Parents--help me understand ADD/ADHD

[Lilacs4Me]

Haha! I realize I didn't give the best examples. And I what I more meant, was these are little things that make me unique and/or funny. I am a mother to two children and we often turn on music and bust out random dance moves for songs. These are things that I just don't seem to do as often when medicated. What's the saying...I'd rather be completely ridiculous than completely boring...? That's kind of where I'm at. I don't want to feel ordinary. I like being a little bit strange. And like I said, I am lucky enough to be in a career that thrives on quick thinking, creative, spontaneous decision making. I also get to work from home. Of course the house is full of distractions, but I need distractions to take a break, so it actually works very well for me. I work for 45 minutes, see my cat walk in, lay on the floor and cuddle with my cat for 5 minutes, and then get up and I feel like I can work again. I realize this might not make perfect sense, and it's hard to explain. I'm not anti medication. Like I said, I do still use it. If there's a big project coming up that requires hours of excel reporting or something like that, I'll use medication so that I can sit and work at my desk for more than 1 hour at a time. But I do feel like parts that I DO like about myself are stifled during that time, that's why I try to only use it minimally. Luckily it isn't like an anti depressant that requires daily dosing in order to be effective. It's immediately effective.

As far as your nephew, it sounds like he's in the right hands now. Bless his heart. And yours. Like I said, I am not anti medication. In fact, sometimes I think my dad would've been better off if my grandmother had allowed him to be medicated as a child. He's the classic ADHD. While his older brothers went on to be doctors and engineers, he struggled and it hurt his self esteem. But it's hard to say how things "would have" been for him, because all I know of him is who he is without his ADHD being treated.

My niece is 10, like I said in my post, she REALLY benefited from an occupational therapist, something you might want to look into if you haven't. She was a blurter and a incessant joke teller. The OT taught introduced her to "Was Funny Once" and a lot of other really creative, useful tools. We've seen MASSIVE improvement.

I wish you luck in your journey. I know it's not an easy position to be in at all!

Thank you!! I love your insight!

I work from home as well, so I understand 10000% the distractions! (hence why I am posting here instead of working this very minute lol)

I am not anti-medication either...I definitely did my research, so once I learned the reasons behind the medication and how it is supposed to help in conjunction with behavior modification and OT, I was OK having nephew try it. I was very worried about the whole "box" thing...we didn't want him to feel trapped inside himself, and one of the things that make him so awesome is his quirks! We just need to help him channel those quirks into appropriate times and places lol.

So, funny story...the first day nephew took his new medication (not sure what he was on before he came to us), he went to school and I got a call from one of his teachers later that day. She reported that he was walking through school like a zombie. Not like lethargic, overly medicated, sluggish...but like a real, Walking Dead, Zombie lol

That was the day we had a come to Jesus meeting with him and told him that the medication's job was to help him focus in school, but it does NOT turn kids into the Walking Dead! We reminded him that he was always going to be in control of his behavior no matter what medicine he takes and we expect him to make good choices.

Funny kid

 

[luvsJack]

Just wanted to note that I failed to say on my previous post that the reason the boy I described as zombie, was being over medicated. That was on his mom not the medication. And I. do know that some kids are prescribed too much.

Medication, when used correctly and at the right dosage is a God send for kids and parents. No one, teacher or parent should expect miracles and a suddenly perfect, quiet, kid and the Mom in my example did that. She wanted her son to be like her daughter and to sit and watch TV and color for hours on end. My own child was medicated. He is medicated now for the right diagnosis. Not against medication at all if it helps.

The adult that I know who doesn’t take medicine because he feels it puts a damper on his creativity, needs to be spontaneous and to be able to say what comes to mind quickly. Not being medicated helps that for him.