Too Good to be True? | ADHD Information
I am actually a school counselor and often counsel parents to the symptomology of ADHD, medication use, possible side effects yadayadayada...but until it's your OWN child who's diagnosed and placed on medications that the reality and PANIC of the treatment options kick in. We finally gave in, after 5 months of testing, play therapy, and loooong discussions with the pediatrician, and put my son on 5 Mg of Focalin.
Today..we got my son back. He wasn't a zombie, he ate a huge b'fast and dinner, never once got called down or in trouble at school (1st time in 3 years- he's only 5). With the exception of possible rebound (which looked like the normal "tantrums" he had been having before medication), I'm nearly in tears. My son was charming, enjoyable, and pleasant beyond words. He had eye contact, he didn't "hurt" anyone today (gets to be too out of control silly when playing and gets too aggressive), his volume was at a normal rate, I could go on and on...we had the first "normal" dinner we've had in years!
My question is- is this just a honeymoon period (he's been on the medication all of 2 days)? Or do people truly have this amount of success- early on and continual?
My son responded to his meds shortly after taking them for the first time and the results are continual as long as he takes his med on a continual basis. I can also tell the differnce when he doesn't take them. He missed yesterday for example and there was a drastic difference with his impulsitivity. 4myson39325.91403935193toons I'm glad this is helping your son and welcome to the board. I think you'll find great advice and solidarity here.
I realise that not all school counselors are the same and they don't actively go out to make parents feel small and like bad parents, but I must admit the parents at your school must feel some sense of relief and understanding when they hear your son has it too. Have you found that this affects the way you look at and treat parents at the school whose kids have ADHD?
My son has mild ADHD and we've decided to treat with diet, as opposed to the school's advice of MEDICATE, MEDICATE, MEDICATE (so I can't answer your questions about medication) and while I see a large difference in my son, it's obviously not as exact a science as medication. The school counselor positively looks down her nose at me. I get the feeling she REALLY does not like me for all this extra trouble I'm putting her to (although since we began the treatment she and the school decided, without informing me, that he'd improved to the point of no longer needing play therapy). This after last year it was suggested he may need to go to a remedial school, LOL. I'm just thinking that if her son had it she may see me in a different light.
Anyway it's nice to have you here 3toons. Maybe you can direct some of your ADHDer parents here - this is by far the best place of info and support I've come across.
Thanks for all the kind responses and support! I'm new to this emotionally and no one can understand the rollercoaster of emotions when it comes to your own child unless you too have a child who is experiencing ADHD. I need to remember there's a lot of BAD and false info. out there, but there's a lot to learn too. Y'all are the best educators! Thanks!Oh yeah there's nothing like being able to come on here and say "my kid threw the most spectacular tantrum I've ever seen" and know EVERYONE relates and can advise, or "my son got 15/15 for his spelling test" and know EVERYONE knows how much harder that was for him than for his non ADHD school mates.
Many kids get instant relief with the medications the first time out. Luck of the draw so to speak. Rejoice! Keep in mind your child's body and chemistry is always changing and adjustments may need to be make. The simple fact that your child responds well to one of the medications bodes well for the long term.
Any thing from diet to medications that works for an individual child is a blessing. Roll with it.
Good luck, keep monitoring.
Diz
When the meds work it is like magic! When my sons are on the meds it can be really great! The problem i have had is that evenings were so chaotic! I really think it is good to help you son feel that he is really a good boy. Thanks all! BL- you hit the nail on the head! 4 days ago I picked my son up from preschool and 3-4 kids greeted me with "Blake was bad today!" My son was devastated and as we were leaving he told me, "every morning I think to myself I'm going to try really hard and have a good day, but my body won't let me." I called the doctor that afternoon.Hey Gutsy- I'm so sorry to hear that your school counselor doesn't come across as supportive. They really should be there to be an advocate for the child and not counsel you to whether you should medicate or not. I see my position as only offering what the options are if there shows to be a problem in the classroom, then I have them seek out their pediatrician or give them referrals to professionals, if they're interested. As a former teacher, and, now counselor, I think I do have much more of a sensitivity to what parents go through now that my son has been diagnosed. It's often worse when people realize I AM a counselor and can't control my son even though I'm teaching positive discipline and parenting classes as resources for other parents. I can't tell you how many preschool teachers have asked us, "what we're feeding him for b'fast" and "how much tv is he watching?" The challenge in addition to deciding to medicate my son has been to educate those surrounding us- and they don't want to be educated.
