16 YO male with multiple dx

[Guest guest]

Every once in awhile I get a challenge to work with and lately I have

had one! (I love a challenge - I always learn so much.)

I have a 16yo client, male with several Dx. I have pasted below the e-

mail that the mother sent to me describing this child. If you have

had any experience in this area please back channel me as I have some

bizarre things happening with him as he fluctuates a lot especially

with meds and supplements on how he responds to them.

Thank you

Our 16 year old son was diagnosed at age 4 with Aspergers. He was

complicated to every teacher, doctor, etc. and when he was 7 we were

told by a pediatric psychiatrist that he was complicated because he

also had mild Tourettes, which includes OCD. Before we knew of the

Tourettes our son was put on various seizure meds (ages 5-7) because

an overnight study showed he had a seizure. We never saw seizures,

but he had cycling behavior. A new neurologist that we saw when our

son was age 7 did several studies and said he was not seizure

disordered, but he did have an abnormality in the brain that he saw

on an MRI. He said it was in the area that controlled behavior,

impulses, etc. He recommended stimulants because he saw so many of

the ADHD behaviors, but there were side effects. We also tried

various anti depressants and those made him either depressed or

psychotic. We tried many supplements, and everything always seemed

to make him worse. It has always been so difficult to judge because

he cycles and changes so much. He was also diagnosed with PANDAS (an

autoimmune reaction to the strep virus that causes a worsening of

tics, behavior, etc.). He would periodically go on antibiotics, and

that would calm him for awhile. From age 7 until age 11 our son was

on a low dose of Risperdal to help with outbursts, obsessiveness,

etc., and we would periodically treat the PANDAS. For three years he

was then off the Risperdal and did pretty well (he had some

neurofeedback that had helped). We made a move across the country

last year and that coupled with puberty through him into a

tailspin.

Our son is complicated. He has a lot of ADHD characteristics

(restless, impulsive), he is very obsessive about his interests, and

gets " stuck " , he has tics that wax and wane, and he has the social

difficulties associated with Aspergers. He has days where he

is " right on " , and then he can be very " off " for no reason. We

sought neurofeedback to help him not be so stuck on one interest, so

that his mind could be freed up to think and do other things, to be

able to multi task, to be able to go with the flow more - he can be

very rigid and insist on his way, he can also be argumentative, to

help with the ADHD symptoms and the tics. A lot of kids like our son

are on several medications, but we have never wanted to do that.