We started meds and it is . . .

[Jentrovert]

. . . going SO WELL! I have waited a couple weeks to post this, so that I had a better sample of days, and it continues to be good. (This is dd8, ADHD combined and ASD1, that I have posted about before.) 

We finally got in with the Psychiatric NP. She prescribed Focalin (2x per day) and Megestrol. The focalin lasts 4 hours, and dd's appetite has been good all day.

I was completely shocked the first morning. I knew, of course, that she talked and moved constantly, but I did not realize just how much until she slowed down. There was this constant low buzz that I didn't notice until it was gone. It was honestly a bit eerie at first. She actually sat down for 20 minutes, quiet and still, and looked through a whole book all at once! She has even napped a couple of times!

She has been sooooo much easier to deal with, from the first day. I also had not realized how much stress that was causing for everyone, including her, and how much it was affecting relationships. It feels like we have more mental energy to just enjoy each other when it's not all sucked out by conflict and/or trying to curb her impulses. For her, it no longer feels like we're always restricting her, since she can restrict her own impulses now, for the most part. 

School has definitely improved, both from the lack of conflict and increased attention and concentration. She says that without it, she is thinking about so many things that she can't concentrate on any of them, and now she can think about just one thing. Don't get me wrong, she still needs to move and take breaks, we still work on regulation, social thinking, etc. but the difference is that now doing things like that actually works much of the time.

All in all, it has been a huge improvement. You were all right, I can clearly see it is a gamechanger. She has been able to focus on her fun projects in ways that she never has - building games in Scratch, writing stories, etc. It's not that she's so very different than before, it's just that she's more in control. Oh, and she is also sleeping better, which helps everything too. 

Ds7 seemed to have quite a bit of trouble with his behavior the first few days. Nothing huge. We're unsure if it was actually different or if we were just noticing it now because we'd previously been paying more attention to dd8's behavior. Either way, it is nice to have a bit better distribution of my time between kids. There are some things with him that I need to spend some time figuring out. No doubt I'll be posting about him soon. lol

Edited November 2, 2020 by Jentrovert

[PeterPan]

I hadn't heard of using a med to up appetite with the ADHD stimulant med, but that's very smart! This all sounds really good! And yeah, fire away on the dc2, hahah. You're gonna be such an expert, you'll write your own book. 

[Lecka]

Great news!!!!!!!!

[kbutton]

That's fantastic!

[Storygirl]

Great news! Thanks for sharing!

[BlsdMama]

I’m so glad! The lack of conflict when our DS is on meds vs. what it’s like when he’s off meds is truly shocking. 

[Jentrovert]

9 hours ago, BlsdMama said:

I’m so glad! The lack of conflict when our DS is on meds vs. what it’s like when he’s off meds is truly shocking. 

Yes! That's the one area where she is almost like a different person. I find that I brace myself multiple times a day, when things happen that I know will set her off . . . and then now she will respond mildly, or not at all, most of the time. I didn't realize how stressful it was. Hopefully soon I'll be able to be more relaxed, instead of being at the ready all the time.

[BlsdMama]

6 hours ago, Jentrovert said:

Yes! That's the one area where she is almost like a different person. I find that I brace myself multiple times a day, when things happen that I know will set her off . . . and then now she will respond mildly, or not at all, most of the time. I didn't realize how stressful it was. Hopefully soon I'll be able to be more relaxed, instead of being at the ready all the time.

You’ll also see more clearly that she struggles/argues as a result of ADHD instead of just being an ornery human. That’s helpful. I can tell in the AM of he hasn’t taken meds. If I find myself in a 9am dispute about whether the little kids can have X for breakfast? Take the pill! 5:30 debate over whether screen time is beneficial? Yup, meds wore off. You will have so much clarity over how much the meds help. And it helps kiddo get out of his own way to learn!!

[SanDiegoMom]

On 11/4/2020 at 12:01 PM, BlsdMama said:

You’ll also see more clearly that she struggles/argues as a result of ADHD instead of just being an ornery human. That’s helpful. I can tell in the AM of he hasn’t taken meds. If I find myself in a 9am dispute about whether the little kids can have X for breakfast? Take the pill! 5:30 debate over whether screen time is beneficial? Yup, meds wore off. You will have so much clarity over how much the meds help. And it helps kiddo get out of his own way to learn!!

We went through this cycle this past weekend when my 21 year old ran out of meds and couldn't pick them up until Monday.  She took some of her emergency stash of short acting Ritalin (she usually is on Vyvanse) and oh my.  She was still a hot mess.  It really ramps up my son's anxiety when she is all over the map. Then this morning she woke up and took all her normal meds and just kind of glided down the stairs and slowly went about her normal day with no drama.   It was stark, the difference.  

She wasn't diagnosed until 18, so there were a lot of years of stress and drama that could have been avoided, but hey.   It's all good.