[PizzicatoKemuri]

Hi,

First of all thank you for taking the time to read me. I'll try to resume the situation but still provide enough information. We live in Europe but i was hoping someone could help me here.

Our son was late to talk and always had slight difficulty to talk and express himself, but everything went OK at after seeing a Speech Therapist for a few years. He also had a few bronchial asthma and went 3 times at the hospital because of that, and then took Virlix and Seretide (the brand name of Advair in Europe) for a few years. Starting 8 years old he had light anxiety in the night, where he would be scared to die, and heard voices a few times. We saw a Psychologist and she told us that it was not hallucinations and there was nothing to be concerned about. Besides that our son was perfectly normal and mentally stable.

But he was also very tired, especially going on the stairs or just moving. At the time he was obese, but we managed to make him lost weight and bring him to an acceptable weight. He was still tired so we did some exams (basic blood check up, ECG, etc...) and our pediatrician redirected us to an Endocrinologist. After some more blood tests she discovered that he had low cortisol levels and that could be the cause of his fatigue. She said it could be cause by the cortisone in his Seretide (Advair) and that he had to stop to take it as well as the Virlix. She prescribed him Singulair so that he would not have asthma from stopping to take his treatment.

This is when the s*** hit the fan (forgive my language). After about a week of Singulair one night he went to sleep and started talking alone. Then he had VERY strong hallucinations. He would scream in terror, move and was panicked. The strange thing is that he had hallucinations every minute or so and nothing between. He was hospitalized and they identify the Singulair to be the cause and told me it could take 3 weeks to be out of his system. They stopped the Singulair and he was out of the hospital after a few days since his symptoms would happen only the night and he was slightly better. But back at home he became worse and he was hospitalized for another week. He had VERY STRONG hallucinations, in the pediatric center you could hear him scream from the corridor. He also had some seizures where he was shaking and was out while his eyes where still open that would last for a few minutes. Mostly he would then like "wake up" and cry saying it felt like days or weeks had gone by. He also had some psychotic episodes where he saw UFO's, tried to catch ballons that wasn't there, didn't understand the meaning of words, etc... that would last for a few dozen minutes but that didn't scared him. The gave his Risperdal and Atarax. Then he started feeling better and after a week he was out of the hospital and he had to continue to take some Risperdal 0,25 morning and night and Atarax 25 before sleeping. He then was regulary checked by a neuro-pediatrician and a child psychiatrist and it took many months for him to be back to normal, being able to sleep in his room and not being to scared to be alone.

All that happened in June 2014 and our son was 10 years old.

I would like to mention that at the hospital he had several blood tests, a head MRI, and an EEG. Several months later he had a 24 hours EEG. All results where normal. There was also no traumatic events in his life. But there is a history of psychiatric disorders in my side of the family (my grandfather suicide himself, my mother has psychosis and is bipolar, my uncle was a using drugs and alcohol). I'm his father and i have a psychosis and possibly schyzophrenia. I have this since i was a teenager and i'm stable.

Around 3 months ago his psychiatrist (a new one that replaced the other one) decided that since our son was really feeling well and was stable to gradually stop his Atarax and then to only give him half of his Risperdal in order to then stop it completely. I didn't agree with this idea, but the doctor though his problems where caused by the Singulair and it was useless giving him strong drugs at his age for nothing since he was feeling well. After about 2 to 3 week our son started to be anxious again, being scared to take his shower alone, saying he heard scary noise when alone. We i talked about it to the doctor he said he was just anxious and that we should stop completely his Risperdal. I refused and said we should wait some more at this dosage (0,25mg of Risperdal). After 3 more weeks our son was so scared that he was unable to sleep in his room alone. He didn't had any real strong hallucinations but he was TERRIFIED to go in his room, looking around like if was going to see something at any time, paralyzed be fear, etc... He confessed to us that he wet his bed every night for about a month because he was so scared just to go to the toilet alone.

Now our son is back on Risperdal 0,25mg morning and night and Atarax 25 in the night since almost 2 months. But he still doesn't feel better. He can go to school and be more or less normal in the day, but in the night or sometimes in the day he is terrified to go in his room even with us, he is watching behind the doors to make sure there is nothing there, is scared a monster will catch him in the back, sometimes jump scare just because he saw the cat enter the room. Tonight he was unable to take he shower alone because he heard scary noises and my wife had to give him a shower. He was crying, feeling ashame and being scared that he was going to be like before again.

MY QUESTIONS ARE:

1: How long can it take for the Risperdal to fully be effective the way it was ? The doctor told me it can take months ? Is that true ? And is it normal there is no improvement after almost 2 months ?

2: I'm aware that he was maybe a little mentally "fragile" and sensitive. But we are almost sure that the Singulair really messed him up. He is not the same anymore. Did this kind of thing happened to other people ? Will it get better with time ?

3: On his latest blood test his cortisol and serotonin are low. We are going to make another blood test and have an appointment with his doctor. What could be the cause of his low cortisol since he doesn't take any cortisone now ? And does low serotonin levels can have an impact on mental health ?

4: Do you think some supplements like magnesium or Omega 3 could help ? How about trying to eat gluten free or lactose free (he had a blood test for gluten and lactose that where negative, but i know some people could be gluten sensitive) ? Any supplement or diet idea ?

5: In your opinion what really happened ? Is it the Singulair that messed him up ? Is it psychiatric disorders ? Or could it be something that the doctors missed like hormones ?

I'm really sorry for this long message and thank you a lot for taking the time to read me. Also forgive my English if it isn't perfect but i'm from Europe.

Thanks and have a nice day ;-)

[MissFiona]

The first thing that jumped out at me was that your son seems to be afraid of being trapped or attacked in his room and you also mentioned the shower in the bathroom. The bathroom and especially inside the shower is a very small enclosed space, I don't know about the size of his bedroom, but you also mention looking behind doors and in cupboards as though there were something lurking there. I experienced similar night terrors as a child but didn't call out or make a sound or tell anyone. It was all pushed down inside me. There was something wrong but nothing I could speak out about. As how does one explain to a parent or adult when they are a child what they are feeling as they don't have the words to express. But during the night when asleep the terror is coming out. Does that point to the subconscious trying to not push it back down? I'm no expert I can only speak from my own experience which was pushing it all inside me rather than screaming it all out. As an adult I'm able to look back and realise I was being pushed into the equivalent of boxes - which felt like coffins - by teachers and family. It actually did feel like I was always on the edge of being abducted because my mind was being taken away from me, by any repetitive behaviour I experienced at home or at school. It felt like death because it was other people expressing their opinions all around me from books written by someone else when inside me I knew I had my own stories but pushed them all down. For me the things that helped the most were being outside in big spaces around nature, drawing, and a dog.

This may be the most unhelpful thing I've ever written but I hope you find the answers.

[kecanoe]

I don't know the answers to most of your questions, but I do know that low cortisol can be caused by stress or long-term illness. Perhaps it is caused by your son's asthma? Seratonin and Cortisol are in the same biological "chain" so it would make sense that he is low in both. In the US, we can get a supplement called 5htp that helps, or you could also try tryptophan. Both help the body with the chain that includes seratonin and cortisol.