Re: AS son; attention problems

April 25, 2005

We're currently waiting for a return call from 's shrink. Dh and

I just got back from a meeting with the principal of his school (who is

also a psychologist). He is very worried about , and wants us to

rule out bipolar disorder. Apparently he is going a mile a minute at

school, always in motion, pacing, pacing, and ever so agitated. We see

most of this at home, too. Poor , I feel really bad for him right

now. :-(

Liz

On Apr 25, 2005, at 2:02 PM, Tombrello wrote:

>

> Liz,

>

> ROFL at the image of Sasha on coffee. Yikes! If my son is foggy, he is

> also

> a very excitable little guy. We'd probably have to pry him down from

> the

> ceiling, extracting one fingernail or toenail at a time.

>

> I don't do well on coffee either but I used to be addicted to it. My

> co-workers used to follow me to the coffee machine and force me to push

> " decaffeinated " !!!!

>

> Poor . I'm trying to imagine him writing that essay. It sounds

> like

> you displayed heroic mother abilities in abundance. I'm thinking

> Sasha's

> IEP should contain language regarding finding " alternative essay

> topics if

> he deems any assigned ones too odious. " and you must be terribly

> relieved the essay is behind you.

>

> T.

> mom of Sasha, 7

>

> At 12:23 PM 4/25/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>> ,

>> I take huge amounts of Topamax, which also tends to fog one's brain. I

>> manage by drinking copious amounts of coffee. I told my shrink it was

>> either coffee or Provigil. He went for the coffee, on the grounds

>> (sorry) that I take enough meds already. Also Provigil isn't great for

>> bipolars. Makes us hyper.

>>

>> I just went downtown and got fingerprinted so I can substitute teach.

>> Now all I have to do is my health screening and TB test, and wait for

>> my fingerprints to clear.

>>

>> has been very hyper these days. He's very aware that he needs

>> to

>> take the SATs and is very nervous about this; also is nervous about

>> how

>> and where he'll go to college. He's picking at his skin and exhibiting

>> other OCD behaviors that we've never seen before.

>>

>> He pitched a holy fit about an essay he had to write about Catcher in

>> the Rye. We broke it up into three stages and finally got it written

>> over the course of three days. He hates this book with a passion.

>> First

>> he identified four themes that ran through it. The next day, he wrote

>> a

>> rough draft that contained no examples. The following day, I printed

>> out a copy for him and a copy for me, and we went through it and he

>> dictated examples for each paragraph to me. Whew! This is all make up

>> work from the days when he was reading Time Magazine instead of doing

>> his work in class. He needed constant " upper " prompting to stay on

>> task, ie " I know you hate this with a passion, but you are doing a

>> grrrreat job! " OR " I know you'd rather be swimming at La Brea than

>> writing this paper, but you're almost done, and you're doing a

>> fantastic job, " etc...

>>

>> Liz (who needs her second cup of coffee)

>

April 25, 2005

Liz,

Oh dear. I'm so sorry. This is what we saw in Sasha, too, before he was

diagnosed with BP. A lot of agitation, jumping on furniture (hope

isn't doing that, big as he is), pressured speech and weird glassy-eyed

expressions.

I'm eager to hear what 's psychiatrist has to say. Is this sort of

behavior new to ? How does he speak about how he feels?

T.

mom of Sasha, 7

At 03:06 PM 4/25/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>We're currently waiting for a return call from 's shrink. Dh and

>I just got back from a meeting with the principal of his school (who is

>also a psychologist). He is very worried about , and wants us to

>rule out bipolar disorder. Apparently he is going a mile a minute at

>school, always in motion, pacing, pacing, and ever so agitated. We see

>most of this at home, too. Poor , I feel really bad for him right

>now. :-(

>

>Liz

April 26, 2005

,

The agitation is new. He's always been a pacer, to some degree. His

pacing has taken on a new intensity lately. He " daydreams " a lot, which

involves pacing around and thinking his own thoughts. He's always done

that, but now he's uninterruptible. It's a crisis if we try. He doesn't

jump on furniture any more; we've got a green exercise ball that he

bounces on when the urge to bounce on something strikes. He talks about

feeling frustrated and hyper. He has a fantastic therapist named Arlene

who is very good at helping him sort out how he feels. She's about 70

and warm and wonderful, and great with kids from age 2 to 22. (She used

to be a preschool teacher in another life.) His shrink is known as one

of a couple of PDD people in San Diego. It *is* alarming, given the

family history. :-(

Liz

On Apr 25, 2005, at 3:33 PM, Tombrello wrote:

>

> Liz,

>

> Oh dear. I'm so sorry. This is what we saw in Sasha, too, before he was

> diagnosed with BP. A lot of agitation, jumping on furniture (hope

>

> isn't doing that, big as he is), pressured speech and weird glassy-eyed

> expressions.

>

> I'm eager to hear what 's psychiatrist has to say. Is this sort

> of

> behavior new to ? How does he speak about how he feels?

>

> T.

