And the roller coaster continues ...

Well, I did get some work done yesterday.... I am going to get back on it in the next 15 minutes or so, and see how far I get by days' end.

We're in Blizzard conditions right now (little after 12 pm) and the boys are going stir crazy. DH and I resorted to using the TV as baby sitter for an hour or so (not proud of it, but after having spent since 8.30 am this morning breaking up scuffles about every 5 seconds and constantly having to redirect Salamander to not have these scuffles turn violent, we needed a break), and we plopped in the Madagascar DVD. So hopefully that'll keep the boys out of each others 'hair' for a bit.

I decided to take Salamander off the Albuterol last night. The stuff is just not agreeing with him, and especially after reading the product insert a little more carefully and seeing hyperactivity, palpitations, nervousness, agitation, and aggressive behavior listed (yes, yes, yes, yes and yes) as side effects and adverse events, the cost/benefit ratio is just not falling out favorably - we'll just have to ride out the reminants of the bronchial irritation. Unfortunately, that did result in him coughing a lot during the night, which then impaired the quality of his sleep, which then impacted his mood, which then reduced his ability to tolerate being cooped up in the house with other members of the family, etc., etc. So I don't know yet if I made the right decision. I gave him a bath in eucalyptus oil and that seems to help with the coughing. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. I will need to find a different bronchial dilator medication though - a dear friend recommended Xopenex...

DH and I commented to each other that Salamander is basically back to the level of 'having a really off weekend like we used to see before we started Project Chilld'. It's hard to explain exactly what we mean by that - but it describes a combination of moodiness, rigidness, hyper emotional behavior (crying at the drop of a hat), intolerant of others being in the same space, wanting everything his way, being contrary, constantly yelling 'No', ready to pounce on Potatey if the poor little guy even looks at one of Salamander's 'price possessions', the likes of which we really haven't seen since we started the auditory integration/occupational therapy program at Project Chilld. Suffice to say that Salamander realizes that something is 'off' and that it has been just as hard for him as it has been on all of us.

I am sure that once whatever wacky biochemical molecules are messing Salamander up clear his system, he'll bounce back. But it's been hard emotionally to see Salamander struggle like this, and I have had to fall back into my role of family referee (as unfortunately DH doesn't seem to be able to keep his cool and roll with the punches when Salamander is like this - I have three kids right now, LOL, and Potatey appears to be the most mature of them all).

Well, 'all is quiet on the Family Room front', so I am going to take advantage of this and get some work done...


P.S. I started reading Dr. Amy Yasko's book 'Genetic ByPass - Using Nutrition to Bypass Genetic Mutations [in the Methylation Cycles]' last night. Oy, heavy stuff. The book starts by describing relatively common mutations found in the DNA that control various enzymes in the Methylation Cycles. So far I have only been able to get through 2 Chapters (before my brain started to hurt LOL), but it looks like Salamander definitely carries mutations that control the activity of the COMT and CBS enzymes... SIGH, now if only I was independently wealthy, then I would order right now the necessary genetic testing (for Potatey too, as these mutations are inherited through the parental DNA) to really tease this out...