I have a love/hate relationship with the full moon. It is so beautiful to see the full moon light up the night sky, especially in the fall when the air is crisp and cool. But on the flip side the full moon in the fall wreaks havoc on my daughter's emotions. The full moon in the spring is equally as tough.
This past week has been one of increased manic behavior. Mary has not slept well 5 out of the last 7 nights. Our rule of thumb is if her sleep is off for two nights in a row, we call the doctor. She has slept well one night and not the next, etc. She is having bad dreams again which makes sleep more difficult. Last night she slept in our room on the floor because she was not feeling well. She was SOOOO restless! She kept moaning and moving all night long. She is dragging and slow moving in the morning, but by afternoon she is talking fast, can't sit still, and feeling "exuberant". I took her to the grocery store with me one evening and she was spinning around in circles up and down the isles, lifting the shopping buggy up like it was a barbell weight set, and singing about mundane things over and over again. Since she is not in school and anxiety does not seem to be an issue right now, I have come to the conclusion that she is cycling.
On top of that, she has a stuffy nose, cough and has been complaining off and on about her stomach hurting. Since we increased the lithium we are watching for signs of toxicity. Stomach pains and flu like symptoms are some of the first signs that the lithium is too high. So, is she starting to become toxic or does she just have a cold??? To rule it out completely we would have to get a blood level done... that is so NOT going to happen! My gut says it is a cold. But we will be watching her even more closely over the next few days.
Our next doctor appointment is the Monday after Thanksgiving. I am praying right now for the wisdom of Solomon to be imparted on our doctor. I am not sure what the next step will be, but I am confident that she will have some good answers for us. Until then we will just continue to watch and pray.
Our next pdoc appt is the Monday after Thanksgiving too! Watch and pray, that's about all we can do in a situation like this.
ReplyDelete"Continue to watch and pray." Amen Sister. Dear Lord what a beautiful picture of the two of you, she's precious! I felt like I had to respond to this post, thank you for sharing it. As you know our 7 year old Joseph is non-verbal autistic, and sleep issues are just another part of all of it... We actually look forward to the full moons! Without fail, he sleeps straight through the night with the arrival of each of them. Some say it has something to do with the barometric pressure changes in the atmosphere, seems to make sense... I've also heard that it has been found that kids with autism don't produce normal levels of melatonin in the brain... I couldn't imagine what you and Mark are dealing with in regards to the meds and toxicity, but as a UPS man I met a doctor on my route who's autistic son is now 18, and so I naturally asked him for any advice re sleep issues, and he prescribed a very low low dose of a drug called Clonidine, it's normally used to lower blood pressure, but it has been a life saver for us. I don't know how I would be able to function without sleep especially with the UPS Christmas Season upon us. It's been a little more than a year since he's been taking it, just 0.02mg at bedtime and he sleeps through the night.... most nights. Some nights it will only get him through till around 2 or 3am, but for the most part, its worked wonderfully for all of us. Once again, thanks for sharing your story, and know that you all are in our prayers. Trusting Him with you.
ReplyDeleteJohn H