Update/Why I Haven't Been Around...

[Father_0f_7]

I don't know if anyone noticed (or cared lol) but just in case, I thought I would update you guys on what's been going on.

Billy's 3 year diabetes anniversary was on September 19th, did not go well, we were in the hospital. Billy has never really complained about diabetes. He has vented frustration and shared concern, but never complained.
We had been seeing that he was having a bit of a burnout, just tired of dealing with everything, so we took over. We delivered insulin (through his pump), we checked his blood sugar 90% of the time (the only time he checked himself was when he was at school). The only thing he had to do was tell us when he felt high or low. Apparently, that wasn't enough.

On September 5th he decided he had enough. He woke up in the middle of the night, drew up an entire syringe of insulin, and delivered 100 units of insulin into his stomach. (the total amount of insulin he usually get in a day is 26-30 units). Luckily I woke up and went to check on him, his blood sugar was 96. In range but a little low for that time. I gave him a Juicy Juice, set the alarm for an hour later, and went back to bed.
Alarm went off, went to check him again, 67. Ok. More Juicy Juice and some Skittles. Couldn't get back to sleep so I grabbed the iPad and sat in his room. About 20 minutes later he was looking really pale and he was shaking and breathing rapidly. Checked him and meter read "low" (under 20).

I woke up Amber, asked her to give him Glucagon and I called 911 (because it kept lowering I knew something was wrong). Amber went with him in the Ambulance and I gathered up some things we would need, told Cassie what was going on ns headed to the emergency room.

I got there and he was hooked up to a glucose IV and he was starting to come to. For a few hours they couldn't get his blood sugar above 50. At that point he was awake and fairly responsive so we asked him if he knew what was going on. He told us he just wanted it to end and thats why he did what he did.

Long story short, he stayed in the hospital for about a week and a half. We activated a "lock" on his pump so he can only deliver 2.5 units or below at one time and he goes to therapy twice a week now.

On a few more positive notes, Dylan turned 21 on October 9th, mine and Amber's 24th anniversary was also October 9th. Dane turned 20 on November 8th. Cassie turned 18 on October 12th, and Billy and Kaitlyn turned 12 on December 3rd!

Cassie and Jon graduate high school June 5th and it looks like Cassie will be Valedictorian. Megan and Trey are doing well, the've finally settled into the house. Marc's 4th birthday is Coming up (January 24th) and Hayleigh's 2nd is also rapidly approaching (December 26th.)

Dylan is doing great in college, he is currently a Junior. He might graduate early if he keeps at his current pace. Dane is also doing well (college sophomore). Kaitlyn and Billy will oth be in Junior High next year! Were does the time go?

Anyway...yeah...our life in a nutshell.

 

[parentastic]

Wow, lots of things happening! That must have been a terrible week, I can't even begin to imagine. I am glad Billy is okay now. Are the therapy sessions working well? How is he responding to it? Looking forward to read you more!

 

[Father_0f_7]

He was in therapy before but we upped it to twice a week. He doesn't really like to talk, he wants to be strong, but so far he seems to be responding well.
We've been in the sessions with him a few times but the therapist says he shuts down more when we're in there.

 

[cybele]

It's good to hear that he's responding well. Unfortunately I know the feeling all too well of a child trying to end it. How are you and Amber holding up? Are the two of you okay?

 

[bssage]

Yes we missed you. Nice to hear from you again. That sounds like a super tough deal. I'm at a loss for words of any kind. twelve is hard enough by itself. I guess if a person had to deal with stuff like that. He would be hard pressed to find a better family to do it in.

I don't know much about therapy. What I have heard is that if your not 100% with the therapist its ok to find one he likes. Thats all I got.

Do you really keep track of all those birthdays? Or do you have a crib sheet stuck on the computer?

20 and 21! crap how long have I been coming here?

You should have about 4 grand-babies bout now right?

Good to hear from you again. Hope things turn the corner for Billy.

Bryan

 

[Father_0f_7]

Amber and I are doing as well as can be expected, unfortunately we've dealt with not so much similar things, but things just as tough, so we know what to do. Besides, we're a bada** family, so that helps.

It's just the fact that he's 12 years old....how to you even go about thinking of that at 12 years old?

Well, Hayleigh's is easy to remember because its the day after Christmas. Dylan's is the same as our anniversary so I cant forget that...the one time I forgot our anniversary was...well, lets just say it will never happen again.

Megan's the first born, so therefore favorite...so we always remember hers. And the rest I am going to get tattoo'd on my arm! Solid plan, right?

