| Back to Autism Information >> Next Topic | ||
|
Taryn has started something new in the last month. She has started spelling out words to communicate, instead of saying the word. For example, last night she wanted hot milk before bed and instead of asking for it, she said, "M-I-L-K! M-I-L-K! M-I-L-K! P-L-E-A-S-E. P-L-E-A-S-E." When we try to encourage her to use her words and sentences, she will say, "Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it."Its getting worse and she tells me that when she can't think of a word, she can spell it and it makes her brain work better. At first, we thought is was cute. We thought that she was trying something new, but now, it really is like she CAN'T say the work, only spell it. Has anyone heard of this before?? I have not heard of that specifically, but it's probably related to under-functioning in an area of the brain. Two suggestions for you: first, a prescription of Aricpet or another Alzheimer's medication, and second, that you have your daughter evaluted by a Neuropsychologist. She needs to have the functioning of her brain evaluated. Parkinson's??? That increases dopamine in the brain, and increased dopamine leads to psychosis. I don't want to question your doctor because I am not a doctor, but that seems very odd. You know, people who are on medication for Parkinson's disease develop drug-induced psychosis.
Amantadine was ordered by her neuropsychiatrist. He has had really good results using it on kids like her. It helps their brains make some of the connections that it can't make on it's own. I will call him, though, and see if he thinks that could be contributing to her psychosis. Thanks Well, I googled your daughter's medication and psychosis and I found a link. If I were you I would mention the below link to a scholarly article on Amantadine-induced psychosis in a young patient. It looks like it is a case study, which means this side effect may not be listed as a common side effect in the pharmaceutical guides. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/165/12/1613 BTW, I have found that doctors often are not aware of rare side effects with different medications, and they rely on information from pharmaceutical companies. I have googled side effects for medications and shown them to my doctor for my NT children. Ok, now I am actually mad at your doctor. Fire him. If it takes me five seconds of using Google to find out that Amantadine is counter-indicated in children with a history of psycosis AND SEIZURES, which your daughter clearly has, then there is no excuse for him/her to prescribe this medication to your daughter. http://www.mentalhealth.com/drug/p30-s05.html
I have put in a call to her pdoc to discuss with him. He is all we've got and we drive 4 1/2 hrs just to see him. There is no one else. When she started Amantadine, over a year ago, she was inpatient for 30 days and had a dramatic decrease in her symptoms (rages and psychosis), so I am hesitant to stop it, but certainly willing to try, if pdoc agrees. If you look up the side-effects of ANY drug, you are going to find things that will scare you to death. You have to weigh the benefits vs the possible adverse reaction. In our case, we are fighting for our daughter's life. We worry everyday that she is going to fatally injure herself or someone else! We are trying to do all we can to keep from having to place her long-term in a state facility, which is about our only option at this point. Thank you for your input and advise. I am always willing to listen to someone's opinion, but then I have to do what I feel is best for my daughter. I am sure you know this by now, but psychotropic drugs don't have stable effects. A drug that works at one time, as it changes the chemsitry of the brain, can later either become ineffective or make the problem worse. The brian and the meds are a in a constant state of flux, and that is especially true for children and adolescents. I think the other posters who advised you to get her inpatient and off all meds and start over were absolutely correct. If I were you, I would start working right now on an appeal to the insurance company and force the issue. I am so sorry that you and your beautiful daughter are going through this, and I understand better than you might think about the fight for life. I have to agree with bluebird about the medicines needing to be changed over time sometimes, because I have gone through this with my medications for bipolar disorder. I see that you saw tremendous improvement at the start of the med, but that something isn't working now. I have had that happen, in my case, specifically with Zyprexa. I had to go off of it and start a new mood-stabilizer because for what-ever reason it lost it's effectiveness for me after about 1-1/2 years. I became overly anxious, depressed, disorganized, and suicidal. I also did things that I have no memory of, but there is a paper trail to prove I did it, and also first-hand accounts from people I trust. I know my situation is not the same as your daughter's, but it does seem the pdoc may want to change dosages or medications since these are some of the listed side-effects, albeit rare. Believe me, I am in no way judging you or your situation, and I don't believe bluebird is either. But being on the outside looking in, and at the same time, having experienced a loss of effectiveness in a med., I felt I needed to write. Please keep us updated and know that I will be praying for your daughter!
|
||
|
Copyright Autism-PDD.net
|