DS acting strangely... Any advice?

[Anonymous]

Any drug test should be a surprise to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son (15) has developed some strange new behaviors over the past few months.

He hasn't been sleeping like normal lately. In the past couple of weeks, I have been woken up by walking around the house at very early hours. I'm not sure what he has been doing. I'm thinking about installing an alarm system on the house/windows, but I haven't heard him exiting. We live in a safe area in NoVa, so I haven't been worried about this until now.


I've also gotten emails from FCPS from his teachers expressing concern about his absences and/or his lack of energy/paying attention. He's normally a motivated student, and I worry about what's keeping him from class.

Along with his disturbed sleeping schedule, I've noticed that he's lost some weight. This popped up at the doctor's office earlier last month. We took him in because we were worried about some mood swings and irritability, alongside his insomnia, that he was having. His vitals seemed alright, aside from an elevated heart rate.

What should I do? Should I take him to a therapist to get evaluated?

OP, when you hear him walking around in the night, what do you do? I would get up and go talk to him right then and see what’s going on/why he’s up.

The emails from teachers are very concerning. I used to teach high school. I only emailed or called parents about very serious behavior issues/times I was extremely concerned about a student. I had 140 students so I just wouldn’t and couldn’t enail or call parents for every little thing. This is a BIG deal and you need to take it very seriously. Arrange to meet w teachers/admin if needed.

Weight loss for a teen boy is very concerning too. What did the Dr say about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son (15) has developed some strange new behaviors over the past few months.

He hasn't been sleeping like normal lately. In the past couple of weeks, I have been woken up by walking around the house at very early hours. I'm not sure what he has been doing. I'm thinking about installing an alarm system on the house/windows, but I haven't heard him exiting. We live in a safe area in NoVa, so I haven't been worried about this until now.


I've also gotten emails from FCPS from his teachers expressing concern about his absences and/or his lack of energy/paying attention. He's normally a motivated student, and I worry about what's keeping him from class.

Along with his disturbed sleeping schedule, I've noticed that he's lost some weight. This popped up at the doctor's office earlier last month. We took him in because we were worried about some mood swings and irritability, alongside his insomnia, that he was having. His vitals seemed alright, aside from an elevated heart rate.

What should I do? Should I take him to a therapist to get evaluated?

OP, when you hear him walking around in the night, what do you do? I would get up and go talk to him right then and see what’s going on/why he’s up.

The emails from teachers are very concerning. I used to teach high school. I only emailed or called parents about very serious behavior issues/times I was extremely concerned about a student. I had 140 students so I just wouldn’t and couldn’t enail or call parents for every little thing. This is a BIG deal and you need to take it very seriously. Arrange to meet w teachers/admin if needed.

Weight loss for a teen boy is very concerning too. What did the Dr say about that?

Me again. Also you really need to look through his phone—get his log in info for all social media, this needs to be tightly monitored. and he really should not have his phone in his room at night. Have a policy where you keep his phone w you at night from now on.

[Anonymous]

OP I hope you get answers quickly. No matter what is happening, something is going on with your DS and it sounds like it’s out of character based on what you’ve said and his teachers think. This has to be scary. I hope it all works out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any drug test should be a surprise to him.

Exactly. I purchased from Amazon. Nicotine and Marijuana. But the Nic gets out of the system in 24-48hrs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meth

No. Not meth. Not opioids either. Possibly THC. That is not a good thing for 15 year olds to use given how much is happening neurologically in adolescence. I would definitely drug test.

But I would be more worried about depression and anxiety. Or possibly bipolar. Something is obviously going on. Would approach this with compassion.

Did you ever smoke weed? It makes you tired, not wired.

Its either adderall, or worse/illegal stimulant narcotics, or something going on with his social media that has him up late. You coukd find a hair in his room and test it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any drug test should be a surprise to him.

And what do you do when it is positive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any drug test should be a surprise to him.

And what do you do when it is positive?

Talk to them
Help them
Support them
Weekly tests
Consequences for further positives

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meth

No. Not meth. Not opioids either. Possibly THC. That is not a good thing for 15 year olds to use given how much is happening neurologically in adolescence. I would definitely drug test.

But I would be more worried about depression and anxiety. Or possibly bipolar. Something is obviously going on. Would approach this with compassion.

Did you ever smoke weed? It makes you tired, not wired.

Its either adderall, or worse/illegal stimulant narcotics, or something going on with his social media that has him up late. You coukd find a hair in his room and test it.

You can’t just find a random hair and test it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meth

No. Not meth. Not opioids either. Possibly THC. That is not a good thing for 15 year olds to use given how much is happening neurologically in adolescence. I would definitely drug test.

But I would be more worried about depression and anxiety. Or possibly bipolar. Something is obviously going on. Would approach this with compassion.

Did you ever smoke weed? It makes you tired, not wired.

Its either adderall, or worse/illegal stimulant narcotics, or something going on with his social media that has him up late. You coukd find a hair in his room and test it.

Weed can cause psychosis which causes paranoia. My son developed it and was up half the night pacing because he was afraid people were trying to break into our house.

[Anonymous]

The OP not coming back to update on something this serious is strange to me

[Anonymous]

WTF do parents let kids have phones in rooms? I just don’t get this

[Anonymous]

OP are you sure they aren't heartbroken? Teen boys tend to hold it all in. Their relationships and when it goes sour.

[BodyTrustMom]

Hey there! First off, I’m so sorry you’re going thru that. It’s so hard to watch our kids struggle or suffer.

I am biased, I know, because this is what I do for a living, but my brain went to eating disorder. Eating less leads to low energy, can result in weight loss, and can cause night waking (the body’s way of being like - hey go get food, we didn’t get enough today!).

Definitely time for a full assessment by a licensed counselor or other therapist.

Hang in there! Let me know how f I can help and/or if you’d like referrals.