> mom of Sasha, 7

>

> At 03:06 PM 4/25/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>

>> We're currently waiting for a return call from 's shrink. Dh and

>> I just got back from a meeting with the principal of his school (who

>> is

>> also a psychologist). He is very worried about , and wants us to

>> rule out bipolar disorder. Apparently he is going a mile a minute at

>> school, always in motion, pacing, pacing, and ever so agitated. We see

>> most of this at home, too. Poor , I feel really bad for him

>> right

>> now. :-(

>>

>> Liz

>

April 26, 2005

Liz,

Before Sasha went on Trileptal, he would get all wound up in his daydreams

also and would be most angry if we interrupted him. At one point, he was

throwing objects into our neighbors' yards, trying to get them to return

them, but really all he accomplished was to make them impatient and angry.

One neighbor talked to our son in a very rough way -- can't imagine what he

thought he'd accomplish that way, as my son is so young -- and Sasha began

to throw his toys at him in retaliation. The man grabbed ahold of Sasha's

arm and called to us to come, and Sasha was like a wild cat, clawing at the

man and screeching at the top of his lungs. " You see, you see how he is? "

the man shrieked. Yeah, like it never occurred to us.

We do keep a close watch on Sasha, although it must not sound like it from

this description!

But the thing that really got to me was when Sasha insisted that the man's

son was his best friend and sneaked through a hole that Sasha had made for

him in the fence to visit him in his room. I had no idea the man even had a

son. Sasha described the boy in great detail, down to his hat and color of

sneakers. I went all shivery wondering if my son was hallucinating, but

then my dh told me that the man does have a son, who looks to be about 15

or 16, and fits Sasha's description. The only trouble is, I have never

witnessed the two of them so much as talking to one another.

After Trileptal, Sasha miraculously stopped bugging the man and his son.

Which tends to tell me the intensity of his fixation was due in part to the

BP. Sasha does still engage in behavior that borders on stalking. He is

particularly prone to following pretty and somewhat vacuous little girls

around, not taking " no " for an answer. But his behavior on meds is not as

frightening or intense or unpredictable as it was before.

Oh, I've got to share this one. This is another example of what Sasha can

be like off bipolar meds. At this point he had been weaned of Risperdal and

was on a very small dose of Trileptal, to build up his tolerance, so

practically speaking, he wasn't really on anything at the time. I dozed

off, quite by accident, and when I woke up 15 minutes later ... OMG. Sasha

and his sister had entirely emptied Sasha's closet and toy chest and piled

all the items on top of our picnic table outside. Now keep in mind that my

son is normally not particularly well organized. He had created a fanciful

and really quite lovely display of all of his toys and was convinced I

would be most pleased by all this. I could not believe that he had

accomplished all this in 15 minutes.

Somehow, I didn't get angry. I praised Sasha's work and then explained that

I would so very much like him to do the same thing in his room! Sasha

cooperated. I've never seen him so happy or work so fast. Sasha the

hypomanic!!! I sort of miss these episodes, actually, as Sasha did some of

his best school work when he was like this.

At school when he'd become manic, he wouldn't be able to stop chattering.

He'd get up and try to take over the class, becoming grandiose, as if he

was the teacher. Enter principal, and Sasha would rage about being Superman

or something like that and how he would smite her with his thunder bolt. Oh

my, life did use to be more interesting than it is now. I'm joking. It's

interesting enough.

My heart goes out to you and . You are doing the right thing to hit

this head-on. The combination of AS and BP is tricky, I think. Hard to

tease out what is what, and each disorder seems to make the symptoms of the

other disorder more extreme in some ways.

T.

mom of Sasha, 7

At 04:00 PM 4/25/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>,

>The agitation is new. He's always been a pacer, to some degree. His

>pacing has taken on a new intensity lately. He " daydreams " a lot, which

>involves pacing around and thinking his own thoughts. He's always done

>that, but now he's uninterruptible. It's a crisis if we try. He doesn't

>jump on furniture any more; we've got a green exercise ball that he

>bounces on when the urge to bounce on something strikes. He talks about

>feeling frustrated and hyper. He has a fantastic therapist named Arlene

>who is very good at helping him sort out how he feels. She's about 70

>and warm and wonderful, and great with kids from age 2 to 22. (She used

>to be a preschool teacher in another life.) His shrink is known as one

>of a couple of PDD people in San Diego. It *is* alarming, given the

>family history. :-(

>

>Liz

April 26, 2005

Oh, I know all about what it's like to be manic! When I get manic, my

house is spotless, I write fascinating things (*I* think they're

fascinating anyway) and the world just moves about 75% faster. It's

just amazing what gets done in so little time. So what's the problem?

Why don't they make little mania pills for all of us? The problem is

that waiting around the corner is a giant depression, which will swoop

down whether you expect it or not. Too bad about that depression.

Otherwise, it's a pretty good deal.

The fixation stuff that you describe with Sasha sounds alarming. I bet

that's a relief that it has mostly stopped.