As far as more younguns go. I know that Megan and Trey we're talking about more, but as far as I know no plans yet. And Dane and Brittany have their wedding set for 2015 so hopefully nome from them until 2016 at least lol. Or at least until they have money.

 

[mom2many]

I'm bumping...want to come back when I have more then a second, but I am so happy he is okay!

 

[singledad]

Ahh.. poor boy I guess none of us can really imagine how hard it must be for him...

I'm so glad he's ok now. Please keep us updated on how he responds to the therapy!

 

[Father_0f_7]

The psychiatrist and his doctor have suggested antidepressants. We aren't too sure how we feel about this. Don't get me wrong, if he needs it then he needs it, we are absolutely willing to let him have them.
I think our questioning about this right now is we just really don't know enough about them to make the decision.

Does anyone have exprience with antidepressants? Are some better than others? Are they addictive? How do they usually affect children/pre-teens?

I know a doctor can answer all of these questions but if anyone has experiance it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[parentastic]

Does anyone have exprience with antidepressants? Are some better than others? Are they addictive? How do they usually affect children/pre-teens?

I am not a specialist, but I was on them once for about 6 months when I was a teen. I can tell you this:

<LIST>

• 
  <LI>
• They help by changing the brain chemistry</LI>
  <LI>
• It's very tempting for people to stop taking them in the middle of their treatment because they feel much better, so they feel like hey, I don't need this shit. Yet that's a BAD idea. Anti-depressants are dangerous to cut cold-turkey; when you feel better you need to cut them slowly by reducing the dose over several months. (the Psychiatrist will explain). So they aren't "addictive" in the sense that you don't realize how they help you and you are more likely to stop than continue. But they are addictive in the sense that you should not stop using them without a plan to break out of them. So you will need to monitor your child very carefully so that he takes them exactly as prescribed, all the time regularly, even if he feels fine.</LI>
  <LI>
• They can be a great help to get out of a nasty loop, when you are too depressed to have positive thoughts and you are stuck being depressed with your depression. Once you are able to see the world from a better perspective, you can create a new loop of self-helping thoughts and you can then stop (slowly) to use them.</LI>
  <LI>
• Some people have missing chemical in their brain (not enough produced of certain hormones etc) and their problems are chronic: can be depression, anxiety, etc. in these cases, they should / will have to continue treatment all their lives. I don't think it's the case with your son, it seems to be more of a current situation now.</LI>
  <LI>
• Different kinds of anti-depressors have different kind of side effects. So sometimes, your psychiatrist may have you try one type for a few weeks and if you see any side effects you must tell him BUT DO NOT STOP even with the side effect until you meet the psychiatrist again and get a plan for switching to a different one. The internet can help you to understand the possible side effects of each.</LI>

</LIST>

So overall, I guess the one pressing point from all the above is, this is an area where you cannot self-medicate, it's really critical to be fully guided by your psychiatrist.

It's quite common for teens, it's a difficult time for them even in a typical situation and yours isn't. I'd be careful, but not alarmed at the use of these types of medication. Just have a trustworthy psychiatrist ready to meet when needed and if needed to readjust / change medication.

Hoping this helps!

 

[singledad]

Does anyone have exprience with antidepressants? Are some better than others? Are they addictive? How do they usually affect children/pre-teens?

Antidepressants are not addictive. Like parentastic said, though - you can't just stop.

You get a huge range of ADs, all with different side-effects. Some of the side-effects can be quite nasty. I think the best you be to have a good discussion with his doc about this. I will also second what ptsc wrote about the possibility that he might have to try more than one before he finds one that works for him, and before he finds the right dose. I can be a bit of a roller coaster ride in the beginning, but if can also happen that the first prescription works perfectly. You won't know until you try.

NOTE: I would be really careful about SSRI's for a kid. They tend to increase the risk of suicide in the first few weeks in kids and teens. See - the first thing they they do is remove the apathy and make you feel more motivated, but without easing the depression. Someone who is deeply depressed but motivated to do something about it = high suicide risk. Be sure to talk to his doc about that.

There is a wonderful supplement on the market called SAMe. Does wonders for depression, although it is obviously not as effective as some prescription meds. It might be worth asking his doctor about trying that before prescribing something else. But at this stage I wouldn't make any such decisions without talking to his doc first.

 

[stjohnjulie]

Nice to hear from you Fo7. I feel for you and your family. I am wishing you all strength to get through this.

I have taken antidepressants and have battled depression for most of my life. My sister as well. I had some success with antidepressants and my sister is still searching for one, or a combination of them that will help her. I no longer take them and have found other coping techniques that seem to work better for me. I don't have much to say about it other than it works for some not for others.

