Approximately six weeks ago when I took Cassidy to her psychiatrist med check appointment, things had been really difficult with her. It was to the point that we were thinking she needed case management again. It's hard to tell if it is just due to her diagnosis or if it's because of all the attention that Caleb gets having two in-home support workers five nights a week. I explained to the doctor what we've been seeing at home and talked about our thought about case management. She told us if it affected her at school she would probably qualify.
After discussing further what was going on and her current medication, the doctor said she'd like to take her off of the current med and switch her to a different med. We were familiar with the med becuase it was something Caleb had been on since just before he turned four. So it was decided that we would titrate down the one med and titrate up the other.
I made an appointment to discuss seeing if she qualified for case management services again. While she does not qualify for a Severe Emotional Disturbance waiver through the state, she does qualify for case management and attendant care. The fact that she doesn't qualify for the waiver is not a big deal for us becuase she already has a State medical card which is what pays for these type of services due to her being adopted through the foster care system.
The last couple of weeks with Cassidy have been very, VERY difficult. She's completely defiant and disrespectful at home and school, throwing fits at home and just out and out difficult. It's been a very long couple of weeks and that's putting it mildly.
I took Cassidy to the psychiatrist on Friday and we ended up having to have her case manager called out of a meeting to help me in the lobby while we waited for her appointment. She refused to sit in the chair and then all of a sudden freaked out because she was going to miss snack at school. She was getting loud yelling that she didn't want to be there, that she wanted a snack, flapping her arms and hitting me. I tired to calm her down, but nothing worked. So one of the staff came out and asked if we needed anything and I told her to see if her case manager was there.
The case manager comes in and after talking for a few minutes say, "I'll go get you a snack." Thanks!
When the doctor came out and was ready for us, we were still in the hallway trying to get Cassidy to calm down. We went back towards her office and stopped at the scale. Cassidy refused to get weighed. Finally we got her to cooperate. Then we went into the office and more difficulty. Refusing to talk about how she's been doing, disrespectful and defiant. At least the doctor was able to see!
I explained the difficulties at home and at school - especially the fact that she's been permanently removed from the quad of desks due to her constantly wanting to talk and disrupt her classmates from doing their work. The doctor said that the previous change was obviously not a good one and we'll start taking her off of that and adding a new medicaiton very slowly. I am hoping that is the answer!
When we talked with Caleb's neurologist last week he had mentioned increasing one of his seizure meds due to his lab levels being lower than last time. It took until Friday (or so I thought) for his staff to call in the change in the Lamictal, which was the only medication that I thought he was increasing into the pharmacy. When we got the Lamictal, I was curious how much our insurance had paid becuase the retail value of his prescription was over $800. EEEEKKKKK!!!! (I am so thankful for good insurance and the medical card!!!) I noticed that there was a prescription charge for a pharmacy that we don't use and haven't used for quite a number of years. I remembered seeing on the caller ID a call from the store a few days earlier and called them back to see if they had a prescription for Caleb. Sure enough, the doctor's staff had called it into this other pharmacy. When they answered the phone they said the location, but I didn't recognize where it was at. So I asked where they were located. They were located in Andover, which is a 30-40 minute drive from where we live. They said they could transfer it to the store by our house.
I went and picked up the prescription this morning and had difficulty, which made me sure that I would not be moving our prescriptions back there any time soon!
I really should have gone to school to become a pharmacist with all of these medications and med changes that we go through on a regular basis!
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/autism/story/2011/04/Many-with-autism-also-have-treatment-resistant-epilepsy/46418626/1?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4db3985af035099f%2C0
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