Autistic Child (No-BPD)

Written by Dr. Leland Heller

QUESTION:

I have 5 children my youngest son is 4 yrs. old , he was diagnosed PDD/autistic at 29 months, he had a reaction to his MMR vaccine, the first yr. he was diagnosed wasn't too bad, he did fairly well on a Gluten/casein free diet, yeast free, and a lot of ABA therapy, OT, PT, etc. About 9 months ago my son started to get aggressive toward his teachers, once in awhile he would bite, scratch, pull hair for no apparent reason. Since that time it has escalated quite a bit. He used to

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be such a loving little boy, he would cuddle , kiss, etc. Now my other children are afraid to be around him, he used to sleep through the night, now he wakes up around 2 in the morning and starts screaming from a sound sleep and then gets violent, his legs tighten up so hard and he throws himself, now its been happening more and more during the day also. About 1 month ago he started biting himself which he's never done before.

We have an appt next week for an EEG, (he's had 2 about 1 yr. ago and they were normal. ) His developmental specialist wants to start him on either Tegretol or depakene even if the EEG is normal. MY question is he seems almost like he's having temper tantrums and can't handle any change in routine or a busy day,(stress) I can't tell if its personality disorder or seizure related, we tried a small dose of Prozac for 10 days it was worse and Risperdal 1/2 mg when needed, it helped the first 4-5 times we used it and that was it. He had a CAT scan done that was normal except for some swelling near the sinus cavities. This has been so rough on our family, it almost feels like I'm taking care of a wild animal instead of my son. He also has lost all language slowly over the last 2 yrs. I hate trying medications on him, I try to use homeopathy and natural products but he's getting worse.

DR. HELLER'S ANSWER:

It's obviously a tough situation and my heart goes out to you. I agree completely with the developmental specialist, Tegretol and/or depakene would be an excellent idea. He may have an anxiety disorder, every individual I've treated who complained that Prozac made them hyper, ill or worse had the generalized anxiety disorder and did much better when Buspar was added.

I'll never forget a young girl patient of mine doing the same thing, screaming and kicking, who looked up at me and cried "Dr. Heller, please make it stop!"

It's highly unlikely a personality disorder is present, and that seizures are. He may be psychotically depressed by now as well, and Risperdal is a sensational medication for individuals like this. Dosing is unpredictable, since kids tend to metabolize medications far more quickly than adults due to their young livers.

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