Bacopa Monnieri vs. Valium

[Guest guest]

Dear Your information is so realistic. I must admit my decision to give my son Valium was an act of desperation but it actually did not help and made things worse. I only gave him one strong dose 10mg (by mistake) which induced him to sleep and snore for an hour. He woke up confused and irritable. 6 hours later when asked to go to bed he threw objects and attacked his brother. Struggle to contain him and relax took 45 minutes. In this instance Valium increased his aggressive tendencies. I have since stopped and not even exploring the lower dose.I used to allow my son to retreat to his computer to play you tube videos of his favorite children's movies - for hours also! But in his latest rage attacks he broke it and we are taking it away as a punishment - what he destroys he loses. He has taken to reading books and some TV in the kitchen. We pulled out his TV in the bedroom.The bacopa monnieri sounds like a real good alternative. My husband wanted me to explore Ritalin but read up on horrific side effects including the death of a 14 yr old. Are you still using "Think Well" and still seeing benefits? Did you get any die offs from taking this herb? Is it a capsule free of additives and fillers? I will visit Ecological Formulas site. Sorry lots of questions.Thank you very much!Sent from my iPad

Fransel,

I'm so sorry that you and your family have to go through this. My ASD son is 16, and I have been working with elementary age autistic children for eight years. Ive seen some children (including mine)go through some difficult things. Unfortunately, Ive never seen aggression go away after implementing a behavior med. Ive seen sedation and confusion which can make the child easier to control. Eventually, tolerance builds and the problem was not fixed.

More recently, my son calmed down quite a bit in impulsive reactions when I started giving him Bacopa monnieri, a chinese herb. I am taking it too. I would say it calms anxiety and makes thinking clearer, and faster. At first I ordered it from Eccological Formulas, but I found an herbal supplement called "ThinkWell" at my local Wegman's. "ThinkWell" contains phosphatidylserine, bacopa monnieri, gotu kola, and vinpocetine. I'd compare it too a mild ADHD/anti-depressant drug. (Like Lexapro and Adderral together, but without the jittery, stimulant feeling.)

Another thing I do when things get bad, is I allow my son to withdraw into computer land or video game world. This gives me a break and helps him focus on something outside of his agitation. He doesn't play violent video games, just repetitive tetris like games. I guess you can say it is a stim, but it calms him and allows me to relax. He is safe and not getting into trouble. When he was younger, the stim was usually a video involving music or written text (sing-a-long songs). As horrible as it looks to outsiders, I would let him do it for hours if that was what he and I needed. Sometimes you have to give up "normal" living for awhile to survive a crisis.

Jen

PS This sounds like PANDAS. Don't be afraid to try the antibiotic. Yeast makes you drunk, strep makes you psychiotic. I'd take drunk over psychiotic anyday.