Thank you for taking time to reply. I will try and answer your questions.


[QUOTE=Mari;654499]Hi,

Has your son been hospitalized?
Was he evaluated by a team of mental health specialists who set you up with support services?
I tried for 3 years to get a dx but no one would say what was wrong. I was told he had "complex needs" I got ****** at being passed from one person to another so I told my GP I wanted to see a team I had heard about in a very good hospital in London. We spent a day with the team and that's how we got the DX but they still said he was hard to DX.



Has the pdoc tried meds other than Abilify?
Is the Abilify working for sleep? Does he sleep?

His psychiatrist has given him other meds but he had bad reactions to them and on a very small dose. He was on Respiridone but was getting constant De-ja-vu so had to come off. There was another med that I can't remember the name of, that made his limbs jerk around. The Ablify dose is only 2ml and he even had a reaction to that after he was ill with vomiting and didn't take it for 10 days. I made the mistake of giving him 2mls straight off instead of building him back up and he started to talk funny and said his tongue was stiff. I had to stop and build it up from 1ml.

He does sleep but very little. He goes to seep at midnight to 2am. He has the Melatonin to help, again only a small dose of 3ml.

In the UK only a psychiatrist can prescribe these drugs for kids. They are not licensed for kids so a GP or Peadiatrician can't give them.



I'm aware that you recognize this as a crisis. You somehow need a team of people to recognize this as a crisis and take action.
It is wrong in 100 different ways for your daughter to have to live with a violent brother in the house. She is supposed to be safe and she should be allowed an expectation of safety from her mother.

I never let my daughter get hurt. I take all the violence he throws out.

Make sure she has the phone number to call the police so that they can take him away to a hospital in an emergency.

In the UK if we call the police we will lose custody of him so that will be a very last resort.


By any chance is your son on any med beyond Abilify and Melontonin?
Is he on a med for ADHD? He might not have ADHD and if he does, the protocol is for the raging and violence to stop before medicating for ADHD.

He is not on any ADHD meds.


I'm curious about his milkshake and carb diet. What if you stopped giving him cow mik and switched to rice milk or almond milk in case he has an intolerance to the milkshakes? Try cutting off the pasta and bread. Stick with rice and non gluten / wheat products for three weeks and see if you notice anything different.
With his current diet he is probably missing some nutrients. Do you add vits and minerals to the milkshakes?

The milkshakes have half the daily reqirements of all vitamins and minerals. I also give him a vitamin and mineral pill every day so he gets all he needs.
I have thought about trying to cut out carbs but he has food phobia and wont eat anything else. He notices even if we change brands so changing to rice milk would not work. He is so thin he needs to have the milkshakes just to stop his weight falling dangerously low.


I am the only on in my family who is dx'd bipolar but plenty of people on mom's and dad's family tress are undiagnosed with anxiety, alcoholism, eating disorders, depression, street drug use, and so on. I'm not a researcher, but some of this stuff on a spectrum seems to run in families.

Both my grandmothers were alcoholics.

--Essentially, know that you are not alone and that other families have struggles. Get more help from docs for him. And get more support for yourself and your daughter.

I called his psychiatrist today and will be seeing her on Monday


--He could very well grow out of by the time he is a young adult.
Keep hoping for him. He needs you.

I will never give up hope and will fight to get him what he needs.

Wendy.