testosterone and ASD

[Bonkerz]

I need help and advice.

Bit of background. DS diagnosed with ASD and ODD at age 7 after years of fighting we got him into a specialist priory school where he has been since age 8. DS is now 11 and is on strattera (25mg) once a day.

In the last few months we have seen his behaviour change. DS has less meltdowns but the ones he does have are horrendous and very aggressive.
School are struggling to cope with him (specialist school, 25 pupils in while school) and are very concerned as DS is now threatening to kill himself and self harming on a daily basis. at home DS is not perfect but we dont have the huge behaviours we have more the trashing of his room and screaming obsenities.

The school are talking about the possibility of sending DS away to a residential mental CAHMS hospital to get his aggression and mood stabilised. The said he is a danger to himself and others. They have called social services in and have told the LEA that they cannot school him safely without 2:1 staffing and even then he is a huge risk.

I dont know what to do. Have emergency CAHMS appointment on wednesday morning but am terrified they are gonna take my baby away from me.

I suppose what im asking is that does testosterone and the onset of puberty affect aggression and ASD to this extent. Will anti depressents help/. BI POLAR has also been mentioned. I dont know what to do. He is only 11, he is my baby and YES sometimes he scare the hell out of me and i cannot cope with him especially when he pulls knives on me (only happened once thankfully) but he is my baby.

Xx

I think you should repost this on the SN childrens board Bonkerz, it gets loads more traffic and there are really helpfull peopl over there.

Good luck.

I think puberty and testosterone have a huge effect tbh in my case I was fortunate if you can call it that ds was hugely aggressive and constant meltdowns before puberty afterwards he was hugely quiet and withdrawn.
It does sound like he needs a medication review and the best place to do that is probably as an in patient.
Can you think of it as a means to an end? A short spell away from home for a longterm better outcome.
I know how you feel though ds is 16 and he's still my baby even if he is a foot taller than me

Sorry you are having a tough time and I hope the CAMHS appointment works out. You mentioned he was taking Straterra - were you aware that the patient information leaflet mentions 'suicidal thoughts' and 'aggression' as rare side effects? may be worth discussing this at the appointment in case there's any association.

Thanks pip

We have emergency cahms appointment tomorrow. Hopefully they will tell me what the plan is regarding getting him stable. He has had a really good day today. One extreme to the other.

I have a risk assessment from priory and also a report from head detailing all attempts and aggressive outbursts for last few months.
The doctor I'm seeing tomorrow though is the same one who insisted ds had ADHD and not autism back in 2007. He is useless but I have the name of a autism specialist in cahms who has agreed to take ds on.

Thanks. Ds has a formal diagnosis of autism, OdD an severe anxiety. The doctor I'm seeing today is generally obstructiv and doesn't like me mainly because I refused his dx of ADHD and pushed for further assessment and proved him wrong. All involved a formal complaint and some bad feelings hence I'm worried today is gonna be a fight.

I spent yesterday doin alot of crying an discussing things with friends. I understand I need to do something now in the short term for the long term gain. As much as it kills me to think of ds away from me I do understand it may be important.

Ds needs to be stabilised. I get that. The school cannot guarantee his or others safety with him being so unpredictable and aggressive and I have to respect the schools experience in this.

9am is my appointment. Will update ASAP. Thanks again.

Hi. just an update. Appointment went quite well. Doctor increased straterra to 40mg ad also introduced risperidone 500mcg per day and also melatonin at night. All this isin the interim until referral appointment with new autism specific doctor. Also got referral to OT and for some psych therapy. Got to go back next week.

It will be down to new doctor to assess any underlying mental health issues and treat accordingly.

my sons on strattera and we are having horrendous problems with agression and depressive thoughts also.

I did ask about the side effects and he said that as ds has been on for over 8 months with aggression and suicidal acts only in last 2 months it's unlikely the drug.

He has reluctantly referred on to new doctor so I'm hoping it moves fast. He basically gave me three choices. 1) do nothing till new doc takes over 2) the option I chose 3) stop all drugs and wait till
New doc takes over.

Ds can't be on nothing. I was ok with risperidone but he said that straterra needs to be weaned off but till new doc assesses he needs to be on full dose for weight which is 40mg.

So confused. Risperidone does calm ds and makes him quite emotional but thats preferable to being aggressive.