23rd July 2006
I'm glad you asked....
My oldest who in now almost 12 was put on Depakote and Klonipin originally when the overnight EEG (the only type of EEG you should have done) showed mild seizure activity at night. (We were concerned because since birth he was literally not sleeping more then 1 hour at a time day or night and then up for an hour or more.) He was also put on celexa to try and calm his OCD tendencies. The key to his speech was at age 4 1/2 giving him prednesone suppositories 75mg once a week for 6 months after the neurologist found a problem in a certain area of his brain. He went from no words to a few words in a couple weeks to phrases in a couple months to full sentences by the end of 6 months. It was truly a miracle. Many of his "bizzar" behaviors and "stimming" literally stopped and never returned. I attribute a lot of those behaviors to frustrations of not being able to speak and communicate. I feel strongly that speech is a huge key to success in overcoming much of Autism's struggles. We have always had trouble with his eating as he only eats 6 foods and drinks only water and organic 2% milk and his behavior can be a little overly sensitive and aggressive at times. By age 5 he was too aggressive so we stoppped the celexa and tried many combinations of anti-depressants with anti-seizure meds and antipsychotics, but didn't have a lot of luck getting him stable but now "over drugged". We decided to stay away from anti-depressants. Around age 6 he was having trouble academically, mainstrreamed with a one-on-one aid, so we had him tested by a psychatrist who diagnosed the ADHD and started Adderall 15mg. This medication made a HUGE diffence in his ability to focus, stay calm, follow directions, read quickly, comprehend, have good eye contact, and stay alert. He has had extensive stomach issues and issues with frequent urination too. He takes Miralax twice a day for constipation and another pill for an overactive bladder. He's had extensive testing and all the doctors say they see this all the time with kids on the spectrum and there isn't much they can do. By age 8 there was no more seizure activity on the overnight EEG (we took in it the hospital once a year) so we stopped the Depakote, but he was aggressive so we switched to Risperdal .5 mg which has worked great. Now he just takes Adderall 15mg am and Risperal .5mg pm and a multi-vitamin.
My younger son who is now 9 1/2 had a similar experience. He was put on Klonipin originally when the overnight EEG (the only type of EEG you should have done) showed mild seizure activity at night but he was sleeping normally. He was also put on Celexa to try and calm his OCD tendencies. The key to his speech also was at age 4 giving him prednesone suppositories once a week for 6 months after the neurologist found the same problem in the same area of his brain as his brother. He went from no words to a few words in a couple weeks to phrases in a couple months to full sentences by the end of 6 months. It was truly another miracle. Many of his "bizzar" behaviors and "stimming" literally stopped and never returned. Around age 6 he was having trouble staying focused in Kindergarten, mainstrreamed, so we had him tested by a psychatrist who diagnosed the ADD and started Strattera. We tried weaning him off the Celexa at age 7 and realized without it he did just fine. At age 9 we switched to Focalin (Ritalin) from strattera because it was easier to administer (he can't swallow a pill so we had to mix the inside of a capsule with ice cream and it tasted terrible). At 6 age there was no more seizure activity on the overnight EEG so we stopped the Klonipin, but he couldn't sleep well so we restarted it. He now takes Focalin 5mg am and Klonipin .5 mg pm.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can tell you.
My oldest who in now almost 12 was put on Depakote and Klonipin originally when the overnight EEG (the only type of EEG you should have done) showed mild seizure activity at night. (We were concerned because since birth he was literally not sleeping more then 1 hour at a time day or night and then up for an hour or more.) He was also put on celexa to try and calm his OCD tendencies. The key to his speech was at age 4 1/2 giving him prednesone suppositories 75mg once a week for 6 months after the neurologist found a problem in a certain area of his brain. He went from no words to a few words in a couple weeks to phrases in a couple months to full sentences by the end of 6 months. It was truly a miracle. Many of his "bizzar" behaviors and "stimming" literally stopped and never returned. I attribute a lot of those behaviors to frustrations of not being able to speak and communicate. I feel strongly that speech is a huge key to success in overcoming much of Autism's struggles. We have always had trouble with his eating as he only eats 6 foods and drinks only water and organic 2% milk and his behavior can be a little overly sensitive and aggressive at times. By age 5 he was too aggressive so we stoppped the celexa and tried many combinations of anti-depressants with anti-seizure meds and antipsychotics, but didn't have a lot of luck getting him stable but now "over drugged". We decided to stay away from anti-depressants. Around age 6 he was having trouble academically, mainstrreamed with a one-on-one aid, so we had him tested by a psychatrist who diagnosed the ADHD and started Adderall 15mg. This medication made a HUGE diffence in his ability to focus, stay calm, follow directions, read quickly, comprehend, have good eye contact, and stay alert. He has had extensive stomach issues and issues with frequent urination too. He takes Miralax twice a day for constipation and another pill for an overactive bladder. He's had extensive testing and all the doctors say they see this all the time with kids on the spectrum and there isn't much they can do. By age 8 there was no more seizure activity on the overnight EEG (we took in it the hospital once a year) so we stopped the Depakote, but he was aggressive so we switched to Risperdal .5 mg which has worked great. Now he just takes Adderall 15mg am and Risperal .5mg pm and a multi-vitamin.
My younger son who is now 9 1/2 had a similar experience. He was put on Klonipin originally when the overnight EEG (the only type of EEG you should have done) showed mild seizure activity at night but he was sleeping normally. He was also put on Celexa to try and calm his OCD tendencies. The key to his speech also was at age 4 giving him prednesone suppositories once a week for 6 months after the neurologist found the same problem in the same area of his brain as his brother. He went from no words to a few words in a couple weeks to phrases in a couple months to full sentences by the end of 6 months. It was truly another miracle. Many of his "bizzar" behaviors and "stimming" literally stopped and never returned. Around age 6 he was having trouble staying focused in Kindergarten, mainstrreamed, so we had him tested by a psychatrist who diagnosed the ADD and started Strattera. We tried weaning him off the Celexa at age 7 and realized without it he did just fine. At age 9 we switched to Focalin (Ritalin) from strattera because it was easier to administer (he can't swallow a pill so we had to mix the inside of a capsule with ice cream and it tasted terrible). At 6 age there was no more seizure activity on the overnight EEG so we stopped the Klonipin, but he couldn't sleep well so we restarted it. He now takes Focalin 5mg am and Klonipin .5 mg pm.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can tell you.