Forget It!

Well, in the middle of the night I had a complete change of heart about introducing the Loestrin into Caroline's med mix.  Her acne had gotten so bad and nothing topical was making much of a difference, which is why we went the route of putting her on bc pills.  But seeing how quickly she has become depressed with the dampening effect on the Lamictal levels in her blood, and that she is already depressed about how many pills she is taking, and that we don't know how long many weeks it would take to restabilize her with more Lamictal, we are taking her off of the estrogen.  This emotional roller coaster just isn't worth it.  And upon reading even further that during the five days that she would not be taking the pill that her Lamictal levels would shoot up and become possibly quite toxic makes us even more leary.  So we are going back to the dermatologist today to try to figure out another approach.  Accutane is out because it is known to cause psychiatric problems even in teens who are not bipolar.  Lithium can cause bad acne, but we can't take her off of this med since it is a big one in the stability factor for her.  I guess scarred skin is better than a severely depressed, suicidal teen.  I just hate that she has to go through this.  Everything seems unfair for these kids, doesn't it?  She is still beautiful and always will be, but I am sad that she has to endure bad skin on top of everything else.

Lamictal Maker Is Right About Estrogen

The makers of Lamictal were right when they said that estrogen containing drugs could cause Lamictal blood plasma levels to be decreased by up to half.  We are suddenly scrambling to increase Caroline's Lamictal dose as fast as we can because she has slid into a bad depression since starting the Loestrin for her skin about a week ago, but we can only go up so much at a time since going up too fast can cause a potentially fatal rash, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.  So we have to go up by 25mg for one week, then another 25mg the second week, working up slowly to possibly 800 mg from her present dose of 400mg.  Of course, we are doing this with the supervision of her psychiatrist.  I guess we should have increased the Lamictal as soon as we introduced Loestrin, as the drug literature suggests.  Oh well.  We live and learn.  So many things to keep track of all of the time!!

My husband is so weary of the job search thing.  He is normally such a rock, a naturally cheerful, upbeat person, but lately he has been irritable, humorless, snapping at the kids and at me, and just plain down.  I guess this is to be expected.  Just doesn't help the general mood around here at all.  I hope this joblessness ends soon.  I want my old hubby back!

Adult ADHD or Just Stress?

I swear I have adult ADHD, from my lack of organizational ability, my forgetfulness, my brain fog, my lack of attention to detail and my difficulty at finishing any task I start.  I have been told by psychologists and psychiatrists that yes I do have adult ADHD, and no I don't, I am just really stressed out, which can have the same effect.  Whatever it is, I have tried taking stimulants but they make me too jumpy and irritable, or my heart races.   I can't stand the fact that once I used to have a place for everything mostly, and now I can't find anything, the laundry is everywhere, paper piles everywhere, I forget doctor appointments a lot even if they are on my ICal and my Blackberry.  Nothing in my house feels or looks organized.  I used to be known for how organized I was when I was in college and in my twenties.  What happened?  And I do stupid things like forget to write down debit charges!!  I have sticky notes plastered everywhere in the kitchen to remind me of different things because if I don't see it in bold letters, I don't see it at all.  I take fish oil, but it doesn't solve the problem.  Maybe it is the antidepressants I have had to take for 10 years.  Or the sleep meds.  I know they can interfere with cognition over time.  But so can depression.  Then you add in middle age and I am toast!

Learning Rx

I am looking into this company called Learning Rx that provides "brain-training" to kids and adults who suffer from ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, and really just about any mental challenge.  They claim to be able to train an individuals brain in the weakest cognitive areas and improve learning skills.  They are not like Sylvan or a homework help, but primarily a therapy center.  Sounds good.  I will look into this for both Caroline and Mae.  I have a link at the right under Great Resources.

Note on Lamictal Interaction with Estriodol

I had forgotten that birth control pills containing Estriodol can reduce blood plasma levels of Lamictal by 40 to 60% in some cases (see Drugs.com for drug interactions with Lamictal.) This means that we may have to increase Caroline's Lamictal in order for it to still be effective while taking hormones to clear up her skin.  She is supposed to get a Lamictal level drawn this week so I guess we will see what it indicates, as well as a Trileptal and Lithium level.  Another mom I know through CABF whose daughter is taking estrogen says that the topical cream interferes less with the Lamictal than the pill form.  Just wanted to share this information with you!

Pill Fatigue

Caroline has declared that she takes way too many pills a day and doesn't want to take anything other than the necessary ones.  Ok, fine, I can see why 21 pills a day would get very old.  She has been such a trooper for seven years now, with very little resistance to taking her medication.  Usually she brags about how many pills she can take at once ("Don't choke please!" I am always admonishing her).  But today she was visibly upset at the thought of swallowing all of the pills in her hand.  So I bargained with her that she wouldn't have to take the krill oil, the Vit D, or any of the other supplements, except for the B-complex vitamin, which is necessary since she is taking Lamictal and Seroquel.  That only eliminates 4 or 5 pills but it is a start.  I feel badly for her.  I try to take as many supplements as I can morning and night so she sees that I "have to" take a lot of pills too, but I know she knows the difference.  And just how are our kids so different from kids with chronic illnesses (cystic fibrosis, cancer, diabetes, muscular dystrophy) who have to put up with tons of pills, blood draws, and endless doctor appointments?  And they suffer more because no one is rallying around them on a daily basis, holding numerous fundraisers all of the time for treatment and research and the like.  I want to support all of my friends with children who have these serious illnesses, but I just wish that early-onset bipolar disorder got more attention!

I Want to Live on a Farm

Sometimes I really do.  I wish I could whisk the whole family away from our lives right here and go live on a rolling farm somewhere, homeschool all of them, and just be content with living off of the land and being together as a family, Little House on the Prairie style.  No TV, no Facebook, no Entertainment magazine. Sounds like a fantasy, but I wish my kids could grow up and just be who they were meant to be and not who the world says they should be.  Between the influences of the media and their peers in school or wherever, my children are told over and over again that they are valued for their looks, their achievements, their economic status, the neighborhood they live in, the friends they keep, the clothes they wear, and so on.  God gave us the life we are living, but I long for something more peaceful, less frantic, less dictated by the pressures of our society in this time and day.

OK, back to reality.  Maybe.