Original post here if anyone wants to read it:
I took him yesterday to his first appointment with a pediatric psychriatrist that specializes in ADHD. The three of us spent about 2 hours talking (most of the questions were directed at my son, but some at me, such as things that pertained to infancy and when he would have been too young to remember). To make a long story short, he confirmed the (much) earlier diagnoses of ADHD, ASD and generalized anxiety disorder, as well as major depressive disorder (which reading up on, explains a lot of the issues I explained about him in my previous post), social anxiety disorder (we knew he had this, but no one bothered to give him an official diagnosis for it) and separation anxiety disorder. We discussed his current medications, first he's lowering the dosage and weaning him off of one completely, another he's going to switch him to another type (I think he wants to wean off one at a time, or something, not sure exactly), and the third, is fine for him to continue taking, we just giving it to him the wrong time of day, and for the wrong amount (prescription was for 1.5 pills per day, which meant splitting them in half... the pills aren't supposed to be cut, because they are extended release... not a danger to him specifically, but it made those half pills completely ineffective). He corrected the dosage, and explained which time of day was best to give it to him and why. After he's weaned off of he other, he's going to prescribe a different medication. He also wants to address the ARFID issue. OMG, first damn doctor, ever, that has not just blown that off. I almost wanted to cry.
I'm sad that my son is going through all of this, and with not having the right doctor, we didn't know what we were looking at. But I'm relieved that we have the diagnoses now, and we can start doing something to help him. I hope. I texted him during his lunch break earlier, and asked him how he was and he said he felt good, and that he hadn't fallen asleep in his first period class this morning, like he always does, which, if it's because he's now taking that medication at the correct time, is a good sign, then ugh, I really wish I had realized it sooner.
On a side note, after we were talking for a little while, he asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with anything. I said no, but I had strong suspicions (and with ADHD being genetic, it's not hard to guess where my kid gets it from). He said he could see it, but of course, no official diagnosis there, because obviously he's not my doctor.
I took him yesterday to his first appointment with a pediatric psychriatrist that specializes in ADHD. The three of us spent about 2 hours talking (most of the questions were directed at my son, but some at me, such as things that pertained to infancy and when he would have been too young to remember). To make a long story short, he confirmed the (much) earlier diagnoses of ADHD, ASD and generalized anxiety disorder, as well as major depressive disorder (which reading up on, explains a lot of the issues I explained about him in my previous post), social anxiety disorder (we knew he had this, but no one bothered to give him an official diagnosis for it) and separation anxiety disorder. We discussed his current medications, first he's lowering the dosage and weaning him off of one completely, another he's going to switch him to another type (I think he wants to wean off one at a time, or something, not sure exactly), and the third, is fine for him to continue taking, we just giving it to him the wrong time of day, and for the wrong amount (prescription was for 1.5 pills per day, which meant splitting them in half... the pills aren't supposed to be cut, because they are extended release... not a danger to him specifically, but it made those half pills completely ineffective). He corrected the dosage, and explained which time of day was best to give it to him and why. After he's weaned off of he other, he's going to prescribe a different medication. He also wants to address the ARFID issue. OMG, first damn doctor, ever, that has not just blown that off. I almost wanted to cry.
I'm sad that my son is going through all of this, and with not having the right doctor, we didn't know what we were looking at. But I'm relieved that we have the diagnoses now, and we can start doing something to help him. I hope. I texted him during his lunch break earlier, and asked him how he was and he said he felt good, and that he hadn't fallen asleep in his first period class this morning, like he always does, which, if it's because he's now taking that medication at the correct time, is a good sign, then ugh, I really wish I had realized it sooner.
On a side note, after we were talking for a little while, he asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with anything. I said no, but I had strong suspicions (and with ADHD being genetic, it's not hard to guess where my kid gets it from). He said he could see it, but of course, no official diagnosis there, because obviously he's not my doctor.