Posted by Grace4me on December 17, 2004, at 11:32:01
My son, who is 18, has had much hyperactivity, some minor depression, and a regular basis of rage episodes. He could not function in the classroom environment because it brought out all his insecurities and rage. His hyperactivity prevented him from being able to be quiet or sit still. In the last year we had taken particular notice that the rage would occur about every 3 to 4 weeks. We could sense it about 2 days before it would manifest. He had been diagnosed with ADHD, but medications never worked. He recently was seeing a psychologist, trying to figure out why he would go into these rages and get to the root of his insecurities. He was placed on Zoloft as a trial and 7 days after taking it he went into one of the deepest depressions I'd ever seen him in. After 2 days in bed he went into a violent uncontrollabe rage - tearing his bedroom up, breaking 3 wood rocking chairs on the porch, cracking his windshield with his fist, putting his head through the sheetrock in his bedroom wall. My father called the police during the episode - he kicked the glass out of the police car, tried to rip the sink off the jail cell wall, started pulling the ceiling squares off the jail cell ceiling. They of course had him transported to mental health and from there to a hospital. He was diagnosed with cyclothymia. He returned home from the hospital on December 13, 2004. This is all so new to us. My son, is a wonderful young man in between the episodes. In between the rages things seemed so normal (besides hyper, but this had been there since childhood), you would almost forget about the rages. As he has gotten older the rages have become more destructive and that is why we had him see the psychologist. Do the symtoms I have mention above sound like cyclothymia to those of you who have it. Do any of you experience the rage? If this diagnosis is correct, it has brought a sense of relief. We understand things we had not understood for years. One of my great concerns is, during all the ups and downs my son has been through, he has become a daily user of marijuana, drinking on weekends, and some cocaine use. I worry how this will effect the cyclothymia if he continues. I also wonder will cyclothymia most likely turn into full blown bi-polar even if he is being treated now? Right now he is on Seroquel. I understand that this is not a long term drug, though it does seem to be working. His next appointment is on January 4 and they will probably try him on Lithium. I guess I just needed to express my thoughts to some of you who understand. Any feedback you can give or information, I would be grateful. God bless and have a blessed holiday season
poster:Grace4me
thread:430806
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041217/msgs/430806.html