celesteanne
enthusiast
Reged: 03/12/05
Posts: 313
|
|
I found out from my 9 year old son that his father has been giving him his(father's) 5mg ritalin in the late afternoon after my son's adhd medicine, vyvanse has worn off. I email his father asking him if it was true and he admitted that he had spoken with our son about the possibility of taking the ritalin and that his pediatrician said it was ok for him to take his medicine which by the way is NOT true.
I am upset on 3 levels...
1. father should NOT be giving our son ANY medication that is not prescribed to son.
2. father should not be teaching son that it is ok to take someone else's prescription
3. father should not be involving the pediatrician in his lies.
What I don't understand is why father never told me that he was having a hard time with son and maybe was concerned about his current dose. It has been the summer time and so the meds are not as obvious as they are during the school year.
I have sole legal custody and any medical changes and concerns need to come by me first. But besides that...what happened to co-parenting?
I am so scared by his fathers poor judgement to give a 9 year old ritalin without a doctor prescribing it. I do not want to cause a war as we have a very toxic relationship but I am concerned for our son's safety. I called CPS last night and reported it.
I am now afraid of what I have done....I don't regret calling CPS because I have to protect our son of course but I don't know....
Any thoughts?
|
gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
|
|
Did you consult with the child's therapist that has prescribed the vyvanse in regards to a "bumper" med for the problems when the vyvanse wears off? I ask because my daughter was on Concerta for a while and we had Adderal in order to cover late nights.
Personally, since he appears to be cooperating and you seem to be accepting that something needs to be done in the evenings, it might have been better to contact the therapist and get a replacement for the Ritalin he has been using. CPS will have a hard time proving abuse (and personally, I don't think there was any) since there wasn't a negative outcome, and most likely, th therapist will do the same, prescribe a mood leveling med.
On that same note, have you investigated Stratterra? It is a 27 hour med, so there is no "off" time.
--------------------
Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
|
finz
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/17/08
Posts: 6453
|
|
I'd be tempted to also call your ex's physician and report this.....although you may want to consider that if he is shut off by his doctor, he may steal your son's meds.
Report it to the police.
Does your ex have any response to your asking WTF he was thinking ?
|
gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
|
|
Why would you advise calling the POLICE? Here is a guy who has a kid that has ADHD, the mom ADMITS that the meds are wearing off, so he TRIED something. He isn't HIDING it, he ADMITTED it. Why does there seem to be more interest in making him PAY, than there is in fixing the PROBLEM?
--------------------
Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
|
finz
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/17/08
Posts: 6453
|
|
You can't think of A SINGLE possible remedy other than ILLEGALLY administering a schedule II drug, prescribed for someone else, to a minor ?
Call me crazy, but when faced with the same situation, I asked my son's pediatrician for a short acting med to take on evenings when he needed help to keep his focus.
|
finz
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/17/08
Posts: 6453
|
|
Coincidentally, same son of mine this week is complaining of severe back pain after carrying his guitars around a Boston college campus band camp this week.
Silly me, I've been giving him nightly massages, took him to the pediatrician, booked the chiro, gave him some Motrin and icyhot........Should I have just tossed him some Vics instead ? Maybe some MS Contin instead ? I'm sure that would have helped ease the pain.....
|
gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
|
|
"You can't think of A SINGLE possible remedy other than ILLEGALLY administering a schedule II drug, prescribed for someone else, to a minor ?"
I can think of a number of other remedies. But I am also not saying I wouldn't TRY it. If the Dad is taking Ritlin for ADHD, giving it to a child that is already medicated for ADHD as a bumper to get through an evening is something I would consider.
Now tell me, if the child is ALREADY being medicated for a KNOWN condition (thereby negating any claims of "guessing" what is wrong), and the father is ALSO being medicated for the SAME or very SIMILAR condition, what we are really talking about is who's NAME is on the bottle. I consider myself quite knowledgeable about ADHD meds, and with the doctor's approval, have been the one to determine dosage levels when we were medicating my daughter.
Now, you will say but he didn't HAVE the doctor's approval. SO what? Who was harmed? The boy did okay, Dad admitted to it, probably won't do it again, a "problem" was diagnosed (the child needing meds later in the evening).
