Medication issues...

Last week was Dakota's checkup in Omaha. The doctor started Dakota on some new medication. He started it on Wednesday night and the next morning he had this huge fit about going to school. He was screaming and crying and hitting and kicking... He was out of control and we couldn't calm him down. John needed to get to work, so we just kept him home that day. I read up on the medication and didn't see anything about that sort of thing in the possible side effects. Dakota often tries to get out of going to school. Some days he tries telling us that he is sick and other days he cries, but he never fights us. Anyway, he was fine the rest of the day and Friday and Saturday. Sunday night he had another one of these fits about an hour after he took the medicine, but it was worse. We told him that he could have a bedtime snack and he said he wanted a can of ravioli's – and we said no. That's all it took to start it. I can't even describe how he was acting. It was sort of like he was possessed. He screamed and cried and hit and kicked for 45 minutes straight, but we were determined not to give in (even though the neighbors probably thought we were trying to kill him or something). We had to hold him down – it was awful. In the middle of it, we asked him if he was feeling weird and he said that he felt like he was being a bad person – but he didn't stop. It continued until he wore himself out. On Monday I called and talked with the doctor. She said that happens on occasion, so she prescribed him another medication. She said that it was in the same “family” as the other but the kids who have a reaction to one don't normally have a reaction to the other. We started that medicine Monday night, and the next morning (yesterday) it happened again. We made him go to school because he has missed so many days this year, but it was rough going. John had to haul him over his shoulder out to the car. I had to sit in the back and ride with them because Dakota kept taking off his seat belt and trying to open the door (along with screaming and everything). I had to hold him down. Once he got inside, the vice principal and counselor got him calmed down – and he was fine for the rest of the day. John was a half hour late for work though. I didn't give Dakota the medicine last night and he is fine today. His specialist is just so determined to take him off the Abilify that he has been taking for years, and replace it with another medication. She had tried taking him off the Abilify before, but he couldn't sit still. I wish she would leave things alone.

In other “news”, Mikayla got her cast off since the last time I blogged. She had to wear a brace for a couple of weeks and is now done with that. Her bone looks a little odd at the wrist. It sticks out a bit because it curves out a little. The doctor said that it will straighten as she grows.

Mikayla's dance recital is this Saturday. They had the rehearsal last Saturday, and it didn't go so great. First of all, the girls aren't used to dancing on a big stage – they are used to a small room so when they got on stage they weren't staying in the right places. Also, they are used to their teacher telling them what move to do as they do it. They really haven't had any practice with absolutely no instruction. Oh well, it will be cute. They dance to “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. This is the last week of dance class until August or September, so Mikayla is a little bummed about that.