New Member - Mom at wits end about my son's PDD/ADHD

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Hello everyone! My son is 8 years old and has been struggling with unusual behaviors since he was two years old. I always guessed he might be on the Autism Spectrum, because children I've known and babysat that had those conditions. It took years of pushing the doctors (and one week of Mental Hospital care) to convince them it wasn't just ADHD or "boys being boys" as one said. He was diagnosed with PDD in the hospital, and was placed in a school for kids like him, where he's been for two years now.

He's always been violent when provoked, and has been through a veritable buffet line of medications since he was 3. Abilify, Focalin, Ritalin, Adderall XR, you name it. They always work for a few months and then suddenly they ...just...don't. Cue the swearing, busting holes in walls and windows with his head, pinching, breaking toys, biting. Currently he's on 50mg Vyvanse, .10 mg Risperdal, 500 mg Depakote and 3 mg Melatonin, and going to therapy and a psychologist, having only 5 kids in his class, his own space and everything else he needs to manage his condition. Except it's not managed. He is fine for periods, but suddenly loses it and becomes horribly violent. He's been suspended by his school for attacking a pregnant woman, bit a chunk of flesh from my best friend,and told my husband he wanted to kill him.

When starting a new med, he suddenly becomes the most lovely child. But when it wears off I feel like he becomes Mr. Hyde. I found this forum because I had such a horrible time tonight that I'm seriously thinking about having him put into long-term care. I need advice and assistance. My child has lost his mind.

What types of things precipitate these violent episodes?

Literally nothing in some cases. Sometimes he's sitting playing by himself and just starts screaming like he's hurt (not the Autism noises they make, he does that too, this isn't that.) and when you come to check on him he bites and calls you a swear name. Other times he'll be asleep and just wakes up and go into where you are sleeping and punches you, or goes into the kitchen and destroys it. There is no rhyme or reason to it, nor is it possible to placate him or calm him. All I can do is put him in his room and sit in front of it while he screams it out for an hour. Then its over and he's okay again.

Welcome to WP!

Have you asked him what has upset him?

The answer to that varies from "NOTHING B****! !" to "I'm sad that my Spot died" (Spot being a dog we had that died before he was born.) In essence, even the psych and the specially trained teachers can figure out what upsets him, or what calms him down.

He hasnt lost his mind.... but PDD and autism in general can be hard to deal with. Not just for you, but for him as well.

He could be getting enraged at something going on in his own mind. I have PDD myself, and I'm terribly forgetful and airheaded. It's possible for me to do things like make a cheese sandwich but forget the cheese, or worse, forget why Im in the kitchen holding bread. This can be frustrating, and can irritate me; but nobody else would know WHY I'm irritated, of course, as I dont usually explain my moods to people.

That being said... I dont have violent rages myself, I'm pretty peaceable.... and I dont think I've met many autistics that do either. That's not to say it's unheard of though.... but there's no easy advice for it.

I will say one thing though: Trying medication after medication can be.... a bad idea. Ritalin in particular.... I took ritalin as a kid, and..... suffice it to say, it wasnt very good. I took it during junior high. As a result, I have NO MEMORIES AT ALL of junior high. Doctors tend to prescribe this crap because they cannot think of other solutions. There's no such thing, though, as a guaranteed solution for this particular problem. I do take Wellbutrin myself, and Lamictal (I have no idea what that one does), but that's not to say it'd work for your child; in my case, I tend to be extremely resistant to the side effects of most meds, so those work for me. That is not the case for many.

In the end though, what REALLY worked for me was not medication, but it was the dedication of my parents, to helping me. That's the bit that really counts. My only advice, I think, is to do your best to try to understand and help him.... try to figure out WHY he gets enraged, and what's going through his mind. Easy? Heck no. But that's my advice.

You have, at least, found a good resource, in the form of this forum. Dont be afraid to ask questions here.

Good luck to you.

Are these the answers you get when he's still upset or when he's calm? And where did he learn to call you what I'm assuming is b!tch?

