at any time they feel

they might harm their child, or if any of their child's symptoms intensify.

The end result is a long list of phone numbers to call to ask for help, a

prescription for valium, and a promise to call The Autism Doctor first thing

monday morning and try to get us an appointment quickly. We are to call

monday afternoon and beg. The social worker suggested we use the words " at

risk " to describe our situation. She assured me I am obviously a caring,

patient parent and by no means did she think I would intentionally harm

Mikey, but when we are exhausted we sometimes over-react. I assured HER

that is precisely why we were there today in an attempt to get help before

that happens. She gave me several 24-hour hotlines, one of which can

provide respite services for parents who are afraid they are going to harm

their children. She also gave me her home phone number and said I could

call her anytime.

Valium? Yes. We presented our theory of anxiety caused by sensory issues

to the attending physician, and he immediately agreed that this makes

perfect sense. Oh, and he said that the symptoms I was describing whem

Mikey wakes up could be called panic attacks. So it made good sense to him

to approach this from an anti-anxiety med perspective, and valium is the

safest med for children Mikey's age. There aren't a lot of meds like this

approved for kids his age. It is primarily used for seizures at this age

but is also indicated for anxiety and sleep disorders. Huh. Go figure.

So. Here we are, Mikey is sleeping soundly after his first dose of valium,

and we shall see what 4am brings. I'm going to sleep now, I hope for a long

long time.

-Sara.

wife to Matt

SAHM to nurslings

Mikey, 9/14/99, Autism, and

Gabe, born at home 5/17/01, GERD

http://home.earthlink.net/~thebyks