Ritlin is NOT harmful. People have been known to use dosages in excess of 200 mg. The kid took FIVE mg.
--------------------
Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
|
Redlegg
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 10/05/06
Posts: 26677
|
|
It never ceases to amaze me. How many different drugs can it interact with, physical conditions unknown to the parent, amount of dosage. The internet is a great thing, but it is not the answer to everything. Doctors are professionals, who continue to study their craft, as there are new developments on a constant basis.
Before I would pretend to know enough about medicine to start dosing my child with prescription drugs, I would either go to an urgent care clinic or the ER, or I would wait a day and make an appointment, there are quite a few options before the what the heck, it doesn't hurt me and I looked it up on the internent approach. You are free to do what you want. By any normal standards, not to mention the law, giving presription meds to some without the advice of a Dr is reckless at best, deadly at worst, but either way, it is not something anyone should recommend to anyone else....
|
LexieBelle
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 11/07/10
Posts: 3680
|
|
Please. Doctors see you/your kid for how long? How often? Medicine-wise, doctors don't have access to any more information on anything than any other human does. And, I guarantee you, doctors do NOT take the time (it would logistically impossible) to FULLY investigate EVERY medication they may prescribe.
further, if you think every doctor remembers every detail of every child? You're insane or stupid. For example, dd has one of THE best pediatricians in the state. #1 pedi in the state numerous times, on the cover of a magazine for it, blah blah blah. He has no recollection of whether dd has had an allergy test. He asks me every visit. HE ordered the allergy test, and it was done in HIS lab. "Does she have allergies?" Nooooo, that's why we ran a $600 blood test. In NY we had great docs. Her ENT is a top ENT in the state, head of the pediatric oranwhatever it is society, on the board at Cornell-Weill etc. Had never heard of cyclic vomiting.. insisted I was completely wayyyy off base. Guess what? He ate crow and he DID apologize for it. She did, indeed, have cyclic vomiting. I accurately diagnosed it after keeping careful track/records, and doing an enormous amount of internet research. Cost $26,000 and 2 days in a hospital for the docs to say "oh yeah, she's got cyclic vomiting syndrome".
She's on veramyst now. By using MY rx first. I know her symptoms, I know her patterns. When it was prescribed for me it was like a miracle with what it did for my sinuses. I researched it heavily, consulted several pharmacists and started administering it. It's done exactly what it did for me and her doctor gladly prescribed it when I went to him a month later and asked for her own scrip. And he is well aware I started her on it, off my own rx. She's now on an asthma regimen.. I was halfway there with the veramyst. He merely added the same medication (fluticasone propionate) that I was already using for her nasal breathing passages, for her bronchials/lungs.
Her pediatrician said this to me.. being a parent? is much like being a detective. You watch, you observe, you monitor, you watch patterns, you take notes, you investigate, and you come up with a theory/solution. As he said, "I spend a few minutes with your child, when there's an acute problem.. YOU spend every day with your child, YOU see what happens.. what are the triggers, what are the patterns, if you do this then that happens. Why would I NOT listen to you? "
My ex has ZERO use for doctors. And if I had a dollar for every time he said "YOU know what you're doing, don't let them push you around. I 100% back you up", I'd be out of debt ;)
I don't see a CPS/police issue here, I really really don't. Seems terribly dramatic to me. And I 100% agree with Gr8.
|
ssmom79
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/27/07
Posts: 7783
|
|
I don't think I'd call CPS over this. But you were concerned and you called them. Now you wait for the investigation and the fallout. Your three levels of being upset are valid concerns, just not ones I'd take up with CPS.
You say you and your ex have a toxic relationship which is like why he attempted to self medicate the child without talking to you. This is wrong but likely why he didn't mention the issues he has with son.
I do agree the dad shouldn't be giving him meds that aren't prescribed. Finz mentioned dad sharing more harmful drugs, which I think would cause me to call CPS. But giving an ADHD diagnosed child the smallest dosage of an ADHD medication isn't going to do it, for me.
I would definitely use this as a learning tool for your child. At nine years old, he can understand the values you are teaching including being honest and not taking other people's medicine. Perhaps this call to CPS will keep your ex from attempting to self medicate in the future.
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
