Well, Carter is finally going to see a developmental specialist tomorrow. I filled out all the paperwork - only over 2 hours of doing it. They call it an AD/HD evaluation, but it encompasses sooooo much more than that. I really have no clue what they are going to tell me. My latest theory though is that it is some type of depression that changes with the seasons. Whatever it is that is bothering him, it's cyclical. This is the third year in a row that we have seen problems in the winter with him. I'm hopeful that we will get at least some type of answers tomorrow. He is the sweetest boy, but one tiny little thing can set him off and it's "game over" for everyone involved. Anyway, if anyone has any extra thoughts or prayers to send our way, we would surely appreciate it. His appt. is at 1pm, CST.

Good luck! :hug99: Too bad they couldn't see him in the winter so they have a better idea of what's going on, or seeing it in action.

Good luck! Saxon has some of that up and down stuff but I really haven't documented it well. Interested to hear what they say. Hope it goes well.

Best of luck!

Good luck with Carter's appointment.

Good luck, I'll be sending positive vibes for you & Carter! :hug99:

I hope that all goes will with his appointment tomorrow, and that you'll get some useful information from it.

Ditto! Hope his appt is helpful!

Thanks so much everyone! Well, the appointment went very well. It was long - 1 1/2 hours, and Carter did so well. He was quite fidgety after about 1 hour, but the doctor was really good at keeping him entertained. The one GREAT thing is that the doctor's wife is one of Carter's teachers at school, so he is getting some great descriptions of what Carter is really like. I think this is going to help us immensely. It will really give his Dr. a good picture of Carter.

Stacey - He did say that he does see a lot more problems in kids in the fall and the spring - right when the weather and time changes. Just lots of changes for kids and it's hard to deal with.

So, it was really reassuring to hear what the doctor had to say in one way because I keep thinking that Carter's symptoms fit into SO MANY different problems, but that none truly describe him. I just haven't felt like I could figure this all out and put him into one diagnosis. I know that I'm mom and not trained to do this, but I feel like I know quite a bit about these different issues and just felt like I could at least come close to guessing. His Dr. said that he too, feels like Carter has a lot of different problems that need addressing: mood disorder, oppositional defiance, adhd. It was good to hear this. Well, good for me, but not for him I suppose. It's a lot to handle. I feel like our kids just got dealt the crappiest cards sometimes. Why do some kids have perfectly healthy lives and others just have all the problems? Ah well, I wouldn't want anyone else to have to deal with lots of problems, so please don't take that wrong. I think that at the moment at least, these problems aren't huge. I suppose that could change for the future though. let's hope it only gets better. He talked to me about the three families of drugs that would be used in these areas: mood stabilizers (best for really bad problems, bipolar, etc.) stimulants (for adhd, like ritalin, straterra, etc.) and then the anti-anxiety stuff. That last one I think is the one he thought would be best to start out with. So, he took his first Zoloft tonight. The pills are so tiny, I could hardly hold it to cut in in half. Well, that's good for swallowing at least. He was SOOOOOO excited to get to take medicine like his sister. I don't think he cares at all what it's for or why he has to take it, but he loves it. Isn't that crazy? He gets a half a pill a day and Heather takes 8 pills (BIG ones) a day. At least he feels like he's getting the "medicine love" like Heather now. One less thing we have to worry about to try to treat them equally. GEEZE! He was so proud of himself for swallowing it too - he said "mom, I don't even think I need to drink when I swallow this." No, it was so small, he probably wouldn't.

The dr. said that we probably wouldn't see any results for at least 2 weeks, but if we are going to see some negative side effects, it will probably be sooner - things like when he gets mad, he gets REALLY SUPER DUPER MAD! Oh boy - I sure hope we don't see that!

:hug99: I hope that this works for you, I am so sorry that your kids have been dealt such a rough hand, it can be so unfair. You are a great Mum, and they are lucky to have you.

I am glad that you had a good appointment. :aok:

Not sure if you read that I put Saxon on a low dose of Prozac in December. I hope you have as great of results from it. It is amazing the change! Also after his ped appt last Friday I upped the dose just by .5 ml and by Tuesday he was amazing his teachers again. :nod:

One thing I did do was not tell the teacher right away to see if she noticed the difference instead of her looking for a difference because she knew he was on something. KWIM?

Saxon won't take meds willingly so we have liquid and hide it in Carnation instant breakfast. We had trouble when he was sick with a stomach bug a few months back because he couldn't keep anything down. It really threw everything out of wack.

I agree that is sucks to have to deal with this stuff. Especially with 2 kids. :( :hug99:

Thanks everyone.

Stacey - I hadn't read that about Saxon. I'm so glad it's working for him! That's awesome. After I got past the initial hatred of medicine (that was a while ago), I decided that meds are probably what we were going to have to do for Carter. There's just too much going on for him. If it was just ADHD or just depression or just whatever, then maybe we could figure out a way to deal with just that. But it's not. I just want a happy healthy child. KWIM?

I did tell his teacher because, well, her husband is his doctor! Isn't that weird? But, we have been talking a lot about all of this, so I really wanted to fill her in. Also, I was really worried about the negative side effects, so I wanted to make sure they kept a close eye on him.

I'm glad you had a good appointment too. I hope the meds work out, I know how tough a decision this was for you. :hug99:

I hope the meds work out. :hug99:

Hope the meds work Brandi. It's good that the dr. and his teacher are associated- that should help a lot!

I had that same initial not wanting meds thing but things got so bad in December that I gave in. I realized that if I tried it and they didn't work then I just would stop but it was worth the try. I did wait and start it the first day of xmas vaca so I could watch him for side effects. :nod:

:hug99: That IS a lot to handle and thoughts like that are natural. :hug99:
I hope things will improve now that you seem in good hands.