Jun 30 2008
Beach Day
Why would a “hyperactive” kid not jump at the chance to go out to play or to go to the beach? Gus had to be dragged out to the beach today. He might still be tuckered out from our camping trip, but it seems that he has been getting especially drowsy from the Strattera. I’ve noticed a certain lethargy lately, followed by crankiness, that is very out of character for him. It’s depressing, to be honest. Autism didn’t steal my son, but apparently, Strattera is making a good go of it. The things he loves are only providing half the joy they used to.
At the beach, he was so zoned out that the minimal focus he may be gaining (which I don’t see any, personally) is pretty much negated. He’s become unresponsive; it’s like he’s regressed to where he was a year ago.
And of course since he’s not noticing what’s going on around him, less than he had been prior to being on the meds, he was doing things to irritate other people on the beach like the kid who called him “weird” and started splashing Gus and yelling at him. (Ironic side note, the kid didn’t want to be splashed, yet felt the need to keep splashing Gus when Gus was moving away instead of just stopping. I won’t get started on how much I want to pummel kids who go out of their way to be mean to my son.) Then there was the woman who got splashed and Gus had to get out of the water. She looked annoyed, but at the same time, if you’re in a lake with a bunch of kids splashing around, isn’t it kind of expected that you might get wet?
Anyway…
One more week of this stuff, and then I’m politely telling the doctor where to stick his prescription. Gus has had his “significant length of time on a good dose.” I’m done with it.
Don’t give up, you may just need to try another drug in the Strattera family of drugs. My son has been on Strattera for a little over 4 years now and seems to be doing fine on it? He has so many other issues that sometimes it is hard to tell. Anyway, he is less hyper on Stratter than without. Before this he was on Adderall which worked great for years and then quit.
Good luck but, stand your ground with the doctors. You are the one that lives with you child and know him better than they do. I think that medicating autistic children is more of an art than a science.
Good luck with everything dont give up hope.