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It feels so wrong...


jenn-
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From the time he woke up until the time he went to bed, he was screaming at people, jumping around, tackling people so they could wrestle, throwing things, unable to respond when I called his name, and in general just out of control. Correcting him (as in, "you should not have done xyz") would escalate quickly into his screaming, throwing, kicking, and worse. You would have to call his name 4-5 times to get his attention (and sometimes even then he wouldn't answer until you touched him.) He would refuse to do anything asked of him and a simple request would send him into a screaming fit. He was in school 4 days unmedicated and kept it under control during the day, but would come home and fall apart at the end of the day.

 

His sensory seeking activities included aggravating his siblings to make them scream, smacking himself in the head, running from one end of the house to other, hanging upside down whenever he could, and randomly calling out nothing (just odd noises.)

 

It was really, really bad. Everyone was either walking on eggshells to keep him from blowing up or trying to function admidst his constant noise and movement. Imagine how difficult it is to have a child like this and have another child who is hypersensitive! I didn't realize how bad it was until he was medicated.

 

Caffiene did help some, but not as much as his Vyvanse does. I tell him to do something, he says, "Yes ma'am" and does it. No more screaming. No more slamming into walls or people. No more annoying siblings or me for that matter.

 

I think we have the same child, caffeine did nothing for DS. Focalin helped some, Vyvanse has worked wonders.

 

The effect on his school work is also amazing. We went from spending 3-4 hours on math alone to getting everything done in 3 hours tops.

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to be forcing my child to drink coffee. I'm experimenting to see if it will help her focus.

This is something I have been thinking about doing also. My daughter just turned 15. She seems very ADD to me, which my husband was surprised to hear. But when I notice it the most is her difficulty with concentrating on her schoolwork and how distracted she can get by so many things. He hasn't experienced working on schoolwork with her.

 

I gave her a cup of coffee the other day and she thought it was terrible. My husband said I should try another type of coffee with her. I don't know what type of coffee it was, but something my dh ground up himself. It was very strong. Also, she is allergic to dairy so I can't dilute it with cream.

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They carry coffee candy. They are hard candies that you suck on. There are several different brands so you might have to try a few before you find something she likes. My husband loves them and has given bags to other people who also end up loving them. They aren't too expensive and you can use them anytime during the day. I would however avoid them after 6pm. Most of them are made with coffee powder. Everyone we've given one too comment about how much they taste like coffee and you get the same effect. I think a child would think they're great because they look like candy.

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I've kicked my child out of the house. I have sentenced her to telling her dad why she isn't done her school work and that she isn't allowed back into the house except to potty and get something to drink until dinner. I figured it beat continuing to escalate our frustrations at each other. 55 minutes to write out 3 words and definitions from her science book.

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I give my 6 year old a homemade mocha frappachino at about 11am. (his worst part of the day tends to right after lunch.

 

I use Turbo dunkin donuts brand coffee, cocoa mix (when we splurge, gardellis mocha dark cocoa is awesome, but nestles is great too) is milk, and ice blended in my bullet. Tastes awesome. He loves it. In fact, everyone I know loves it!

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Is it the caffeine you want? Hand her a can of Mt. Dew.

 

The thought occurred to me also, but then I realized that Mt. Dew has TONS of sugar and artificial coloring in it. The sugar can cause adverse problems, and my daughter has HORRIBLE reactions to the colors. I mean, PSYCH ward type of reactions. But it does go down MUCH smoother than coffee ;)

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I just thought I would post an update. After all 4 of my kids finally got over the stomach bug, I was able to experiment with my DD again. I found some Swiss Miss hot chocolate with 67 mg of caffeine in it. I had to figure out what was the best time to give it to her. Today she was able to get through most of her "morning" work pretty easily, so I had her drink the hot chocolate during spelling so that it would be in her system for her "afternoon" work (which she is doing this morning). These are the two subjects (Science and History) she has the hardest time focusing on.

 

She did her science with little difficulty. She only had to be reminded once or twice to sit down, and both were at the beginning. After a small "I can't find the answer" meltdown, she cracked down and did it all. Normally the chapter review requires an extra long meltdown because she puts the wrong word in the fill in the blank and then can't figure out why she can't find the other answers. She is now reading her history assignment. I'm hoping the end of the section questions go smoothly.

 

I didn't know whether to jump up and down or cry when she made the comment, "I don't know what happened. My brain just focused to do the work instead of thinking of all the fun stuff I could be doing."

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Keep us posted if you find this keeps working! I know that my son is convinced if he has a coke, he can focus more. So, I get him one sometimes. I just get concerned about the fact that soda isn't that great for you. I will have to try it too in order to see if that is an alternate option.

 

I will let you know that this has more caffeine in it than a standard coke, so if he thinks it helps him, then you should definitely give this a go.

 

The rest of the day went pretty well until the very end where she couldn't focus long enough for me to explain the answer she was seeking (about 3.5 hours after the hot chocolate).

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