Just won’t take it | ADHD Information
At age 9 forceing meds is hard. They will trick you into believe they took it. I did it and so did our son. If you made our son stay in his room he would love that anyhow. He could careless about consequences or school. We had this problem with our 9 year old daughter this summer. She takes Focalin XR and it has to be swallowed. She sometimes complains that it makes her stomach hurt and it i,ffects her appetitie. She is not hungry right away in the morning, but that is when she needs to take the meds, since gets up later in the summer. I let her pick a treat every week at the grocery store. This week it is a big bag of strawberry marshmallow. She gets to eat one with her pill every morning. She has had cookies, various crackersa nd snack size candy bars (only one with the pill!) in the past. She is thrilled that it is only HER treat(not her sisters) and she can eat it before breakfast!! Her weight is not an issue and if this makes my life and hers easier, I feel it is a small comopromise. If this stops working I will not "up the ante" but will insist she stay in her room etc. as suggested in a earlier post. I'm willing to be creative to a point ! Good luck-it is so frustrating!!I am also giving my daughter a marble for taking her med, but in this case it is for remembering her afternoon dose while I am at work (I have it set up in a fun fancy special container for her). Remember, that as good habits are formed, you can move the marble rewards to different behaviors that need work.
Hi jagmom--
Does your son notice any difference in himself when he DOES take his meds ? My son never gives me trouble because he is aware of how much better his day goes when he takes his medication. He pays attention, gets good grades, doesn't get in trouble, etc., so he WANTS to take his pills each day.
Try to get him to swallow the pill like an adult instead of smushing it up. My son has been swallowing pills since he was 4 years old because he could never manage to swallow a liquid. Start out with small chocolate pieces and have him swallow it before it can melt in his mouth (for practice). Perhaps being able to take a pill like an adult instead of a child would have an impact. Make sure you have a "special" drink on-hand that he really likes to swallow the pill with. Or perhaps a special drink that will only be used for pill swallowing ?
Good luck !
Have you asked him why he does not want to take it?
I don't think my son understands that he has ADHD or notices a change in himself when he is on the med. I've tried to talk with him about how he feels but, my son (just turned 7) is not much of a communicator. Has had speech delays but has really come along. He just isn't a great communicator yet. Not yet into any lengthy give & take conversations so it is difficult to understand how he feels. He can be very out of control in the morning and it is hard to communicate with him as he is very silly, and can be very fresh. When the med sets in and I ask him why he battles so much he'll just say I don't know. I sometimes even wonder if he recalls his behavior in the morning. I will say that he does notice that his siblings don't take the med and I think maybe this could be one of the reasons. I try to tell him alot of people take pills and have showed him how I take one for allergies. I also give him and his siblings vitamins too. I think it's just a morning thing when his behavior is so bad (very hyper in the morning) because in the evening, he takes clonodine and it never really bothers him. It's quick & easy. We made arrangements for him to see a child physiatrist however with his communication skills I wonder if it might be to early for this. Any thoughts?
Not sure if this will work, but I noticed you said he is difficult and out-of-control in the mornings... (we have those mornings here also!) Is there any way you can get to him with the medicine before he wakes up? Then wake him up and offer the med (in ice cream or something yummy)? Maybe if he hasn't gotten himself fully awake yet he won't resist as much? May not work at this point, since he is so resistant, but you never know...
You might try the Daytrana patch if all else fails.I Just went through this with my 7 year oldson. He has to take metadate cd also. We had to get creative with him since he get spitting it out(I had tried it sprinkled in applesauce and yogurt first). He finally has a system that works. He earns a marble(that he puts in a jar) each morning he takes it (we sprinkle it on Hershey's chocolate syrup). He also wants to put the spoon in his mouth instead of me doing it so I guess he feels he has control over taking it. Then he also has a glass of water handy to swish(if some is left in his mouth) and swallow. YOu should look up Ogram's marble system as her system works really well(believe me, my son was throwing fits about taking his meds,running,hiding and waking up angry because he knew he had to take them). It has been 9 days and know it is just a normal part of breakfast time. Feel free to pm me. Good luck! . Try crushing the pill and putting it in milk so he can't see it, but you have tobe sure he drinks all of his milk.
It sounds to me that he wants to have more control over his medication. This doesn't necessarily mean he should get the control, but maybe that is what he wants. When my son was younger, I would give my son a choice: either do A, or stay in your room until you are ready to do A. It was always his choice 
Have you considered giving him a choice? He doesn't have to take the medicine, but then he has to take the consequences of not taking his medication. This means that he gets to go to school and that is it, because you don't want to have to take him places without his medication. This means no fun stuff, nothing out of the house. He can't play with his friends, because he needs to be on his medication. He can't watch TV or play video games, because he needs his medication. He is allowed to stay in his room and play by himself and that's it.
If he wants to go out and have fun, and play, and watch TV and do video games, then he needs to take his medication. It is his choice - take the medicine and enjoy his regular activities, or not take the medicine and stay in his room except for school, meals and bathroom.
I am very, very sure he is smart enough to make the right decision. When I tried it with my son he stayed in his room for about 30 minutes until he realized I was serious and then decided it was better to choose what Mom needed him to do.
There is now also a Daytrana patch, which works like those stop smoking patches.
Good Luck.
[QUOTE=candyhound21410]Try crushing the pill and putting it in milk so he can't see it, but you have to
be sure he drinks all of his milk.[/QUOTE]
Be sure it is O.K. to crush the pill. I know some meds do not reccomend doing so.
make it fun for him. be creative with it. tell him you will do a happy dance, jump up and down, or hop for a minute if he will take it. Bribing him is fun for him. he will get to see you act silly and you will get him to take his meds.
my 7 yr old son who is ADHD will not take his medicine in the morning. It is an awful experience 98% of the time. Because of this, he had been on the ritalin tabs 3 times per day(because they could be chewed) however, I wanted to try a longer acting med so as to avoid a noon time dose with the school nurse when he goes back to school. As such, we've tried Metadate cd for about a month and have tried sprinkling it on chocolate sauce, whip cream, ice cream etc and he just won't take it. I've lost pills because he'll push the spoon so it goes flying. We've tried talking to him, offering rewards etc but, he just says no and fights it. He runs off, won't open his mouth and just says I'm not taking it. Some mornings he acts fresh about taking it and other mornings silly like he wants us to chase him or give him . How can something that can take 1 second be such and issue every day. Does anyone else have this much trouble every day?