This blog is my place to vent and share resources with other parents of children of trauma. I try to be open and honest about my feelings in order to help others know they are not alone. Therapeutic parenting of adopted teenagers with RAD and other severe mental illnesses and issues (plus "neurotypical" teens) , is not easy, and there are time when I say what I feel... at the moment. We're all human!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Mystery solved!


Kitty's behavior has been worsening and worsening and we've been blaming it on all the changes in her life, our stress level and parenting skill, her recent weight gain making all of her meds less effective (she's gained over 20lbs this Summer since we reduced her dose of Concerta).


Hubby noticed tonight that we haven't been giving her her Zoloft. We fill med boxes weekly using each child's bag of meds (kept in a lock box the rest of the time). We probably took the empty bottle to the pharmacy for a refill as we usually do, only there were no refills left. They usually fax the doctor under these circumstances and fill the bottle when he calls in a new prescription. Apparently someone dropped the ball, and we didn't catch it. I immediately went in tonight to get a refill and that's when I discovered that she has no refills and put 2 and 2 together.


Here's the bad part. I asked when we last had it filled (knowing we get a 30 day supply). They said JUNE 27th! That means she's been without this med for one month!!! No wonder the poor thing has been having problems. This is a major antidepressant that we KNOW she needs. Now it's even more obviously so. So the pharmacy won't give us any loaners (on a prescription that's been out a month!) and of course it's Labor Day weekend. Luckily another member of the family (OK it's me) takes the same medication and can loan her meds to get her through the weekend.


I feel like such a bad parent when this happens, but it's easy to understand how it happens when you look at how many meds they take - and they used to take a lot more.


Kitty takes:

Zoloft

Seroquel

Trileptal (2 pills twice a day)

Concerta

Geodon

DDAVP (for bedwetting)

Plus the OTC stuff like a multi vitamin, stuff for constipation, Zyrtec, and Omega 3


Bear takes

Trileptal (2 pills three times a day)

Lamictal (2x daily)

Amantadine (2x daily)

Provigil (2x daily - once at school)

Seroquel

Plus the OTC stuff like a multi vitamin, stuff for constipation, Omega 3, Zyrtec, and Glucosamine

Thank goodness Medicaid pays their co-pays or we'd be paying a small fortune every month. I'm so upset this happened, but at the same time, it's good to know that Kitty isn't just totally losing it!

I noticed there were a lot of comments I need to answer. Obviously I'm addicted to this blogging thing so rest assured I will address them! I do want to say welcome to all my new friends! I hope my posts are semi-entertaining!

Better get some sleep now! Hugs and prayers!

Mary

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My name is Tina Hansar and i would like to show you my personal experience with Zyrtec.

I am 40 years old. Have been on Zyrtec for 4 years now. When first began taking zyrtec, the allergy relief was great. But it did make me very, very tired. Later added singulair. Took both at night. So exhausted, couldn't function well thru the day but didn't link it to meds. Had repeat blood tests for anemia, thyroid, etc. but all came back normal. Switched singulair to morning to stretch out side effects, but still drained of energy. After taking these meds for years, just stopped about 3 months ago and energy level is back to normal. Allergies are bad again, but will take that any day over not being able to get out of bed and not having energy to get thru the day. Also, hair loss is no longer.

I have experienced some of these side effects -
Extreme exhaustion, lethargy, loss of interest, hip pain, back pain, occasional dizziness, hair loss.

I hope this information will be useful to others,
Tina Hansar

Zyrtec Prescription Information