I have also tried out a handful of therapist over the years. While I thought all of them competent, I will tell you that having a good fit with one can make a huge difference. Don't know how many you checked out with Billy, but maybe you might consider trying a few to see if you can find a better fit for him.

I'm glad that you are a bada** family and take care of one another! That will help Billy the most, and the rest of you too

 

[mom2many]

I got a few minutes

How scary that had to be, and how sad that Billy felt that way. It really does break my heart to hear that.

Have you guys her about diabetic alert dogs, DAD's?

I have a friend currently doing a fundraiser trying to get one for her DD. They have a friend who's child has one and the dog alerts for both kids when they are playing together. I'm thinking 2 things here, one it would alert you guys, but more important it could be a companion for Billy. Just a thought.

 

[Claire64]

Oh my gosh, that is absolutely my worst nightmare. I hope Billy's doing better now. My Landon (also Type 1) has had a few rough times, but nothing even close to that.

Anyway, I thought I'd post and let you know I'd remember you. Your family is tough to forget!

 

[Father_0f_7]

It was really scary. And it just came out of nowhere! Or seemed to anyway.

He's been doing well lately. He was put on medication, which we were trying to avoid if we could, but he needs it so that's what he's getting.

We all had a great Christmas together and he seemed to be himself when we were all together.

M2M, We have heard about DAD's. And we've looked into it, I think right now we just don't want a dog. That's not true, we want a dog, we just don't want the responsibility. We'll probably end up getting one eventually.

 

[Jeremy+3]

The psychiatrist and his doctor have suggested antidepressants. We aren't too sure how we feel about this. Don't get me wrong, if he needs it then he needs it, we are absolutely willing to let him have them.
I think our questioning about this right now is we just really don't know enough about them to make the decision.

Does anyone have exprience with antidepressants? Are some better than others? Are they addictive? How do they usually affect children/pre-teens?

I know a doctor can answer all of these questions but if anyone has experiance it would be greatly appreciated.

Some are addictive, some you 'just' become reliant on and don't suffer any physical withdrawal symptoms but just psychological ones. We don't use anti-D's on children as not only have they not been tested on children the long term effects are a bit iffy.

Really the states is the only place that routinely prescribes anti-Ds to children, but in the last ten or so years it has been noted that those who take anti-Ds as children are more likely to make bad decisions as adults as unlike in adults it does appear that the younger someone starts anti-Ds the more likely a person is to then seemingly lose their conscience essentially. With children as well their brain is clearly still developing and so if you are adding a chemical to their brain, or boosting an amount your brain will take this as a part of its development, so when the chemical is reduced/removed there is nothing to replace it with as the body has learned that it doesn't need to produce/regulate certain things. Some cause impotence obviously not a problem in children, but in some it does remain, but clearly its hard to tell if this is caused directly by the anti-Ds or if they have developed a complex surrounding the issue and so is anxiety causing the impotence to continue.

Here if a child was prescribed anti-D's due to the high incidence of suicide for at least the first 4 weeks they would be hospitalised with 24 hour supervision, but it is very rare for a child to ever need anti-Ds, unfortunately some doctors use it as the lazy way out.

However a very common side effect of the most popular anti-Ds is suicidal thoughts/dreams, this does seem to be more prevalent in younger people, however it cannot be determined if this is due to the fact that their brain has not yet developed and so chemically altering their brain causes this, or because it is hard to determine a correct dose and so we don't know if a child is effectively receiving an overdose. Essentially when someone is introduced to anti-Ds normally the first thing to happen is a lack of conscience and thought of consequence, so if someone wants to do it they will just do it, we call it the superhero effect as it makes you feel effectively invincible and can sometimes make people a little nasty.

For you though really we already know that Billy feels different in a negative sense, so you have to really be careful not to make him feel more marginalised. Therapy with children shouldn't be talking, it should be activity, karate, drama, dance, football etc, with children therapy should be done in a way that it doesn't look or feel like therapy. Children are completely different to us, to get out of a situation they need to be shown a new one, they can't just think about a new one or be told about a new one as an adult can.

 

[cybele]

I would like to add that it's not just the US that prescribes anti-depressants to teens without hospital supervision. They are quite common here too.

I didn't comment on the initial question because yes whilst we have the experience with them, each drug is different and each person is different and each person will react to different drugs in different ways, however Dita was on them after her attempted suicide, I really do believe that they saved her life, they helped get her out of the hole she was in.



How is Billy doing now?