Dear Dr. Baughman; This is probably the hardest letter that I have ever had to write to a stranger. I sincerely hope that you can answer a couple of questions for me. I am going to start with a little history so that you know the background before I describe the problem. In 1994 I gave birth to fraternal twins. Their father and I had a very turbulent relationship and in 1999 he was arrested for abusing the kids physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually. Shortly after his arrest (July 1999) my then 5 year old son was hospitalized for the first time. The hospital diagnosed him with "Clinical Depression", "ADHD" and "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
and placed him on 5 mg. of Ritalin 3 times daily and 50 mg. of Wellbutrin SR 2 times daily. The psychiatrist that we were forced to see after his release soon increased the Ritalin to 15 mg. 3 times daily and the Wellbutrin SR to 100 mg. twice daily. He also added Vistaril 50 mg at bedtime. In January of 2001 my son was hospitlized a second time. This time the diagnosis was "Depressive Disorder, NOS", "ADHD", "ODD", "PTSD" and "Explosive Behavioral Disorder". [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
They placed him on Dexadrine 10 mg. TID, Risperdal .5 mg 4xd, and Wellbutrin SR 100 mg. BID. The Risperdal we determined in less than 36 hours of having him home from the hospital was an overdose for him and it was decreased to .5 mg. BID and .25 mg BID (if that makes sense). [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
He was taken off the Ritalin because of "abnormal toxicity" to it. Once again, back to the same psychiatrist for outpatient care and less than a month after being placed on the new meds the psychiatrist was "playing with" dosages. Increasing the Dexadrine and decreasing the Risperdal. She attempted to place him on BuSpar for "anxiety" and this was ruled OUT as a "good" choice for him because *I* am deathly allergic to it. I will admit to being *very* reisitant to playing with his medications. I did not, and do not, feel that it is in his best interests to be placed on one medication after another trying to "find the mix that works" (in the words of the psychiatrist). In May of 2001 I refused to place him back on Ritalin because it had already been shown to be *toxic* to his system. In June of 2001 my son and his twin sister were placed in foster care. [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
In September of 2001 my son was placed on Ritalin without my knowledge OR consent. In December the court ordered the psychiatrist to obtain my permission for ALL medication changes for my son. In January of 2002 the psychiatrist switched my son from Ritalin to Adderal but gave the foster parents "permission" to re-start Ritalin should the Adderal prove to be ineffective. He was on Adderal LESS than 72 hours. In April 2002 I was finally asked to sign permission for my son to take Ritalin and informed that if I did NOT sign the permission paperwork the psychiatrist would obtain a court order to place my son on it. Sometime between July 14, 2002 and March 16, 2003 my son was placed on Ritalin 15 mg. TID, Risperdal .5 mg TID and Desyrel 50 mg. HS. I have no idea specifically when he was taken off the Wellbutrin SR and placed on the Desyrel or WHY his meds were changed yet again. On March 16, 2003 My son started "visually hallucinating" and attempted to "slash his wrists" and "physically assault" the foster mother. He was placed in teh hospital yet again and it was more than 36 hours before I was informed of his "emergency admission" to the hospital. Upon learning of the medications that he was on at the time of his admission to the hospital I went to the pubilc library and researched the drugs in question in the PDR. If I am interpreting what I am reading correctly then *someone* has been *over-medicating* my son with Ritalin. What I am reading is that the *maximum dose* of Ritalin is 60 mg (total) daily. Am I reading the PDR correctly? According to the PDR that I consulted, as well as Medline and several other similar publications, neither Risperdal nor Desyrel should be prescribed to children because their safety and effacy have not been determined in use in children. Am I reading those 2 bits of information correctly? Is there ANY way to get this child OFF these medications safely? If so, how? I can believe that my son has PTSD given our traumatic past. WHat I cannot believe is the *rest* of the many and varied diagnoses that this small NINE year old child has been labeled with. [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
HELP. PLEASE. Renee *. ******* mailto: ********@*******.com |
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