Jul 07 2008
Bye Bye, Strattera
Gus saw the specialist today and it was his last day on Strattera. Yay. I should feel happier, but the whole encounter was a mite stressful (and if you don’t believe me, just ask the waitress who watched me binge eat my way back to sanity this evening). Let me just say that under no circumstances should a doctor make a conclusion about a child patient who has been sitting in a waiting room for an hour and a half, after sitting in a car for an hour and a half, after being in school for the entire morning. Heck, I needed medication after that!
The kids were off the charts by the time the doctor came in to talk with us. They were fussing so loudly that sitting three feet apart, the doctor and I could not hear each other. He got annoyed at one point because he seemed to think that I was insisting on trying Focalin; I was insisting that Gus stay off meds at least for the summer. Clearly, that was not the right answer either, although he did eventually say, “Whatever you want.”
Apparently, actively listening to patients is not one of the things they test to obtain a doctor’s license. Yelling at patients who disagree seems to be an ingrained skill, however.
He suggested that we consider Abilify. He doesn’t want to go the stimulant route because weight loss is a big issue. But my son is not psychotic, so I am having trouble reconciling the idea of putting him on an anti-psychotic drug. To use the vernacular: WTF?
I really wanted to crawl under a rock by the time we left the office. The children were fairly calm once we left the office. M fell asleep almost immediately (after maliciously dumping water on Gus - they were not feeling warm fuzzies toward each other) and Gus chilled out listening to the Beatles on the way home. We went to a diner and said they could have whatever they wanted (non-dairy diet be damned).
All is calm now and the little cherubs are asleep. More importantly, the little cherubs are both drug-free, at least for now.
