Aggression is almost gone!
 

I am really beside myself with my son these days, he's been really acting out badly. At school two weeks ago he took a cane from another student and hit a teacher over the head with it. The same day he hit another one in the eye, and he's also ripping up clothes and even a pair of shoes. He's really having a hard time and so are we trying to deal with it all. We're supposed to move in May to a great place I think will make a huge difference in all our lives. But that doesn't help us with the right now unfortunately.

Right now he's been really aggressive and it's so hard to deal with. I just wanted to share a little about how it's been, those of you who remember us and know us from BT will be glad to know that we got some blood work done and NO signs of hypothyriodism or diabetes, and he's losing weight, so things on that front are good, it's just his behavior that is really been rough. I think the hardest thing is when he hurts me and run away laughing, I can't get him to give him a time out and it's really frustrating me. *sigh*

We're still working with a behavior analyst and all but it's not really having any effects. I wish there were something we could do that we're not already doing to help get this under control. But anyway, thanks for listening. ;)

Long to help but I need to know your son's age.

(((Pamster)))
Left you message elsewhere. Every time I read of sudden changes or increased aggresson like this, I have to wonder whether it was the medication or medication interactions that was drawing it out. Children grow. His weight is changing, whether that's up or down. It might be just a little change in the balance of the doses compared to weight change that tips things off balance. Plus some of our children who are on autism spectrum can be extremely sensitive to certain medications or changes. I'm not saying to put it all down to that, but it was a biggie here for causing irritability and aggressive behaviour outbursts.

That was just how it seemed to work here for my son when he was little. Things would go smoothly for a long time and then everything seemed to fall apart. I really feel for you. I know how tough it can be. I think your son is 10? but not sure. 10 was difficult age for my son. He's doing well now. Hang on there.

Yup he's ten Lara. I sure hope he gets better soon, it's been so tough dealing with this, He's throwing shoes and boots at me and still acting out. We used to go out with my mom on the weekends but with him acting like this we just can't, it upsets her too much to see him like this and I completely understand since I am HER baby, seeing him hurting me like this really gets to her. I have to go for now because he's just absolutely on the warpath this morning.

I did get the message elsewhere Lara, thank you for caring so much, it really means a lot to me. :)

Hi Pamster,

It's not uncommon for kids on the spectrum to demonstrate increased aggression as testosterone starts surging, which can happen around age 9 - 10. Even if you don't see any obvious signs of pubertal development, a lot is happening behind the scenes before the hair & whatnot are evident.

While many folks have had success with biomedical approaches in autism, if aggression is severe in most cases medication is required -- sometimes temporarily (in biomed), or long term, if conventional treatment is undertaken.

Best wishes.

Thanks for the well wishes SnooZQ, I really appreciate it. :) And the words of wisdom about his hormones, that is what the neurologist said at our appt monday. His p-doc has decreased his abilify because of suspected Akathisia and we're looking at just over a week of him being on the decreased dosage.

It's getting better then it was last week. He's been so restless and not wanting to sit down that I have to wonder if he really did have Akathisia. It seems like he might have had it and it's getting better, but who really knows? We don't go to see the p-doc again until April but that's not so far away. :)

We have been using fish oils and B12 with some good results, but that's as far as we've gone, no special dieting other then low carb dieting for awhile but that was also for seizure control, or attempted seizure control. He still needs medication for that. I am feeling a little less stressed today because he's calming down somewhat from how he was this morning, but all last week it was terrible. :p

I knew puberty wasn't going to be a picnic but sheesh it's definitely going to be a bumpy ride if this is any indication. Thanks everyone for the moral support, I really feel better having posted about it. It's been awhile since I posted I know, but I wanted to reach out to you all here and see if you had any advice. :)

It is that time of the month for the kiddos....
 

We've seen it havily at work right now too..... And my son's have gone through it within the last week also. Funny thing is this....they are also congested and had a cold as the behaviors got better. I really ponder is the agitation was really more because he was tired and wasn't feeling good. We talked about hospitalizing Zach (and I work at the mental health hospital)...he was that out of control. He was assaultive to staff at the store, the gym, his friends at school, us at home, impulsively running in front of cares.....last weeks sunday through thursday. Now life is back to normal. I did do some 0.5 mg of Ativan just to get through it. But now it's all back to normal.


Good luck, take care of yourself.

So far so good this morning, but it's a long way to get through the day. I am sorry your kids were having major aggression too cckids, I have a question though, does your p-doc give you avitan for them? I haven't had that for Jackie and wonder if it might not help him when he's really melting down and going through this horrible time with weaning off the abilify and topamax. Topamax weaning hasn't started yet, but it will in a couple of weeks I think. :)

Pamster,

I am really sorry to hear that your son is going through such a hard time right now. You are going through it right along with him. I have been there. My daughter is an adult with Autism. She was aggressive between about age 5 and 9 and at age 10 she started calming down. For some reason with her, after puberty she mellowed out considerably.

