Sunday, February 21, 2016

12!!!

If you have not been reading or following our facebook page, first I will say "please do!". Simply because it is easier for me to update and load things up to that page than this one. :) Plus, I am on FB more than Blogger.

A LOT has happened over the last year and a half or so. We will start with what has been going on since November of 2015. The school year was rocky from the start. He had developed some awful behaviors and things were only getting worse. The school called us one day and said that he could not return until he had completed another inpatient stay at a child psych unit. WE did not feel like he needed that again, so after many, many meetings and hiring an advocate, he is now being instructed in our home (by his staff from his school, and his teacher from the last two years). We are also now seeing a new psychiatrist, a new pediatrician, and are involved in family therapy. It has taken us months to get things sorted out to where we are at now, and of course our journey continues.

As of now, Nick just turned 12 years old! He has had some huge anxiety issues that we think have been the culprit of his decline behaviorally for the past few months. He was not sleeping very well, having obsessive thoughts, panic attacks when going outside, aggression, not eating very well and losing weight, physical things like twitching and clenching his jaw, and could not function at school-hence the behaviors.

Our former psychiatrist did not feel comfortable treating him any longer, so we had to find a new one. We finally saw him for the first time last Wednesday and he increased his clonidine and changed some of the times we administer the other meds to optimize sleep potential. The difference has been amazing so far. I know it may not last very long, and I know we will have to change things again as he is still growing (last check up he is 5'1"), but for now, he is doing much better. We are working on more independence in doing tasks like laundry, dishes, self care, and all that stuff on top of his academics. We are also doing more exposure therapy to get him through his anxiety. All of this makes for a very busy week usually, and becoming too "lazy" to write long and thought out posts such as this one :) By the end of the day, I simply want to curl up and do nothing. So, follow our FB page for all the latest and greatest :)