Yet Another Opinion

When Bubba went for his 3-year well visit with our pediatrician, she recommended that we see a new psychiatrist. She began by explaining that this doctor is closer, and then got to the point. She wanted to see if this doctor might switch Bubba's medication. Our pediatrician felt that, since Bubba has improved so much, he might be able to switch to an ADD med instead of his current meds.
As I have mentioned in the past, Bubba is currently taking Seroquel, an anti-psychotic medication typically used for patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. We do not like the thought of him being on the medication, but it has helped him to make great strides. Also, when we tried to completely remove him from the medication a few months ago, he completely came unglued. He lacked complete impulse control, began having potty accidents, stopped sleeping, and had aggressive outbursts. Because of this, we understand that he still needs something, but I was also curious if we could try something a little less intense.
Well...we (Bubba, Baby, and I) showed up at the psychiatrist's office in our typical tornado fashion. We whirled in through the tiny glass door and immediately took over the crowded, dorm room sized waiting area. I had my overly full teacher-like white 3-ring binder in hand, which carries all of Bubba's evaluations, observations, test scores, meeting times, and public school items (yes...I keep extra special records on all public school happenings), two Lambies (one baby and one lamb), two sippy cups, and one overstuffed purse. Contrary to the waiting patients' thoughts, I wasn't even the patient!
Bubba immediately began jumping off chairs, writing on the wall (doctor's offices really shouldn't chain a pen to anything because I can't remove it), and meowing like a cat. Next came the continuous spinning, bear crawls, yells, and echolalia (repetitive speech). To top it off, Baby body slammed herself on top of Bubba, who was, at the time, pretending to be a cat on the floor. Right about the time Bubba began counting the blind sections over and over, I noticed a teenager in the corner of the room gripping his chair so tightly I thought he was trying not to take off. Then, I heard his mother. She was trying to help him calm down...evidently this teenage boy was prone to panic attacks (the reason for his visit) and my children were giving him one!
After speaking with the doctor, we had all the answers we needed. He diagnosed him with Asperger's Syndrome (also known as high-functioning autism; on the high end of the autism spectrum; cannot be diagnosed until after 3 years of age), which we already knew was coming. Then, however, came the kicker. There was to be no change of medication. In fact, he increased Bubba's dose of Seroquel. He said that Bubba is, at his age, not capable of dealing with all of the emotion and anxiety that comes along with this syndrome. He said there is no way for anyone to understand the level of anxiety that Bubba feels in social situations and to take him off this medication would be devastating for him. He said that ADD medications simply cannot treat all that needs to be treated in this situation.
I left perfectly happy with the outcome. I want Bubba to be happy and healthy. I know that he carries a lot of anxiety around with him on a daily basis, and I would never want to make that worse just because I don't like the medication. The doctor seems to think that we will be able to change medications when Bubba is older and can better cope with his emotions, but right now, that isn't an option. We will see...