re: deleted

Quoting I ♥ These 4!:“ He sees a psychiatrist and his regular dr also. We had an emergency meeting with the psychiatrist today ... [snip!] ... he doesn't take it he will literally not sleep for 2-3 days at a time, then he will sleep for half a night, and do it again.”

My best-friends son is on clonidine. He also has ADHD but his is severe. He will break everything in the house when he gets in a bad mood. She says that the clonidine is like a wonder drug for him and has tried to pressure me into having Justin put on it. But we have no problems with getting him to sleep. Her son is seen at a mental health center in Florida and they also have a caseworker that comes out once every 2 weeks to see him. Really what you are describing sounds a lot what she deals with. Justin doesn't get physically violent, it is all verbal and I hate it. I am sorry you have to deal with this and I hope that this med change works for him!
Is there any special activities that seem to calm him down? I have just started letting Justin play some kids games on the computer and that seems to help him some.

Quoting ~*KATY*~:“ My best-friends son is on clonidine. He also has ADHD but his is severe. He will break everything in ... [snip!] ... seem to calm him down? I have just started letting Justin play some kids games on the computer and that seems to help him some.”

There are things that will calm him down, just not right now. He's cycling and nothing will work when he's like this. We just have to wait for him to come down from this manic phase. Once the med starts taking full effect, which could take up to 2 weeks, he shouldn't cycle so bad. It's a mood stabilizer. I can handle the defiance from his ODD and ADHD, it's just this manic cycles that have me in tears. I feel so bad for him and our whole family when he's like this. It's not a regular thing thank God. It happens several times a year, but it's probablly once every few months or so. Not very often does he cycle 2 times in a month, or even every 2 months.

i don't want to sound stupid but what does cycle mean?

Quoting I ♥ These 4!:“ Chandler has just been so horrible today. His meds weren't working so they switched his meds and the ... [snip!] ... and the new med will take 3 days to 2 weeks to work. I don't know how I'm going to do it. He was so mean and inappropriate.”

  Im sorry. Med changes can be frustrating. Has he said anything about this medication? How does it make him feel?

Quoting r a v e n.:“ i don't want to sound stupid but what does cycle mean?”

Cycling is going between times of mania and depressive episodes. It can be a rapid change or happen over a longer period of time.

Its very exhausting.

Quoting kelli.jo:“   Im sorry. Med changes can be frustrating. Has he said anything about this medication? How does it make him feel?”

He just started the new med tonight at supper. I kept asking him how he was feeling but he'd just mock me.

Quoting I ♥ These 4!:“ He just started the new med tonight at supper. I kept asking him how he was feeling but he'd just mock me.”

 
My meds always take like at least 2 weeks to take full effect. You can PM me anytime if you need to talk. I'm sympathetic to your side because I've put my loved ones through a lot.

Quoting kelli.jo:“   My meds always take like at least 2 weeks to take full effect. You can PM me anytime if you need to talk. I'm sympathetic to your side because I've put my loved ones through a lot.”

I've been doing a lot of reading and, I'm wondering if he might have aspergers. He has most of the symptoms. Actually pretty much all of them. The thing that really got me, which I'm sure I've told you about is:

Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.

He takes Everything at face value. Everything is literal to him.
Also I thought that it was just OCD, but it's also a symptom of aspergers:
Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about. Many children with Asperger's syndrome are overly interested in parts of a whole or in unusual activities, such as designing houses, drawing highly detailed scenes, or studying astronomy. They may show an unusual interest in certain topics such as snakes, names of stars, or dinosaurs.
He is completely obsessed with numbers and writing. He will write for hours,mostly just writing numbers. Making charts of numbers. Making trains with numbers on them, cars with numbers on them. All in lines.
Those are just two of the non obvious symptoms that stood out to me. You can figure out what the obvious ones are that he has like the behaviours, routines, etc...