So, we decided to try putting Logan on medication. Please, no judgement. Logan has been so rough and hasn't seemed to be making much progress, even with going to the Children's Center five days a week. Logan's psychotherapist referred us to a psychiatrist, Dr. Claire, who also works at the Children's Center. And by the way she is fantastic! She went in several days to observe Logan during preschool and visit with him. She then met with Matt, Logan and me and spent two hours discussing his condition with us. After thinking over it and praying for several weeks we decided it was time to try medication.
Logan and I met with Dr. Claire last Thursday and she recommended putting him on Guanfacine twice a day. He started it last Friday has seemed to do really well with it. The medicine was supposed to make him exhausted the first 10 days but we haven't seen this too badly. He seems a little tired and maybe a little grumpy but the big win is he seems to not be as impulsive and angry.
I pulled up to pick him Monday night and he was outside with his inclusion teacher. Apparently the kids in the classroom were being noisy and he told the teacher, "I'm overwhelmed, I need a break." What a win! So his inclusion teacher took him for a walk so he could calm down. He has done similar things like this at home and seems to be expressing himself more than just getting angry.
The only bad side effect we have seen is nightmares. He had a nightmare over the weekend but we were able to calm him down within about 10 minutes and he then slept through the rest of the night. but Tuesday night he woke up at 2 am terrified and did not calm down the rest of the night. By around 3 am Matt moved to the couch and I pulled Logan into bed with me and he slept on and off but was terrified of everything.
He woke up around 6 screaming that his pajamas were scary, the carpet was scary, the toilet was scary, the shadows were scary, you name it he was scared of it. I couldn't miss work so we sent him to school and he stayed terrified all day. It went so far that he insisted something was inside his shirt and the teachers had to take it off, shake it and show him there wasn't anything there.
When I picked him up he was just shaking. I felt horrible and the worst part was he kept telling me, "I'm scared mom, I'm just so scared and it's something but its nothing." It's like he knew there wasn't anything to be scared of but he still couldn't calm down. He fell asleep around 6 that night and we were finally able to wake him up at 7:30 and feed him dinner but he would not sit anywhere but on my lap. He was afraid of his sheets and couldn't go to bed so he was up until 10:00 until I finally took him to bed with me again. He slept through most of the night and woke up today feeling much better and happy. I'm hoping that this was because he got too tired but I called his Dr. just in case.
So that's the update on Logan and where we are at dealing with his sensory processing disorder. The Children's Center is still evaluating Logan for autism but for now we don't have a definitive answer. I do feel like he is in the right place and we have the right people to help Logan get this all figured out.