I wish I could help but I never knew what to do as she was non-verbal so I was always just wishing I could get inside her head. The one thing that did work for her was Valium. You said Ativan and I think that is similar. You see, when she was that age, Melleril was popular. We also tried Benedryl just to get her to sleep at night. One time when she was bouncing off the walls, I gave her one of my valiums. Yep, I had a prescription....to save my sanity. I took her to the pediatrician and he said, "If it works, great", and gave her a prescription. It was prescribed to her on as needed basis rather than several times a day.

Another thing to look at is Spring Allergies. She always got worse then. You may ask the doctor if there is an antihistimine that he can talk. I don't remember actually seeing the symptoms of allergy, like runny nose, etc, but her bahavior problems always increased in the spring.

I really wish I could help more, but I can you you this, my daughter's behavior did get considerably better.

Judy
(Sally's Mom)

Hi Judy,

Your post made me feel better, I thinkwe're going to be able to hang in there until this blows over. I feel a lot better having a small break while he's back in school. We just started him on singular for allergies because he sounded congested but he wasn't sick and we remembered he used to take zyrtek and so I asked for the rx for it again and the insurance declined it so they substituted the singular for it. I think it's helping, another issue that has been brought to our attention is that he's getting his twelve year molars! :eek: So I gave him some ibuprofen this morning and hope he feels better for school, I will have to see if he needs more when he gets home though, I know how bad things always got when he's teething. I will be grateful when these come in all the way. :p

I just wanted to post and say I asked to have the title of this thread changed because it's true! His aggression is almost gone! It's amazing what a difference school makes for him. I am much happier now with having the break that school provides and so is he. We go to the dr on tuesday and I hope to have good things to report back about. Like more weight loss. ;) :D

That's very good news, Pamster. I did a double take when I read the thread title lol. All the very best for your Tuesday appointment.

Thanks Lara! I am so happy things are better I just had to ask someone to edit the title for me since it's no longer applicable and I got tired of seeing it sitting there on the front page, though the :eek: face still applies because it's amazing it's almost gone. :D

Acceptance is a killer. My son is 20 and he is on 4 types of medication.

Through the aggression period and the acceptance that I have to give him all these medications I sometimes feared for my life.

Now, full of acceptance I have learnt mainly 2 things. Aggression (even tho on medication) gets worst if:

1. his hormones rise and he longs to have sex (unfortunately or fortunately he does not get any sex :eek: )

2. he has a new physical illness that needs to be diagnosed and solved.

For sure allergies is one that sneak up a lot.

I understand where you're coming from NowIsAll. I have felt afraid for my life too from the aggression. My son used a broomstick one time and one time he clocked me on the side of the head when I didn't see it coming. I often wonder what kind of a future he's going to have, if he will ever experience Love, and I have to hodl on to the hope that he will, that out there is someone a lovely young woman who will love being with him. I hang on to that hope and it's what gets me through each trying day.

I wish you well with getting your son's new illness dx'd. I know that can sometimes be very hard to get an accurate dx because of the non-verbal, and the inability to express pain and show you where it hurts. I hope that the dr is able to determine what treatment he needs and get it started. My son takes singular for allergies and it's helping him a lot. :)

Since this is the first time I've seen you NowIsAll, I want to welcome you to the autism forum on NT. :) Nice to have you here. :)

Pamster,
Thanks for your welcome.

Unfortunately, my son will not be getting any proper help from most of the doctors I have to deal with, as they think I should sit back and let them treat him like "nothing".

I have accepted the fact that I am up against a wall when it comes to getting better care.

In a nutshell, most of the doctors and the nurses I have to deal with believe that if they do not talk to me I will eventually break and accept whatever they offer.

I have not broken. One certainty I hold on to is "Vengence is mine sayeth the Lord"

Right now he is fairly well and I am trying my best to make each day the best for the two of us (minus the horrid medical care and unreasonable people we sometimes have to make contact with)

Thanks to this website, I am better able to manage.

:grouphug:

I am so sorry that your medical professionals are not giving you any coping tools, I can relate because we have a behavior analyst and have been seeing one since july of last year and he doesn't really know what to tell us to do to help my son's ability to handle those aggressive impulses he gets all the time. It's very frustrating, it makes me want to give up on the behavior intervention because it's just not really helping. You'd think after six months things might have gotten better. While things have gotten better I attribute that to my husband's efforts and those of myself to help our son learn some rules.

They are:
1. no hitting
2. no kicking
3. no biting
4. no scratching
5. no yelling

He can repeat them and I am sure he knows what they mean, he just doesn't always remember to follow them. I am glad you joined us NowIsAll. I get a lot of comfort from knowing I'm not facing things alone, and that I have friends here and elsewhere who support me through thick and thin like I aim to support them in return. It's a great thing to have message boards to chat on. :)