We haven’t really made much progress recently. Anxiety levels are relatively stable so long as we don’t do much, or go out much! There are a few things that seem tolerable sometimes, so long as there are not too many people and it doesn’t take too long.
Behaviour therapy is still not started. Honestly, an urgent referral in July won’t get to the top of the list until sometime in November if we’re lucky. Then Christmas will be upon us and everyone will go on holiday and everywhere will shut down for a while, so the reality is we really won’t make much more progress this year.
We had a visitor for a long weekend and it was tough. By the third day he was overloaded and overwhelmed – and we had worked at it minimising the pressure for him! Christmas the in-laws are here. It will be harder to control, they are here longer.
Our paediatrician has again suggested Fluoxetine to help reduce the anxiety. It’s a short-term “solution”. Probably 6 months and then wean him off it. By then we should have behaviour therapy under way. He tells me that using drugs like this at our boy’s age takes advantage of the brain’s plasticity to change things for the better. In adults it doesn’t work so well and medication is a more permanent situation.
Our concern is that our boy will be part of the small percentage of kids who react badly and have increased anxiety and meltdowns. But we feel there are few options left at the moment. We start today and see the paediatrician again in two weeks to assess things… unless it goes wrong before that!
Memordee 