I loved your story about the toys on the picnic table. That sounds like

a very Montessori thing to do. It's too bad there's not a Montessori

special needs school somewhere. So many of our kids would do well with

that work-at-your-own-pace environment, but need more support than a

traditional Montessori can provide.

We have an appointment with D's dr tomorrow at 10. Whew!

Liz

On Apr 25, 2005, at 4:57 PM, Tombrello wrote:

>

> Liz,

>

> Before Sasha went on Trileptal, he would get all wound up in his

> daydreams

> also and would be most angry if we interrupted him. At one point, he

> was

> throwing objects into our neighbors' yards, trying to get them to

> return

> them, but really all he accomplished was to make them impatient and

> angry.

> One neighbor talked to our son in a very rough way -- can't imagine

> what he

> thought he'd accomplish that way, as my son is so young -- and Sasha

> began

> to throw his toys at him in retaliation. The man grabbed ahold of

> Sasha's

> arm and called to us to come, and Sasha was like a wild cat, clawing

> at the

> man and screeching at the top of his lungs. " You see, you see how he

> is? "

> the man shrieked. Yeah, like it never occurred to us.

>

> We do keep a close watch on Sasha, although it must not sound like it

> from

> this description!

>

> But the thing that really got to me was when Sasha insisted that the

> man's

> son was his best friend and sneaked through a hole that Sasha had made

> for

> him in the fence to visit him in his room. I had no idea the man even

> had a

> son. Sasha described the boy in great detail, down to his hat and

> color of

> sneakers. I went all shivery wondering if my son was hallucinating, but

> then my dh told me that the man does have a son, who looks to be about

> 15

> or 16, and fits Sasha's description. The only trouble is, I have never

> witnessed the two of them so much as talking to one another.

>

> After Trileptal, Sasha miraculously stopped bugging the man and his

> son.

> Which tends to tell me the intensity of his fixation was due in part

> to the

> BP. Sasha does still engage in behavior that borders on stalking. He is

> particularly prone to following pretty and somewhat vacuous little

> girls

> around, not taking " no " for an answer. But his behavior on meds is not

> as

> frightening or intense or unpredictable as it was before.

>

> Oh, I've got to share this one. This is another example of what Sasha

> can

> be like off bipolar meds. At this point he had been weaned of

> Risperdal and

> was on a very small dose of Trileptal, to build up his tolerance, so

> practically speaking, he wasn't really on anything at the time. I dozed

> off, quite by accident, and when I woke up 15 minutes later ... OMG.

> Sasha

> and his sister had entirely emptied Sasha's closet and toy chest and

> piled

> all the items on top of our picnic table outside. Now keep in mind

> that my

> son is normally not particularly well organized. He had created a

> fanciful

> and really quite lovely display of all of his toys and was convinced I

> would be most pleased by all this. I could not believe that he had

> accomplished all this in 15 minutes.

>

> Somehow, I didn't get angry. I praised Sasha's work and then explained

> that

> I would so very much like him to do the same thing in his room! Sasha

> cooperated. I've never seen him so happy or work so fast. Sasha the

> hypomanic!!! I sort of miss these episodes, actually, as Sasha did

> some of

> his best school work when he was like this.

>

> At school when he'd become manic, he wouldn't be able to stop

> chattering.

> He'd get up and try to take over the class, becoming grandiose, as if

> he

> was the teacher. Enter principal, and Sasha would rage about being

> Superman

> or something like that and how he would smite her with his thunder

> bolt. Oh

> my, life did use to be more interesting than it is now. I'm joking.

> It's

> interesting enough.

>

> My heart goes out to you and . You are doing the right thing to

> hit

> this head-on. The combination of AS and BP is tricky, I think. Hard to

> tease out what is what, and each disorder seems to make the symptoms

> of the

> other disorder more extreme in some ways.

>

> T.

> mom of Sasha, 7

>

> At 04:00 PM 4/25/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>

>> ,

>> The agitation is new. He's always been a pacer, to some degree. His

>> pacing has taken on a new intensity lately. He " daydreams " a lot,

>> which

>> involves pacing around and thinking his own thoughts. He's always done

>> that, but now he's uninterruptible. It's a crisis if we try. He

>> doesn't

>> jump on furniture any more; we've got a green exercise ball that he

>> bounces on when the urge to bounce on something strikes. He talks

>> about

>> feeling frustrated and hyper. He has a fantastic therapist named

>> Arlene

>> who is very good at helping him sort out how he feels. She's about 70

>> and warm and wonderful, and great with kids from age 2 to 22. (She

>> used

>> to be a preschool teacher in another life.) His shrink is known as

>> one

>> of a couple of PDD people in San Diego. It *is* alarming, given the

>> family history. :-(

>>

>> Liz

>

April 26, 2005

Beth has also ALWAYS hated being interrupted when she's in an activity or

watching TV...she also gets angry. Always reacts loudly and in a not nice

way. There's just something about interrupting...

maralee

Re: ( ) AS son; attention problems