A hallucinating five year old is no fun

A few years ago, I had the flu and the doctor at the clinic prescribed Tamiflu for it. This particular drug ended up being my first experience with what it was like to hallucinate. After a few days of being on it, I was being driven mad at night. I tried to attribute it to the flu, but then as I was getting better and the medication was in me more, I was having more issues.

Finally, when I said to my Mom (about three or four days into it), “Not that I intend to kill myself, but I can finally understand why people who hear voices all the time could be driven to do it.” (This was after a particularly long night in which, well, obviously, I was hearing voices.) My Mom, ever the wise woman, said I should stop taking the Tamiflu. Lo and behold, the voices were gone. I told some people this, and was assured Tamiflu was totally safe. Funny…then a couple of years later all the reports came out about halluciations and suicides coming from it.

So, I now know what is even less fun than having my own halluciations. It is staying up with a five year old who is having them. We had Jack on some medication for attention purposes. It didn’t seem to work — no good side effects, but no bad side effects either. So, on Friday, the doctor upped the dosage. (Mind you, this is not some scary medication, Jack was just moved up to the same dosage of the same medication that Noah is already taking with wonderful results.)

We gave Jack the new dose on Saturday, just to help with sitting through the Easter Vigil Mass. And, he did great! I was so excited. But, then he was up throughout the night, and was particularly anxious. Then we thought — “Hey…he was just excited for Easter.” No big deal.

Then, we skipped Sunday (since we don’t typically do it on weekends), and he slept fine that night.

Gave it to him on Monday, and it seemed to help at school. But, then sleeping was an issue again. He had a hard time sleeping and wanted to come to bed with us. Okay.

And, then I’m a horrible Mom, and forgot to give it to him on Tuesday and Wednesday. Augh! (He isn’t usually up as early as I give it to Noah, so I think sometimes I think I have already done it for the day, and just forget then.) So, anyway, I gave it to him yesterday. And, then I was astounded by the work he brought home from school yesterday. It was his best writing ever (often a happy side effect of this medication).

But, then last night came. He was on edge as we tried to put him to bed. He cried and cried and was sure something was in his room. This was very unusual for him. We ended up turning on the closet light, but then he kept being sure that maybe something was in the closet.

Finally, I thought he was asleep.

I stayed up way too late, and was finally getting to bed at 1:30 am. All of the sudden, Jack is standing there, looking like he has yet to sleep, but I don’t know for sure on that. I asked him if he wanted to come to bed with me. He decided he wanted to sleep in his own bed, but with me on the couch. Okie dokie. Although, as soon as he laid in bed, he started freaking out. So, I brought him to the couch with me. All of the sudden, he would occasionally gasp and be sure he saw something. This poor little guy was shaking and breathing heavily — this was not to be difficult or for effect.

We finally moved upstairs, and I couldn’t help it — I fell asleep (remember — I’m sick right now). But, I was awaken many times for several hours as I heard Jack gasp and cry, and Eric try to comfort him.

I called the doctor’s office this morning and gave them the scoop. Funny thing is, the information nurse said, “Oh, well if he’s only been on it for three days, we usually wait for a couple of weeks to re-evaluate medication.” I realized at this point that perhaps she wasn’t really getting what I was saying had happened.

So, I started throwing in even more details (specifics about the hallucinations) and times at which he was awake (still up at 1:30 am…still up at 3 am…), and prefaced it all by, “Oh, no — perhaps you didn’t understand, I’m sorry — I can never give this to him again.” Then she got it. And, now we wait to see what the doctor has to say.

Now, the next time I complain about having a child up vomitting all night, I will have to at least remember to be thankful that they are not hallucinating.

No related posts.