Ritalin

I decided to try Laura without Ritalin for a few days. Someone posted on our message board that skin picking is a side effect of Ritalin and as Laura's skin picking has got worse since we upped her dose, I thought it may well be the cause of this behaviour.

So yesterday was day 1 without Ritalin. She was very loud and lively in the morning and started doing some of the behaviours that she hasn't done since she went onto Ritalin, like the repeated banging of the doors. I had to shadow her all the time which is rather wearing, especially as I had a lot of work to do for the conference next week.

In the afternoon we went into the garden because the weather had improved. It's been a while since she has wanted to go in the garden voluntarily and not wanted to come in within 10 minutes, so that was really nice to see. At first she just did her usual wandering around picking flower heads off and paddling in any bits of water she could find, but then Vicky and Lucy arrived and Laura went to the swing.

Laura's not wanted to go on the swing for ages. She stayed in for about 20 minutes!! Poor Lucy wanted a turn but I didn't want to get Laura off until she was ready, so Lucy did her jigsaws instead. Then Laura went on the slide, another first in the past year, and just pottered around the garden for a good hour. The sun was hot and bright and she did have a bit of a turn and I took her inside and bathed her - she was very grimy!! She had a really nice time in the bath but then fell asleep on the bathmat. I think she was quite seizury as she was jumping at the slightest noise.

Later, I got her up and dressed and she watched her DVDs whilst we had dinner. I did her feed rather late and paid for it as she threw it up all over her bed. YUK! It's back to the pump tomorrow I think.

This morning she slept in until 9am which is amazing! Ritalin causes insomnia so is probably the cause of her early wakening (usually 5 or 5.30). I did have her video monitor on as I was rather worried about her being asleep for so long.

So today is day 2 without Ritalin. She has been quieter this morning but did have a seizure just before her breakfast feed, so is obviously a bit unstable seizure-wise. We have an appointment with Dr Jay the week after next so I will discuss meds with him.