Day 50 Unmedicated, Unquestionable Smiles

As with most days, today had its ups and downs... Actually, there really weren’t many downs at all. More like ups and evens. Nothing to really complain about and that’s pretty noteworthy. Ohhh, don’t get me wrong... There was plenty of that typical bickering amongst siblings, but it wasn’t all that bad today. In fact, I have been pleasantly surprised at how well my son has been controlling himself the last couple of days.

Our decision to have my son begin medication was not taken lightly. We waited a few years, trying out different strategies and hoping with all that we could muster that maybe, just maybe he would outgrow his ADHD symptoms. Well, that never really happened and we weren’t finding enough success with other strategies so we had the talk with my son about medication. 

It was important to us that he would be on board with this because if he doesn’t want to do it, it would be so much more difficult to follow through on. For example-- My son hates anything gummy. It’s just a sensory thing I guess. Well, we heard of specific vitamin supplement that claimed to help with focus. The problem was that they were gummies. 

It would take him forever to eat them! 

One night, I was awakened by him. telling me that he had something stuck to his face. Yep, he wasn’t kidding! He had gobbly gook mixed with drool plastered to his face from lip to ear and beyond! It was clear he had fallen asleep with vitamins in his mouth! This child somehow managed to eat dinner and brush his teeth while these vitamins stayed untouched tucked away in his cheek! What?! I did think that the vitamins were really helping, but as you see, it was too difficult to get the five year old to actually eat them! So, as you see, we needed him on our side. 

When he was 8 years old (told you waited a few years), we talked it over with him. At first, he was concerned about the medicine changing him (that’s a mature thought). I explained that the medicine was only in his body for 24 hours and if he didn’t like how he felt on it, he could simply not take it again. We had to try different medications to find the right one, but through it all, he liked being able to focus and control himself better so he’s stuck with it. 

But the last 2 days, he was amazingly in control, despite being off medication. I took the kids out to eat last night and he was great! I took them swimming today, and again... great! He had a blast at the pool, diving under the water to retrieve hidden goggles and playing underwater tag. I’m not sure why there’s a difference, but I’m happy to see it.  We'll certainly be contemplating this... 

I’d love to see him off medication again, and this gives me hope. We’ll just have to see... I don’t expect drastic change, but any improvement is not only noteworthy but smile worthy as well! I’m so glad he had a good day! I love that kid so much...