FoggyRock General Forum

I also have a son who has the diagnose of autism , bi polar, mental retardation and pica has been present in the past.

Medication has been a nightmare for us. We started with one med when he was 6 - I was heartbroken then. Now at 16 I can't tell ya the med's he has been on and at the date he is taking 19 pills a day. He does seem more stable the past 6 weeks than the past six months. I keep data on all of his behavior - moos swings, and b/m's.

I recently watched a show on bipolar on public television and it was so enlighten. It is so sad what these people live with and the mood instability is the worse. But I learned that for some people it can take up to 12 different attempts with meds to find the right one or combo of med's.  then once found the quality of life is so much greater.

I don't believe for a second that you are leaving any stone unturned - you sound like a mother that is working very hard for her son. I'll be 100% honest here. sometimes I wish I would have never started with the meds but I know in my heart it is helping him. Lot less crying and sadness and does seem to have a longer fuse..



good luck

We are going through similar issues with our daughter, who is 12.5 years old.  We have managed to keep her at home with us, but barely, and recently received the terrible news that we have to take her off her current bipolar med (risperdal) because it has caused such severe weight gain in the year she has been on it.  We recently had her blood tested and her prolactin hormone levels are extremely high, either a side effect of the risperdal or caused by a pituitary tumor.  If the levels do not come down once she is off the medication, we will have to do a sedated MRI to check for a tumor.  She is severely allergic to lactose, making her react and become quite psychotic on many of the bipolar meds (and any other meds that contain lactose as a filler).  Keeping dairy out of her diet is really a challenge, but when we can, she is much calmer and easier to handle.  The tantrums caused by the lactose in the medications is different than those caused by food, though, and I have never been able to get a doctor to witness or explain it to me.  Maybe because it goes through the blood stream to the brain?  She truly becomes frantic--but because she is largely non-verbal, she can't really tell me what happens.  I only know that I have seen it time and time again, and recently had the same experience confirmed again when the pharmacy inadvertantly messed up and gave us a new form of thyroid medication that contained lactose.  She was completely out of control for a day, and I knew immediately that we had been given a bad medication.  They are tantrums like no other.  So far, risperdal is the only medication she has been able to take with any success, because it comes in two forms that are lactose free--a liquid and dissolving tablet.  I am devastated that we have to stop using this medication, terrified that she might have a tumor--and terrified that she might not!  If it is a tumor, we could treat that and get back on this medication that has kept her in our home this year when we were desperate!  Anyway, I just wanted to mention the dairy free thing--if you have done restricted diets in the past, that is something to think about, and if you haven't it might be an option to try.  I really hate that it makes a difference, because mainstream medicine still does not accept that it can be making a difference--but I've seen it too often with my own daughter with my own eyes to not believe it is a factor in her symptoms.