Re:OCD and ADHD - sorry, long -

[Guest guest]

When my daughter was on focalin along with Lexapro for OCD/anxiety she

had terrible night terrors that took months to reduce. Of course, in

addition to the focalin she was on ridalin (I know I have that spelled

wrong) so it's hard to know which was causing the night terrors. When

we took her off the ADHD stuff, the doctor added a mood stabilizer

(Trileptal) to counteract the side effects of the lexapro. That has

been working pretty well for the last 3 weeks. Like everyone, we hate

the multiple meds, side effects and " guess work " that seems to go with

finding the right combination of meds. It isn't easy since my

daughter is diagnosed with bipolar NOS and OCD and there is no birth

history to help with the diagnosis.

Dorelle

[Guest guest]

Hi Dorelle,

I was wondering how your daughter was doing. I'm glad the trileptal

is working better for her. Such a challenge to go through all these

drug trials and all the side effects, but all pays off when you find

something that finally helps. Hope it settles down even more over

time.

Ours took quite a while to settle down after being overstimulated by

higher dose of ssri and risperidal. A mood stabilizer seemed to

balance everything out, even though it is not needed anymore. Seems

like it's all a matter of finding the right balance in the brain

chemistry, but the combo of various disorders can make it so

difficult to have any clarity on cause and effect. Left with riding

one thing at a time out until you have more clarity.

Oh for the day that there is some test that can be done, or better

diagnositics on all this.

Are you finding the behavioral stuff has settled down too Dorelle?

We found it so hard to know what was causing what during all the med

changes. Also, how do they distinguish ADHD from bipolar? They can

look so similar, I still wonder about this with ours because of his

learning challenges. Have you found any of the meds assisting with

the ADHD, or perhaps when the bipolar part is stabilized?

Ours is going through a tough time again, but managing, thoughts just

increased but he is not feeding them. I think the lack of light and

therefore serotonin/brain chemistry is affected and so is worse, was

fine in the summer when lots of light. Do you notice any difference

in this regard? I suspect this is the bipolar part with our son,

even though he is not diagnosable, believe he is on the spectrum and

may cycle seasonally with the OCD, time will tell.

Good to hear from you and to hear you have had some improvement,

really hope it continues!!!

Warmly,

Barb

In , Dorelle Ackermann

wrote:

>

> When my daughter was on focalin along with Lexapro for OCD/anxiety

she

> had terrible night terrors that took months to reduce. Of course,

in

> addition to the focalin she was on ridalin (I know I have that

spelled

> wrong) so it's hard to know which was causing the night terrors.

When

> we took her off the ADHD stuff, the doctor added a mood stabilizer

> (Trileptal) to counteract the side effects of the lexapro. That

has

> been working pretty well for the last 3 weeks. Like everyone, we

hate

> the multiple meds, side effects and " guess work " that seems to go

with

> finding the right combination of meds. It isn't easy since my

> daughter is diagnosed with bipolar NOS and OCD and there is no

birth

> history to help with the diagnosis.

>

> Dorelle

>