We also tried the diet and supplement route (Omega 3's , etc) and we had little to no success. The medication was instant; however, I know the realities of the side effects and I'm so scared of what's to come. I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with the medication "cocktails" and changes over the months/years.
3toons, welcome and good for you. I am happy for your son having this success. Not everyone has medication nightmares . If they did no one would be prescribed them. Those of us that do just yell louder
. My daughter has always had good counselors and for the most part cooperatve teachers. She is in special ed for an LD so there is a little more understanding though. Our best year to date was grade 5 though and her classroom teacher has a child with ADHD. It really makes a difference in their understanding and approach. 3toons,
Your son sounds like a carbon copy of my child. The same thing happened to him at preschool age. You'll find that he will start believing in his own abilities and that his demeanor will change for the positive once he sees he can control himself. It puts a smile on my face to see my son happy and feeling good about himself.
Sidenote ,and you know this being a counselor (I'm an educator), I'm sure, I also have my son attend play therapy. In the beginning he went weekly. Now a year later we go once a month. It really seems to help. We also work on nutrition. We don't go overboard but we try to serve foods with omega. Wheat breads, spaghetti's etc. A nutritionist suggested we do this along with providing our son a high protein/low carb diet. He still gets sweets at times but nothing overboard. He doesn't prefer sweets. We're lucky he didn't pick up my gene for sweets.
Play therapy is wonderful! The motto is, "Don't question WHY or HOW it works...just KNOW that it does!"
On that note, I've put up a new posting re: an update of my son and some new tantrums we're seeing from him. Are tantrums a side effect? Should we take him off or work with the coping skill in play therapy on the same meds.? I'm planning to notify my pediatrician, but being that it is a holiday weekend and pediatrician is not available- don't know whether to take him off or not. We REALLY, REALLY, overall have seen great success...but these tantrums are very uncharacteristic of him...very intense!
I answered your other post also. If he's not "out of control" I wouldnt change anything until you call the doctor. It's only a couple of days. My 5 year old has been REALLY crabby and in her case it is probably just the weather change and school coming. You just never know. As I stated in other post, if you just started meds, and this behavior is new, probably related, but I wouldnt stop right away until you see how it goes.I know when my son was first on Meds I picked him up from school and He just started screaming at me! I had never seen him so angry and yelling. (And he has a temper!) Anyway I called the pediatritian and told her this would just not do. She upped the metadate from 10 to 20 and all was golden!I guess the too low dose in that case was the cause. The thing was he was great at school. I asked the teacher and she said he had the best day ever. I have to believe it was a dip in the time release or just that it took so much effort to maintain, that the first safe face he saw he let loose.
We changed now... over the summer we started tenex and just before school started we added strattera. it is going very well.
He was not given strattera at first try because of that temper thing I mentioned. However over the years it has greatly improved. I learned a great way to work on that with out a battle. If he blasts at me like, "Hello! I need some help here!" (Imagine a nasty sarcastic voice) I say whoa what am I hearing? In an amused voice. Let's try a do over. And I wait with a smile on my face. Nine out of 10 times I get a nice voice back asking with magic words. And now that we have a real world way to practice it is getting better.
3toons, welcome. There are so many of us here that will be looking for your opinions in posts based on your experience with children at work!
Don't you just love how the other kids love to tell you just how your child's day was. I thought that stuff only happened to my kids.
And then the other mothers of these kids walk around like they are parents of such well behaved, special kids. At least that is how it is at my town's elementary school.