Its a big day today for my eldest son. With his learning difficulties, we finally decided to give ADHD medication a try. He can learn but is so distractable and fidgety that he never seems to be “comfortable in his own skin” so when he is given an evaluation or sit-down test he cannot answer questions that we know he knows the answers to. When we sit down to do homework, he can focus on it for 3 to 5 minutes and then needs to take a break. This has been having a pretty big impact on his ability to learn even with all the support he gets in his special class.
SO…today we return to the Neuro-developmental doc for results of all the evals, bloodwork and heart evals (which I was told all came back normal) so the doc will start him on meds…not sure whether it will be a stimulant like Ritalin or the non-stimulant Strattera.
I never liked the idea of these meds. But I have to say that at this point its well worth a try. If we can help him be able to comfortably sit and focus, to concentrate and learn then we’ll give it a try.
Prayers would be warmly welcomed! And I’ll post back about how these meds work for him too.
Thank you kindly ladies! We went to the doc and he prescribed Metadate which is a time-released form of ritalin. We will give it to him just before school and it should last thru homework time. And we will be able to tell in the first 2 to 3 days whether its a good thing or bad for him. That made me feel better, that its only 2 or 3 days to see. We dont give it to him on weekends, only on school days when there is more demand to focus and attend.
We will start probably on Friday. Will post back how it goes...in the meantime, thank you all for prayers and good wishes!
Your son will be alright soon ..Our prayers r with him, May Allah SWT give him fast and speedy recovery and bless him and you and the family, InshaAllah.
Best of luck with the meds Mama. My oldest was also a handful and sometimes its the environment that contributes to this. I stopped his TV, cut back on sugary things and changed his diet to more healthy options. This had an effect on him but i cannot guarantee it might work for you. Either way, I can relate to wanting the meds work because I also had my child evaluated for ADHD. Thankfully, he wasnt but it was quite a stressful time!
Inshallah the meds will work and you will get to destress a lot as well.
wow, thank you all so much for the kind words and prayers! Surely that alone will get him on the right track :)
Wildh, its not that he's a handful or that he eats sugary things or too much tv...heck he doesnt like to eat ANYthing lol...but things he likes are typically salty and crunchy...but behavior-wise...he's a really good kid, just unable to sit still, focus or concentrate. He knows when he's supposed to sit and do a task but after 3 to 5 min, he cant handle it anymore...he'll start to jiggle his legs, pick at his sleeves, hum to himself, rock back and forth, blink his eyes at lights, spin wheels if he can. He still complies as best he can (ie,. he's not supposed to leave his seat so he doesnt) but he is completely unable to focus himself for an age-appropriate amount of time. He's not defiant or bratty - if he's asked to do something that seems impossible to him (write a long-ish sentence for example), he'll say "no thank you" and think that he can get out of it lol. He isnt rude or unruly...its more like he cant contain himself even though he really wants to. So the medication hopefully and inshallah will help him be able to sit, focus and learn more easily and more comfortably.
Fridays the day!! Will post back....and once again, thank you all so very much for prayers and good wishes.
Well I'm back with the update. Things did not go well at all with medications. First we tried Metadate - a ritalin based stimulant. It worked well as far as helping him sit, focus and concentrate - he was able to sit and do homework for a full 30 minutes without a break which was amazing. But as the medication wore off around 5 or 6pm, he'd get frantic - chewing on his shirt till the whole front was soaked and getting angry at nothing till on the 5th day, he had such a meltdown that he broke out in a sweat. THAT medication went down the toilet.
Next we tried strattera - a non-stimulant which can take 2 to 3 weeks to begin working. All THAT one did was turn him into a tired, drooling zombie. The school called me yesterday right after lunch to come get him because he was so out of it. He's recovering from that adventure in medication today. THAT medication went down the toilet too.
Medication for him isnt a good answer and I love him just the way he is...we'll stick to the small class and redirection and break-taking. But at least now I can tell his teachers that we tried it and it didnt work.
wow...this is an oldie!! The days of medication are long gone, its been almost a year!
So...medications were harmful to him, caused problems and did not resolve attentional difficulties. We went to a new neuro-developmental doc who was incredible, amazing. She spent lots of time with him and delved into each and every little aspect of his development. She said that medications are not the answer for him.
He is on the autism spectrum and has sensory issues. What helps him most is to be able to seek sensory input as needed but he needs to find ways that do not interfere with the task at hand. ie., He has eating difficulties and we used to chastise him for banging his feet against the bench during mealtime. But allowing him to do this actually helps ground and focus him so that he eats better. I told his teachers about this and theyve been working on it too...at reading time, they give him a squishy toy to play with as he reads. During writing, he is given a pencil with a pencil grip. Many things like this help him rather than distract him and he's had a really successful year at school.
He's 9 now. Not really that far behind his "typically developing" peers. He has some social issues, he canbe overly touchy/feely with people, especially those he likes. But he's learning and making progress. We're SO proud of him!!
ok glad to hear it.as u said he is your oldest so it appeared to me that he might be an adult,like 20 plus.
i too know someone who suffered from autism but he is in his mid 30's now married,working and successful.He still has some habits that he hasent let go but they are minor and his family has learnt to live with it.When he was a kid and young psychotic drugs were not that effective.So his parents relied on Behavioural therapy.Psychotic drugs can be temporarily effective but they have their cons.They hit the Nervous system and routine flow of current in nerves is affected.Withdrawl symptoms are just too much and dangerous too.
Such kids usually arent successful in formal education and should be encouraged to pursue some sort of business or self empoyed setup in the long-run.
it all sounds so hard mama.. but if god gives u a special child, it also gives teh motehr the extra strength patience and braisn to deal with it.. .
ure doing a splendid job and from what uve written, i think ure kid is doing good without any medication... inshallah he will grow up to be a neat guy!
