abilify

did you know that there are words that are copyrighted? i don't mean strings of words put together into sentences and paragraphs and stories. i mean individual words. i'm guessing the word ability is one of them otherwise the medication we have just started giving the silent prince would have been called: abiliTy rather than abiliFy.

we went to see the kids' doctor (fiscus) the other day. i periodically schedule these appointments because we never just get him when we go for sick visits or other little issues. he is an incredible guy and we knew from the moment we first met him that we wanted him to be our children's doctor. he spent about a 1/2 hour with us starting when he came out into the waiting room to call us back. i've never had a doctor do that before (with the exception of my chiropractor who really needs an receptionist.)

i had a list of things i wanted to go over with him including getting a prescription for pull-ups. (still don't know if the insurance will cover it or not.) one of the things that we wanted to talk about was putting the prince on meds which would help him focus and calm him down. the developmental pediatrician we had seen back in march had sugested doing this and we had finally gotten up the nerve to talk to fiscus about it.

he suggested that using something like riddlin would be counter-productive. meds like riddlin would help the prince concentrate more, but according to fiscus chances are he would start to concentrate on the behaviors we don't want him to do. autistic kids can become a bit ocd on things like riddlin and focus all their attention on things like banging their heads against a wall, or spinning, or flicking things, or any other stimming behavior that they do. (the prince doesn't bang his head... but he does bite and i'd rather he not concentrate all his energy on that behavior.)

so instead fiscus suggested that we try an anti-psychotic called abilify.

so far we are on day 3 and have had 2 side effects. the first side effect is that he has been a bit constipated. which means he has pooped once in 2 1/2 days. this from a kid who i have considered sticking a cork in his butt (only jokingly, don't call any hotlines on me) to keep him from going 5- 10 times a day. i think i have mentioned that poop is a major part of my life and i'd like to undergo a real life-change in this regard.

the other side effect is that every day so far he has taken a nap at about 4pm. he's sleeping right now. as i talked to the grandmom today about it she mentioned that he's really not too young to take naps. the fact of the matter is that he hasn't napped regularly since he was a baby. all this time... maybe he's been so hyper that he hasn't been able to nap when he has really needed to.

i'm really positive about this however. the fact of the matter is that i spent some time yesterday reading stories about people who put their autistic children on abilify and have seen unbelievable results. non-verbal children have even become verbal. and while i don't need my son to talk in order to love him or know that he loves me if this medicine is going to help him learn how to communicate better i will deal with the fact that he is napping in the afternoons and seems a little sluggish as his body adjusts to the meds.

he also has two loose teeth. i'm trying to figure out how i explain to the tooth fairy what to do with his teeth (whih hopefully will come out when i'm around and not when he's asleep.)

God's peace y'all