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Life's A Twitch! Celebrating 15 years.
1998 - 2018
Life's A Twitch! Celebrating 15 years.

 

Question 96: My son was diagnosed with full blown TS and symptoms of ADHD and OCD when he was 6 yrs old (now 7). He also experiences bouts of rage and when he is emotionally "hurt" he will verbalize the desire to do violent things. I don't really believe he would ever do what he comes up with but...he is currently on Luvox and with the more recent light shed on the possible conection with odd behaviors and SSRI's I'm seriously reconsidering giving him the med. His rages have greatly decreased since his diagnosis but I think that has more to do with our acceptance of him and his natural developement than any med (in the last 11 months he has been on Clonidine, Respiradol, Serequel (2 wks), and now Luvox (in that order). We fired the first psychiatrist we were with as we by this point had more knowledge of TS than he did and now find ourselves on at least 3 different waiting list to get our son some help. In the mean time I can no longer tell if the medication he is on is doing anything or if it simply the wax and wanning of the disorder and seriously the more I read about the medications he is/has been on the more confused and frightened I get. The next suggested med (via the pediatrition) is concerta in combination with luvox. But not one physician has ever talked to my son about what he feels/experiences so how do they know what is the disorder and what is his lack of understanding and frustration with the disorder?

Please send me some feedback on the direction I should take now...I feel like I'm drowning in confusion. Meds or no meds? that is the question. Sincerely, D.R.


Good morning D.R.:

While I cannot counsel you on the medication question, or comment on your son without even ever meeting him (it would be both presumptuous and very unethical of me), I CAN say, in general, that your thought about lack of understanding the disorder is a valid one and can certainly can lead to frustrations as you mention -- to predict something or control it with any strategies you need to first know the 'face of your enemy'. If the physicians are unable to perform this function (i.e. a thorough demystification), I think that additional resources are a wise move -- I have many listed under the Resources section of my website. Whether they be videos for him to watch, books to read/have read to him, going to a Psychologist, or going to a presentation (many children come to mine, for example), any or all of these routes will be helpful. These decisions can be made independently of the decision to medicate or not -- some find that learning about the problem is sufficient to find detours around it, some do medications in concert with this education, others go the route of meds alone.

While of course he does have differences due to his conditions, much about rage can be explained as a 'natural reaction to abnormal circumstances' -- in other words, given the extreme and unique and misunderstood pressures he is under and the circumstances he faces on a never-ending basis, it is not surprising that he reacts as he does. Anyone would. It's simply a matter of understanding this, and understanding the more non-intuitive aspects of living in these disorders. In fact I have a presentation on this very topic: "Living IN Disorder", because that empathy is vital to not simply dismissing these kids with diagnoses assuming volitional misbehaviour such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder.

Thank you for your question D.R., and I hope that this helps!

Dr. Dunc.

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http://www.lifesatwitch.com/response96.html
Last updated on March 25, 2022

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