Boise mother speaks out: 'I love my son but he terrifies me'

Our son in his pre teen years went thru the same behavior and doctors of all descriptions tried every imaginable drug possible to cure the problem. Nothing worked. Extreme hostility followed docile periods with no apparent catalyst.  Before committing him for his and our safety, we heard of a Doctor Feingold in San Francisco who attributed his behavior to an extreme reaction to artificial food colorings such as Red and Yellow dyes.  35 years later our son is a normal, healthy productive adult with children of his own thanks to the work of Doctor Feingold who is now deceased.  I encourage Lisa Long to give this diet modification a chance before suffering any more.  It is not easy because the ingredients listed on our food labels contain so many of the artificial food colorings. The results are worth the effort.  Please convey this information to Lisa.

Dearest Lisa and Karla,

I totally feel for her. Ms. Long should not rely on, or follow, only the direction of the state, or of counselors, etc... Since she has had the issues already herself from her son, she needs to put him in a place days only that uses the combination of medication, group and personal counselling, and socialization, as well as time to do his schooling. She should calmly tell her son that she is concerned for him and loves him so very much, and talk to him like he was very young, not down to him, just tender and gently. I have been through this myself. My son never went as far as pulling a knife on me, but he raised his hand to me.Was rebellious, yelled and screamed, slammed doors, etc... At first I just chalked it up to being a moody teenager, but looking back, I now know that he was a highly intelligent, gifted, bored at school and at home, and like Adam's parents, my husband and I had divorced, my son's dad was also not overly involved in his life. What I did to help him is: I signed him up with a family counselor weekly, sometimes 2-3 times a week if he seemed especially moody, spoke to his teachers/school, got his work and took him away from school to a mental hospital with a day program when he refused to go in, I called them on my cell and very nicely asked them to send someone out to my car to assist, spoke in calming tones never yelling, got him on anti anxiety medication, and got him taking electric guitar lessons one day a week where I would wait for him the 50 or so minutes it would take or his dad would take him. It did not happen overnight, but it did happen. Eventually, he was able to get better tools to handle and control his anger, he learned that it was ok to be angry, even at me and his father. The guitar lessons gve him an outlet for his genious and excess time. He kept up with his school work, made new friends who had similiar problems to chat with while at the school, they weren't allowed to exchange email or to call the home. My son is now 20, he is a wonderful person, I am so glad that I did not gie up on him or lock him away. His actions were merely a cry for help. Fortunately, I was able to pick up on them while he was still a teenager and get him straightened out. I hope this comment will inspire parents and loved ones of similar children to do the same immediately, always love them and tell them that everytime you speak to them. I told my son that no matter what, I would love him forever. If we all did this, I am sure that most of these mass killings could be done away with. ;) If you do not agree with me, that's fine, but please be respectful of other's feelings and if you have not been there yourself, don't comment, you just don't understand.

 

 

I raised a child like this.  I STILL fear him when he's in the mode and I haven't seen him for years.  There is little doubt that someday he will kill someone, quite possibly me.  The Dark Holes she speaks of where eyes (pupils) should be...  Actually by this point in his life, I figured he would have killed someone or been killed himself.  The words, the threats, the knives, the fires, the abuse to his siblings... Lived it all.  And we has been institutionalized, he was in a boys military type school, he's been on and off meds for years.  The Medical Community, the Police Department and ANYONE who knows us knows this child is trouble.  He was just released from the behavioral institute again last week from what I hear...  So, he uses more drugs and more booze and the cycle starts again.  Do I Love Him?  OF COURSE I Love Him.  Do I like him?  Hell NO I don't and it is unfortunate to say about my own son but he is one of those people the planet would be better off without.  He is a sociopath,  Diagnosis and all and there is NOTHING anyone can do.  He gets locked up, does his time and they let him out.  I was told when he was 12 that he was a psychopath, but they "couldn't diagnose it at this age".  It didn't need a diagnosis to be true.  To this day, I do NOT know what the answer is, but something has to be figured out.  There are ways to get away from your child if they are like this.  I do not know all of them in every state, but I DAMN SURE know there needs to be a place to lock people like this up.  And this is the only time in my life I've actually wished Labotomies were legal and used.  I'd rather care for a zombie than a psyco.  DO NOT JUDGE these parents.  If you have lived this you know why, if you haven't you have NO IDEA how impossible it feels.