It’s been just over a year since Liam was officially diagnosed with ADHD and one year exactly since we started him on medication. While the first trial of medication from our family doctor didn’t turn out to be the right one for Liam, we have had great success with Adderall that the pediatrician prescribed. Seeing Liam in control and enjoying life has been wonderful. He has been so focused this year that he has gone from reading at a kindergarten level last September to reading just below a grade three level. I honestly don’t think he would have made this type of progress if we had chosen to not medicate for the ADHD.
Lately however, we have all been finding evenings to be much harder, as the Adderall is out of his system by about 5:00. While that only leaves 3 hours till bedtime, it can be very difficult to get through things like diner, homework, play dates, bath time etc when all it seems that we do is nag, yell, cry and nag some more all while Liam is bouncing of the walls, flitting from thing to thing and is completely out of control. It’s no fun for Hilary and I, and we can’t imagine that Liam enjoys it much either.
So we discussed it with the Pediatrician and she was on board with trying a second short acting dose, given late in the afternoon. The main concern is that it will affect his sleep, but we are hoping that it will be mostly out of his system by bedtime and that the melatonin that he takes anyway will continue to work its magic. Today’s the first day, so we’ll see how tonight goes!
Of course one of the other side effects of most ADHD medications is lack of appetite. We still struggle to get Liam to eat and are working to make every calorie count. We’ve gone back to giving him homo-milk and will do whatever we can to get him to eat more. Something is hopefully working as he did gain a pound since his last check up 3 months ago. This is the first weight gain he has had since being on the medication, so we are very excited. He’s also maturing and more willing to try new foods. He generally still doesn’t like them, but he’s at least willing to try them. And as fresh fruit season hits us, he will resume his regular intake of multiple peaches/apricots/pears etc per day.
Overall it’s been a pretty good year for Liam. The changes in him are phenomenal and he is growing into an even more awesome kid every day.
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4 comments:
So wonderful to read about the great progress you all and Liam have made over the past year!
Hooray for Liam! I hope the second, short-acting dose does the trick for him without disturbing the sleep too much.
I remember when we had to put our kiddo on what I called the "Later Years Elvis" diet because she was too underweight. "Smoothies" with whole milk (and/or full-fat vanilla ice cream) and fruit were a big one, and we put butter, cream cheese or melted cheese on/in just about EVERYTHING. I think I just gained a pound reminiscing about it. ;-)
Liam is a great kid and you are great moms!! (And I'm not just saying that 'cause y'all are my future in-laws...)
I'm glad your son is making progress with his ADHD! Good luck with the new treatment plan.
Thank you for your comment on my gumbo entry. Your pizza looks great.
My oldest is very bright but extremely inattentive, or more like over attentive, she absorbs so much of what is going around her it is hard to focus on the mundane (what she is supposed to be doing). We struggled with the thought of medicating her in the first place, and with getting the right dosage, timing and so on. But she is much less frustrated with being trapped in school when we get it right. It is a tough as a parent to walk the line.
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