"Miguel was not very nice to us today! He stayed upset most of the day, trying to fight or bump us with his head or cane. He even missed PE today because he would not stop fighting. I had to stay in the classroom with him while his classmates went to PE. All he wanted to do today was spin and lick or flick his fingers. *He had a BM this afternoon. I hope he feels better this evening."
I had to respond saying that he never ceases to amaze me because he had the best evening, night's sleep and morning in MONTHS yesterday.
Again, last night I gave Miguel 1/2 his dose of Clonidine (which was the original dose I had been giving him from Oct. - Jan.) and HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!
So, he woke up in a good mood around 0500 and we hung out. I snoozed my alarm for 30 minutes and jumped in the shower. The bedroom became quiet and Miguel's bed was empty, as he made a B line for Uncle Jason's jacuzzi tub that Miguel is no longer to be in because it floods the garage below. (YIKES!!!)
I hurry up in the shower to go get Miguel because once he fills the tub, he has to wait until every last drop is drained before he'll get out. I head for Uncle Jason's tub and it's 0648....time is running out....
This seemingly harmless jacuzzi tub quickly turns into...
Miguel's bunker!!!
I open the drain, turn off the water and start talking to Miguel about getting out of the tub, being "all done", getting dressed, getting on the bus and he starts swinging. He sort of "leaps up" and swings and plops back down in the tub.....like Whack-a-mole!!!! However, I don't have a huge mallet to whale on him! LOL!!! Furthermore, I don't win tickets to claim a prize. =( I suppose getting him on the bus is prize enough.
Well, it was a good swingfest and I will spare the aggressive details but I imagine it was only a bit of what his school experienced yesterday and what I had been experiencing the past few months. I got him on the bus, he was not happy and I am sure he will be a handful today.....or not because he makes a good liar out of me. This all goes back to my theory of Miguel being a mixed bag of nuts.
Clonidine, clonidine, clonidine.....what will we do with you?
Give a full dose at night: sleep a couple hours and be wired in a non-aggressive way 19 hours a day.
Give a half dose: sleep solid through the night and kick everyone's ass all day long.
Tonight I am going to give him 1/2 a dose and the other half in the morning. I know the results are not going to be accurate because it is the weekend but I can start it anyways and see how Monday goes.
"Temper is a weapon that we hold by the blade."
--James M. Barrie
2 comments:
Wow, what a morning. What a shock to get that note from school when he had such a good night! It'll be interesting to see if more sleep means more energy for aggressive behavior during the day. Isn't it *fun* that you get to experiment with medications rather than a medical professional being able to tell you what is going on? Sigh.
I'm glad you made it through this morning, I am sure it was frustrating.
I'm curious to see how the 1/2 pill at night and another 1/2 during the day works out!! Maybe it'll be a great weekend.... :)
Have a good one...
Ooohhh...
I'll be thinking about you this weekend. I feel your pain about the sleep thing ... although right now we're in a good cycle.
I've heard good things about clonodine ...(sp?) I read about it the first time in Susan Senator's book Making Peace with Autism...
Here's to finding the right dosage and everyone being well-rested and in a good mood!
Go eat some blue bell ice cream for me... :( NO wait ... go to Pappasitos and have some nachos and a margarita. Nothing like that here in MA... :(
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