I would advise you to thoroughly research all those medications. I was misdiagnosed multiple times and force fed every psych med you can think of and more. I attempted suicide numerous times while experiencing horrible side-effects that I couldn't explain in words to those forcing me to take the meds (look up akathisia or dystonia, shudders).
Antipsychotics are extremely dangerous drugs that can cause irreversible disorders and permanent brain damage.
Stimulants are fairly innocuous when administered correctly. If he responds well to things like Vyvanse, I strongly suggest acquiring some chelated magnesium as it will prevent tolerance to amphetamines by blocking the down regulation of dopamine. I take Adderall myself and it has helped me immensely.

See, that's what I am worried about, they just keep adding meds now whenever the old ones lose effectiveness. The Vyvanse has gone from 30mg to 40mg to 50 mg and now it stopped being effective and they augmented it with Adderall to get the desired effect. I'm going to look for that magnesium and hopefully wean him off one of the amphetamines. Last thing I want is for him to turn 18, suddenly be off insurance, not have the cash for over 300 dollars a month in meds and start self medicating with Crystal because I've gotten him hooked on meth since age 7. Yes, I've run through every scenario repeatedly. I researched all this stuff so well that his psych learned stuff about them from ME (like he didn't know about Vyvanse rages.) I feel like his condition is Freddy Kreuger. Just when I think it's sorted out and things are good the nightmares come back and I have to fight again.

Look for the magnesium and ween nothing. You screwin around with the meds on your own? These things are horribly powerful, sutble and were hard enough to describe to others at my age. Poor kid. Let alone what he is going through and some of what you describe I can relate to and thank god it was short lived by some standards. A real horror story, believe me.

What a horrendous thing this is. I went through my "Bipolar breakdown" at about age 20, ( and in the freakin Army at the time) which I understand is about right, normally. Was I normal before, doubtful. More to it all then just this but, let's take this as an example. Other things are at play, pretty obvious, but what. I can't say, so many other things could be in play, at this point in time and compounding on them self. I hear you about meds, mostly they never worked well or made things worse, worked a little and then gone, you name it, they did it. What the hell does the school say about all of this? I mean it would make sense it's their specialty. Get another damn doctor for one thing, at the very least a second opinion.

Umm'k, this might not be really easy, or it might be, I hope it is. Info is key that one of us might have a direction for you. Positive points? And why this might not be easy is, what is positive to us, might not seem it right now to you. He does have some, some specialties? Doesn't have to be good in reading or writing or arithmetic, not that, but more in lines with he interested in something, or the like? Variance in his habits lately? I mean beyond the outbursts? Can be really hard to figure out what might be med induced too. But somethings might still hold true.

You may want to consider getting another thread about this going elsewhere on the site. Glad you came, pleased to meet you, but.... You very well might find much more response under a little better heading now.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

My teenager nephew has a severe case of ADHD and asperger. When my nephew was in grade school he hard behavior problems and no friends. He now takes meds 3 times a day, and is calmer and has friends. His school has a bottle of the med he takes at noon. His school is good about helping. I do not if taking meds more times during the day would help your soon. You might ask his doctor.

I would look for some type of stimuali. something tactile. When i was young i had blocks. i liked all the blocks except one that had a differnt type of grain on the wood of the block. That use to upset me when i touched it, or had to use it to complete one of my "master pieces". That and i use to play on carpet, and would get scared and get upset when i got static shock.

In my expierence, episodes like that are caused by not feeling hear, frustration or over stimualization. Over stimualization means if something like the bright sun gets reflected in his eyes, or like if he feels his space violated or hears something loud. We all have this thing that doesnt filter out things most people don't hear, like a clock tic tocking, or wind blowing. Our mind also amplify's our senses or precieves to.

welcome. I agree with others in that you, despite how hard it is, are the one to help him. Find some support for that for yourself, but be there for him. Certainly another doctor's opinion at the least to try to get away from the drugs.
My little brother was very much like this. Dad had to physically hold him in his arms sometimes, and even at night the terror would come out. In time, with consistent approach, it all wound down. Now the boy is a man and though he still certainly has some issues * problems, he does have a fairly normal life. He does physically hard work - designs and remodels houses - so both brain and body are engaged. That is what works for him and it started at 9 or 10 when Dad took him out to the back yard ( outdoors & out of the house helped) and let him build and work with tools, small at first. He hurt himself a few times - yes - and smashed some of the stuff he was working with, but with a man, Dad, supervising and limiting the destruction he finally learned to work through some things. I know your situation is different but having parents or a parent who will ride out the terrors with their kids can make all the difference.