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Our first day back to school went well, but day two was another story. He complained, got angry, threw his pencils...anything to express his negativity toward school. I, myself, was feeling quite emotional & sent both of us to our rooms. I called my mom to vent & ended up crying to her. I felt like a horrible mother & at the end of my rope, not sure what to do but wanting to just retreat into a hole & hope everything would pass on its own. She listened. She comforted. She tried to assure me that I was not a bad mother, no matter how much I felt I was.
She asked if I wanted her to have my dad (HandyGramps) call me. I said to not bother him at work. Well, she called him anyway & shortly thereafter, he called me. Now he is more blunt in giving advice so he balanced out my mom's comforting. He wondered why we hadn't upped The Archangel's meds already & said that should be my first step.
For the next week or so, we had him taking 2 mg of Intuniv per day. There was NO change. This med is not like other ADHD meds that can be started & stopped at any time. Intuniv needs to changed by steps. Knowing that the psychiatrist would have us stop it due to no positive changes, I decided to go back to just 1 mg until our next appointment in about a week & a half.
Finally, the day of the appointment arrived & we ended up rescheduling. It was very icy that day. Our van had been giving us problems, so I didn't feel safe driving it anyway, let alone in the inclimate weather. The rescheduled appointment wasn't for another month, so I had the receptionist transfer me to the doctor's voicemail. After he returned my call & I explained what had been going on, he said to stop the Intuniv & we would discuss other options at our next appointment. He also suggested calling the receptionist back to have her put us on a waitlist. That worked out well...she called an hour later & got him in Feb. 15.
In the meantime, he did have an appointment w/ his psychologist. I asked to speak w/ her alone first so that I could explain how things had been since starting Intuniv. When she talked to The Archangel, she drew up a circular diagram (EVENT - THINK - FEEL - DO) to help him see where his anger is coming from, how he reacts, & how it starts the process all over again. It was intended to help him stop & think before impulsively flying off the handle. Did it help? Well, it didn't change things straight away. So far, I think it's more of an "after the fact" aid - a look back & see how he got from calm to chaos.
She asked if I wanted her to have my dad (HandyGramps) call me. I said to not bother him at work. Well, she called him anyway & shortly thereafter, he called me. Now he is more blunt in giving advice so he balanced out my mom's comforting. He wondered why we hadn't upped The Archangel's meds already & said that should be my first step.
For the next week or so, we had him taking 2 mg of Intuniv per day. There was NO change. This med is not like other ADHD meds that can be started & stopped at any time. Intuniv needs to changed by steps. Knowing that the psychiatrist would have us stop it due to no positive changes, I decided to go back to just 1 mg until our next appointment in about a week & a half.
Finally, the day of the appointment arrived & we ended up rescheduling. It was very icy that day. Our van had been giving us problems, so I didn't feel safe driving it anyway, let alone in the inclimate weather. The rescheduled appointment wasn't for another month, so I had the receptionist transfer me to the doctor's voicemail. After he returned my call & I explained what had been going on, he said to stop the Intuniv & we would discuss other options at our next appointment. He also suggested calling the receptionist back to have her put us on a waitlist. That worked out well...she called an hour later & got him in Feb. 15.
In the meantime, he did have an appointment w/ his psychologist. I asked to speak w/ her alone first so that I could explain how things had been since starting Intuniv. When she talked to The Archangel, she drew up a circular diagram (EVENT - THINK - FEEL - DO) to help him see where his anger is coming from, how he reacts, & how it starts the process all over again. It was intended to help him stop & think before impulsively flying off the handle. Did it help? Well, it didn't change things straight away. So far, I think it's more of an "after the fact" aid - a look back & see how he got from calm to chaos.
(To Be Continued)
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