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This first paragraph is for background info. I have a 4-year-old ds, who is totally great and on target in all areas, developmentally on target, intellectually (IQ tested at 118, but I think it's actually higher, because they said he doesn't know his letters, color or numbers, but he does and even knows the letter sounds, etc.). He was exposed to Cocaine, Alcohol, Xanax abuse, Cigarrettes, Pot... We were in the delivery room for him and for his half bio-sister a year earlier (she's 5). Both have a tentative diagnosis of FASD and a preliminary diagnosis of ADHD (by Neropsych). My ds is an outside of the box, creative, outgoing, hyperactive child with very little impulse control. But, he is not typically a tantrum thrower. He's happy, giggly out of control. He has periods of more defiance, but generally is realtively agreeable. He was also checked for diabetes when he was almost 2, so two years ago. He was waking up in a hypoglycemic state when not eating the day before because he was sick. They decided that he just needed to always eat something, but he did not have diabetes. He has been relatively fine since then with his mood (not necessarily behavior, though). I do notice that, on the rare day that he skips a snack, he will throw a pretty big fit about something. And there have been moments when I've wondered about his blood sugar, but not enough to look into it. He has not been in a full hypoglycemic state since then. Neuropsych and my kids' pediatrician suggested we try a low dose of a stimulant. We started with Adderall 10 days ago, and my dd is doing great. But my ds was freezing cold, shivering, very irritable, swiping his eyes with his hand and blinking strangely, would not eat or drink, said his head hurt, was yawning uncontrollably and so low energy. We saw huge positive changes on the ADHD part of him, though. He got a fever with a sore throat on Sunday, and these symptoms continued. He slowly started having fits, being angry and mean (not him). For example, he normally chases the kids around with a toy sword, but on Adderall he actually hit them and hurt them (sword is gone for good). He was having massive meltdowns. Then I realized that most of the symptoms he was having were hypoglycemic symptoms. I took him off the med on Wednesday, expecting his behavior to go back to normal. So, he did not get the meds on Wed, Thurs or Fri. He is still throwing fits like crazy. He is RAGING. He spent a total of about 4 hours SCREAMING on Wednesday. He is so not acting like his normal self, still, even with no meds in his system. The only symptom that seems to be left is the raging. He is so defiant now. If I feed him every hour or so, he's better, and I give him sugar when he seems ready to have a meltdown, and it's stopped all meltdowns. I would get him up from bed, and he would be defiant about getting dressed, screaming and running away from me, I would give him some sugar and juice and 10 minutes later, he would be my happy boy again. But he had a massive RAGE at lunch today (after he had eaten most of his lunch). He screamed for 45 minutes. I have to hold him down when we're out in public. This behavior is harder to deal with than the ADHD behaviors. He is now out of control ADHD and emotionally out of control. Anybody have any ideas of what could be going on? My doctor said to keep him off the med until we get him in to an endocronologist to check into the blood sugar. I felt like the fits were caused by low blood sugar intitially, but when he had one at lunch, it hardly seems possible. I do home daycare, and our group goes out every single morning and has since he was born, so it is really hard to deal with his rages with 4-5 other kids around. They are scared and I feel like I'm not offering them the care that they need. The ADHD was doable, because they just knew that my ds would not follow the rules, etc. I need to figure out what is going on, but I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions?
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Neuropsychology diagnosed him. He has a genetic history of ADHD and bipolar. I have a feeling it was low blood sugar. All of the symptoms point to it. He woke up 3 days after taking him off his typical ADHD but happy child. But I am feeding him every 1.5 hours and give him a piece of candy whenever he starts to get crabby. I think the stimulant just made his metabolism speed up and he hardly ate.
I just saw this and was wondering how your kiddo was doing now? We have been toying with the idea of meds at some point in the future (DS is extremely hyperactive with zero impulse control). But, I have been reading that stims can send kids who are actually bipolar (since ADHD and bipolar are often misdiagnosed) completely off the wall. So, we're very fearful of trying stims as DS is already aggressive enough. Did his behavior stay "typical" after stopping the stims?
Adoptsis, My ds was sick the last time we tried Adderall. He had a sore throat, and complained of a headache. So, he didn't eat. He also is hypoglycemic, therefore needs to eat about every 1.5 hours. He wouldn't eat because of the sore throat and Adderall. I didn't realize this until after I took him off the med. He has gotten crabby at random times in the past and I've always wondered why (usually I realize we had skipped snack when this happens), but I thought he had outgrown the hypoglycemia, until this. I put him back on Adderall a few days ago. He does get to the point of huge meltdowns, and I give him glucose/sugar and he snaps back to his old self. He also gets mean when his blood sugar drops, and he turns back into his sweet self when he gets sugar. So, I'm sure it's blood sugar. I do have to convince him to eat often, and drink milk. That makes all the difference. He is doing well this time on the Adderall. He is calmer, much less impulsive (he is sleeping with his door unlocked!!!!! :)). The adderall never made him worse, I just thought it made him angry and explosive. I now know it was blood sugar. So, I'm trying the Adderall again. I am just monitoring him very closely. I have always worried that both my kids have bipolar and not ADHD, but they are both doing well on Adderall. So, I assume that it's ADHD. It helps, regardless, so we'll just wait and see. I have also thought of them as being sensory seeking. Both have been diagnosed with sensory modulation issues. My dd has always chewed on everything (her hair, nails, toys, paper, etc.), to a very extreme point. I started giving her gum to chew so she wouldn't chew paper or glue. She would obsess about gum, asking for it constantly and crying if she couldn't have it. She has not once asked for it since being on Adderall and she no longer chews anything and I've only seen her lick the pole at the pool once since being on it. This is huge. Doesn't it show that the chewing/licking/mouthing is ADHD related and not sensory related? Anyway, I am happy with our decision to try medication. Couldn't you try it with your ds and take him off it if the results are not good?