Meds.....

Ever since I've had J there has been someone in our lives pushing-forcing (out-of-state SW) or prodding (GA SW, psychologist & AT's) me to consider meds for her. I am not a med fan and have been hoping to avoid this. Blood pressure meds are necessary for me and I know that some conditions required it but I've always heard that if a child has true RAD that it will not help at all and only mask the symptoms (problems).

Finally I gave in and we went to see a p-doc. A 3 week trial on tenex proved useless and actually symptoms (ragings) were worse. AT & p-doc talked and decided that perhaps Risperdal might be better. 1/2 mg once a day. So far things are improving. No rages, tantrums or over the top behavior in 12 days. She has also been fully functioning in school. 8 consecutive days of school. Nothing short of a miracle!!! I am breathing a hesitant sigh of relief and trying to get in as many bonding activities as I can.

AT is encouraged because she's hoping we can get farther in therapy now that J is not going off into never-never land whenever it's about traumatic events. She was able to focus and handle the therapy very well. I am not looking at the meds as the silver bullet that will fix the problem. Instead I am trying to see them as the catalyst to soothe J and help her cope w/o rages until she can get past the problems/trauma in therapy and hopefully fully bonded to me in the meantime. The key word is "hope".