Posted by Brenda on March 9, 2000, at 21:22:37
In reply to Anxious Teenager, posted by Karen on March 9, 2000, at 17:21:33
> Hello Saint James, Dr. Bob and Everyone:
>
> Things are going better for my son now. He is at home after attending residential school for six months.
> What a wonderful change in the kid we sent out six months ago and the nice young man we got in return!
>
> Of course our son is still ADHD and anxious. His anxiety sometimes really gets the best of him and he can not perform daily activities as well as he would like. Bad performance translate into poor self esteem and the he gets depressed. This is a young man that had his first suicide attempt at age nine, his most
> recent suicide attempt was at age fourteen years. He is now sixteen years of age. For nearly eight months he has not been on any medication.
>
> While at the residential program he was able to attend a high school with an enrollment of about 1,300 students in grades 9 through 12. He took all regular classes and had two periods per day where he went to the Resource Room for assistance. Once was in the morning to verify all homework was completed and answer any questions about the homework. The last period of the day was also spent in the Resource Room affording our son the chance to get his homework done and obtain assistance if needed. He could also go to the Resource Room during the day if he had trouble concentrating or was frustrated.
>
> He was involved in football and loved it. He attended the Homecoming Dance as well as the Winter Formal Dance. His date for the Winter Formal was one of the
> court princesses! He learned to love school and feel successful. His grades were always at C and above with the semester grades being a 3.6! This from a young man that had not been in regular school since the fifth grade!
>
> The residential place where our son stayed was a 320 acre ranch with horses, ostrichs, sheep, three monkeys, a brown bear, two wallabye and several dogs.
> Two of the dogs were Bull Mastiffs that the program adopted. My son trained one of these dogs to be the guide dog for the other that was blind! He also crafted a harness so that the two dogs could be together.
>
> All in all wonderful progress. Our son is attending our local high school. Staff there have tried to fashion a program similar to the one at the high school that had 1,300 students, but this local high school has over 2,000 students. Many of the students are familiar to my son as he has played on various summer sport teams with these kids over the years.
>
> The class schedule we were able to get for our son during the middle of the school year was not as we would have hoped, but it is similar to the class
> schedule he had at the smaller high school. We want to build on that wonderful success and keep this young man headed toward a high school diploma.
>
> Whether it is the newess of the situation, the increased student numbers or having to prove himself all over again, our son is now struggling with
> terrible anxiety. His first day went fairly well, but the second day he had to ask the Language Arts teacher to permit him to exit the classroom, take his assignment with him and go to the Resource Room where he could attend to his work without disruption.
>
> The third day, our son phoned me requesting to go home as he was sick during weight lifting class. He vomited repeatedly. He has told us that the Social Studies class does not have a textbook and that the instructor lectures alot. Our son was struggling in his math class, but now seems to have settled into that class fairly well.
>
> His stomach aches, diarhea and headaches are all sincere and verifiable. When he gets home from school, things seem to lessen up toward the evening.
> It sounds like pure anxiety to me. I have phoned his psychiatrist of six years standing for an appointment.
>
> Today, my son phoned me at work again and asked to go home as the diarhea had started up and was very bad. He also told me he felt sad today. My husband went to school this time to retrieve our son and bring him home for the day. I have a neighbor lady checking in on him from time to time. As the day progress, so does our son's health. He still has a headache, doesn't feel as sad as this morning and the diarhea has nearly stopped.
>
> I know that the pscyhistrist will suggest medication and we have spoken to our son about this. The Director of the residential place where our son spent the last seven months encouraged clients not to take medications and this seemed to work fine for our son.
> He still struggled from time to time with impulse problems, but on the whole did just fine as his grades
> attest to. He knows that he is struggling now, but
> fears getting on medication again as he gained so much weight. He also said that he could think more clearly
> after going off his previous medications. I think our son also feels that the medication is a crutch and that it is something he needs to be ashamed of. We have tried to point out to our son that he was on eight medications before with three of those meds being for side effects from the other five!
>
> Paxil is the first thing that comes to mind as I think about what meds might help. I do know there is a great weight concern with this med. Our son used to smoke to calm himself and steady his nerves. We did not know about this until the people at the residential place told us about it. He was able to quit smoking cold turkey. I have told our son that medication would be more appropriate as opposed to smoking. It is not a dirty habit like smoking, doesn't cause cancer and is certainly more socailly
> acceptable. Apparently the nicotine calmed him when he smoked?????
>
> I'd like to have some medication ideas in my mind to discuss with the psychiatrist and I am hopeful that one of you folks will be able to respond to me with some ideas. Obviously the ADHD doesn't seem to be the biggest concern now, it is the anxiety and potential for depression again.
>
> Is there a medication that would address the anxiety and also be good for any residual depression and ADHD.
> The impulsiveness with the ADHD and inability to concentrate in group settings is being worked on as always in therapy, but any benefits gained from another medication that would address the anxiety
> couldn't hurt!
>
> Many thanks to each of you for your positive attention to my request for suggestions. Our son has worked so very hard to improve himself, we simply do not want to see all the progress go down the drain. Our son's ability to succeed seems to be tied closely with his self esteem. If he is feeling good about himself he takes chances and makes progress. Likewise if he is feeling anxious and can't "get it done" he gets depressed and spirals downward.
>
> Again, any medication ideas would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> KarenKaren - BTW - my son just turned 24 and is doing great. He finally graduated high school, has a great job ($40,000 a yr.) and a lovely girfriend. I'm sharing this by way of offering hope for his future.
You're in my thoughts. B.
poster:Brenda
thread:26497
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000302/msgs/26550.html