Saturday, August 13, 2011

New Meds, door alarms, and therapy... OH MY!

Now that I stay home full-time, I am not strapped down to a desk blogging about every thing we do... it's actually kind of nice because I don't really dwell on all of the little day to day things the girls do wrong.  I've certainly become more of a "big picture/grand scheme" kind of thinker.  Which is really what needed to take place.   I fell in the trap that most of us therapeutic parents fall into... I started over analyzing all of the things the girls did. 

Overall, the girls are doing really great.  August 17th will be the 1 year anniversary of their move-in date.  It's crazy to think it has ONLY been a year.  I feels like so much longer.  We've accomplished so much in a year.  It's truly amazing.

The main changes we have had lately are medication switches.  Layla's Mirtazapine (Remeron) stopped working rather suddenly.  It left us with a very anxious child.  We've switched her to Prozac and so far she seems to be doing well.  We had one night of her not sleeping well, but we added 10mg of Melatonin (she was on 5mg before) and that seems to have sorted out the sleep issue.  The other thing we did, after finding her roaming the house at 1:00am, was we bought a door alarm for her room.  We got a 2-pack for $3.99 at Harbor Freight.  Totally worth EVERY penny!  I would say it is the best money we've ever spent.   Layla doesn't sneak because she wants something... she sneaks to see if we will catch her.  It's a little test that in her head goes something like, "I am going to sneak, if they catch me, I can trust that they are keeping me safe, if they don't catch me, it obviously must mean they have no interest in keeping me safe or showing me love".   This lead to several tantrums, so the alarm was a physical reinforcement that we are keeping her safe.  She loves the alarm.  In fact when I told her I was buying it, she requested I purchase a purple one!  LOL

MK has also switched her ADHD medication.  The Vyvanse had gotten to the point that she wasn't able to focus well or stay on task, and she was very fidgety.   We switched to Intuniv and we're on a low dose that will increase in the coming weeks.  So far, aside from needed reminders to stay on task, she's doing pretty well with it.  Hopefully, it will continue to be even more effective as we increase her dosage.

Lastly,  we are starting therapy again for both girls.  MK's therapist is going to help her with her peer relationships, her processing the past trauma, and her feeling comfortable in her new life as a family girl.  Layla's therapist specializes in childhood anxiety and behavior modification.  Since we've already completed attachment therapy, I think it is important for her to get a better grasp on controlling her anxiety so that eventually, we can think about taking medication away.

Despite their struggles, they are doing very well.  School is going great (outside of peer issues with MK).  They are making good grades, and being home fulltime has allowed me to have lunch with each of them during the week.

I will try to get around to updating a little more often! 

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