Day 4

We are on Day 4 of my son's new medication.

I have been reluctant to talk about it because of the stigmas that are often associated with taking ADHD meds. I swore I would not do anything like this until it began to interfere with productivity and learning at school. And that has begun to happen, so we have started the medicine.

So far, he's doing really, really well.

Pros:
He's flying through his school work with fewer careless errors. He's able to focus in the classroom, rather than looking a bit like a ping pong ball. He's listening. He has really taken off reading this week. I don't think he has had to stand or move around the room to complete schoolwork at all this week. He is eager to take his medicine each morning and says he would rather take it than not. I think his self-esteem is improving. He has known his activity level was too much, but has had a hard time suppressing it by himself. He has not lost his spunk. He apparently sees the benefit, and I am going to try to remember that when I think about the...

Cons:
He hardly eats all day, when the medicine wears off - look out refrigerator!! He eats everything in sight. He has a pretty tough slump in the afternoon when the medicine begins to taper off. He gets a little emotional - not meltdown-level emotional, but still teary. The level of energy he exhibits in the evening has varied over the 4 days. Some days, he drags. Other days, he boings everywhere with all his pent up energy. On the first day, we had issues with aggressive behavior, but not since the first day have we dealt with that.

I think this is helping him.
I still struggle with the idea that I am allowing medicine to tamper with the chemicals in his brain. I have gone back and forth over that issue.
But when I saw his self-esteem go south and he didn't want to go to school anymore, I knew that help is what we needed.
So we're trying it.
Keep my little man in your prayers!