Forum topic: Advice: 21 year old ADHD son goes catonic; Rigid body /smirking face.

Thu May 22nd, 2014 - 8:34am by CosmicJoke

Forum: 
Families with ADD Kids

Has anyone else seen this?  What does it mean when son goes completely catatonic?  He stands rigid.  You could actually knock him over.  No eye contact.  Smirk on face, with expression held like that.  This could go on for an hour.  Nothing reaches him--not touching him, speaking to him.  No clear sense of what triggers it.  First occurred maybe 2 years ago in the midst of ADHD battles and pleas over deadlines, etc.  Most recently though, it can happen when relatively neutral questions arise--like deciding where to go for dinner when his father & I visited him for college parents weekend.

Has anyone here had experience with an ADHD diagnosis masking a bigger issue that needs attention.  Co-morbidity?  Does this sound like he might be bipolar or have some autism spectrum issues?

He'll be home soon after apparently flunking out of freshman year at college.  He's resisted meds for 2 years, started taking them this month.  Is out of meds and needs to see a prescribing physician and the time seems right for a new evaluation.

Is it possible that ADHD is the tip of his iceberg?  (He repeated his junior year of HS, and then his senior year, at a school for ADHD kids.  Despite daily focus groups and specialized curriculum there, he seems to be getting progressively worse.)

I feel like we will get nowhere unless we know the right questions to ask the doctor (based on years of painful experiences).

All RESPONSES WELCOME...Please...

 

 

Comments

Submitted by ADHDMomof2 on Thu May 22nd, 2014 - 6:38pm

Hi,

 

I am no expert here, but I googled the symptoms, and this is what I came up with...

http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/catatonic-depression

I would see a specialist if I were you.  Those are some pretty extreme symptoms.  Someone has to have heard of this before.

No one with ADHD alone could sit still for that long/be quiet/fixed expression.  There must be something else.  I would pursue it aggressively until you get some answers.  Best of luck.

 

Sincerely, 

 

ADHDMomof2

Submitted by CosmicJoke on Sun May 25th, 2014 - 9:23pm

Thank you so much for the link, and for taking the time to find and post it.  

I had to smile when you wrote it must be more than ADHD bc no ADHDer could be still that long.  Son has that "quiet ADHD" that can stare at something for hours, even without an "episode"  One of the frustrating aspects of ADHD, yes, is that there seem to be so many different kinds? 

Your providing a textbook definition of "catatonia" is so useful as I muster thoughts on how to present this with doctors.  My understanding of "catatonia" is more the image of the depressed person pulling blanket over head and remaining in bed all day without speaking.

The problem at my house is more like a switch getting shut off in the middle of him walking and talking.  Sometimes it feels like an act of hostility.  Hurtful and at the same time puzzling when the trigger isn't clear.  But then one cannot feel "hurt" when the person seems to have no control and the action taken (not taken) seems to have no benefit.

The "smirk" is the most unsettling part from this end.

Given all the people who post here, perhaps someone has seen this phenomenon?

Or perhaps Melissa Orlov has?

Best wishes on your own journey ADHDMomof 2... 

 

Submitted by jamesmom23 on Wed Jun 11th, 2014 - 12:01pm

My son would completely shut down too. It was when he was unfamiliar with things. He also suffers from speech delay so we were not sure if was the reason. Take him to a neurologist. Have them conduct an EEG. Im no doctor, but to me this sounds like a "silent seizure". Does he remember anything that happens during these episodes? Also, what is the name of the medication he is taking? Is it a stimulant?

Submitted by Underwater on Fri Jun 20th, 2014 - 11:12pm

  1. a seizure.  My son had "spells" as a toddler, absence seizures and shaking episodes and just what you described, he would go still as a statue..."freeze" I'd call it. I joined a great group and learned a lot about seizures. I never knew there could be so many different kinds and smirking/smiling during them is quite common.  Is your son really tired when he comes out of these episodes?. When it happens video tape it and ask to see an eptileptologist (more specialized then a neurologist), the video will be the most useful diagnositic tool. He could be having other kinds of seizures as well no one has noticed. Seizures are often triggered by stressful events.  They never did figure out what was happening with my son...the cardio and neurologist went back and forth arguing until 2 years later they suddenly stopped, which is why I suggest an eptileptologist who specializes in just seizures, not saying they ARE seizures but it's a good starting point to rule them out.  It also reminds of kids with sensory processing disorder when they are over stimulated they shut down to compensate for the inability to process everything that is going on around them.

Submitted by CosmicJoke on Sat Jun 21st, 2014 - 11:46pm

Thanks for taking a moment to respond.  Without your comment and the one above, I'd have no name for these "silent seizures" nor any sense that epilepsy could be part of the picture.  A quick google (now that you've shown me what to research) suggests links between the "quiet ADD" my son has and possible undiagnosed seizures.  Will follow up.  Wow.  I feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole--a husband and two sons all with ADHD and each one's issues so intense and so different.  Sigh...