Sunday, June 17, 2007

Quiet times in the Mags household

The OG has gone to visit her grandparents, for a week. She is slated to attend golf camp for an hour and a half every day, and then will assumedly be just hanging out with them at the pool for the rest of it.

I had thought I would be glad for the relative silence, but I am feeling so anxious about how she will do with them that I am actually completely on edge. Seriously, she can be great, but she can also be mind-bogglingly hyperactive and stressful.

I feel like we've come to a good place around here, but it takes daily vigilance, with both of us constantly checking and rechecking our actions. We work at this very hard, this family does. And I get nervous when I leave her with people who may not have the most recent knowledge that we've acquired about Tourette's...no matter how well they may know her.*

I guess I have no choice but to hope that she's finally gained the ability to generalize the skills she's learned here to other situations outside of this house and this family. As we are constantly reminding ourselves; progress, not perfection.

Jesus, it is so quiet over here, though. It's kind of spooky. I can literally hear crickets.
------------------------------------------
* I did mention that she's been diagnosed with Tourette's, didn't I?

Well, she has. First by a neurologist, and then confirmed by the wacky autism doctor. (He's not really wacky; however, I am still unsold on the clinic, though I am giving some of the supplements a try. I figure DHA, Vitamin B, and acidophilus isn't going to hurt anyone.)

Yeah, Tourette's. I thought it was strange at first, but now that I've learned more about it, I am convinced they are right. There is clearly, unquestionably Tourette's on both my side and on The Man's. It is very comorbid with anxiety disorder and ADHD, along with the cognitive inflexibility that the girl has in spades. Her tics, always present, have morphed and gotten worse as she gets older, and she is completely unable to stop herself from doing them.

There's medications that can help the tics, but they are serious business...Risperdal and Abilify and Seroquel, things like those. Bad side effects, like massive weight gain. And, emotional-wise, I am totally leery of even the small dose of Zoloft that she's on. Kids kill themselves on that shit sometimes, you know? And, of course, there are many ADHD medications, but a lot of those exacerbate tic and anxiety disorders, so you have to be careful there...we're on Straterra at the moment, which is not a stimulant.

So, I shit you not, right this second, OG is taking, per day:

1 Straterra (that might go to two small doses)
1 Zoloft (small dosage)
1 Diflucan (an antifungal for itching; this is temporary)
2 acidophilus (chewables, made of strawberry yogurt, basically)
4 DHA capsules (which are HUGE; I cannot believe that she can swallow them)
1 multivitamin
1 B-complex vitamin
(Yes, I know, this looks entirely insane. Consider, though, that the vast majority of these pills don't actually do anything. I've become one of those suckers that is so desperate they'll try anything; charlatans of the world, prepare for my pocketbook to be emptied into your coffers.)

Anyway, I encourage all of you to do a cursory read-up on Tourette's. It's underdiagnosed, and really misunderstood.
------------------------------------
Mags summer obsessions, part 1:

"No, Mama! Not the pink bow! I didn't mean to poop over there! Or over there!"

4 comments:

Karla said...

1) Wow. Tourette's? Really?

I'll research it at work today. Well, I'm glad that you have a diagnoses, at least there is something to work forward from.

2) Your tomatos totally rock, I remember you gave me some once and they was TASTY.

3) I'm a vitamin whore too, and am convinced all these "slimming" things (sometimes, unfortunately also spelled 'sliming") I am taking after every meal WILL WORK dammit.

4) No. Bows. On. Dogs! This is why cat people are cat people and dog people are dog people! It's obvious i have to get home and get you straightened out! At the verry least, use red or black, fa Chrissakes! No pink! Remember your Goth roots!

Badger said...

Dude. I know well that anxiety of which you speak, when your quirky kid is with another caregiver for an extended period of time. Gah! Hate that feeling.

My boy child has mild Tourette's, co-morbid with the AS stuff. His tics get a LOT worse when he's stressed out, but if he's not, they are barely noticeable. My absolute favorite book about Tourette's is actually a work of fiction: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem. In fact, that is pretty much my all-time favorite book ever, period.

Anonymous said...

That's one of the better Wikipedia entries I've ever read. Though I think I'd reword this:

"The [name Tourette's] was bestowed by Jean-Martin Charcot ... on behalf of ... Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette ... who published an account of nine patients with Tourette's in 1885."

I suspect he published an account of nine patients with similar multiple tic disorders.

pedantically yours,

Lee said...

Karla:

Regarding the silly pink bow, bear in mind: That furry little thing of which she keeps posting pictures isn't really a dog. At least, not according to how most people would define canine. It's really more akin to a hyperactive guinea pig.