ADHD

Rhys has been diagnosed with ADHD.  No real surprise there.  We talked to our pediatrician about it.  She explained the scholarship on the issue.

Basically there are three ways of treating it that have some science to back them up.  Drugs, therapy and drugs and therapy.  Therapy alone doesn't work.  No crap.  A year and a half of OT makes that clear.  (His OT is not for ADHD, by the way, it is for his SPD.)

Drugs work pretty well.  Drugs and therapy work a little bit better than just drugs.  Drugs it is.

Rhys is taking Aderol (sp?).  This is an amphetamine.  It is a stimulant.  Too little and he has Aderol PMS.  Too much and he becomes a brain seeking zombie.  Just right and we have a calm child who only has twenty other issues to deal with.

We started off with the minimum dose.  PMS big time.  We are on day one of the next higher dose.  I think this is the right spot for him.  No emotional basket case.  No zombie.  Just a calm, cool, collected five year old with an attention span longer than three seconds.

Two other side effects.  Loss of appetite.  We have upped his intake of protein shakes.  His appetite seemed to be fine today, but we will see.  He can't afford to lose any weight so we will have to keep a close eye on this one.

The other side effect is difficulty sleeping.  Oh yeah!  Big time.  This one sucks.  Rhys is tired by the end of his days.  He has a lot going on.  Day care, preschool, therapy, swimming, playing with Owyn.  I'm worn out just typing that.  By the time bed time rolls around he can barely keep his eyes open.  Except.  Except with the drugs he can't fall asleep.  He is up, playing, re-arranging his room, climbing the walls.  We sure hope that he gets past this soon.  If it is permanent we are going to have to figure something else out.  Like setting my alarm for 0300 and giving him his pills then.

So far the effects of this have been good, sleep loss aside.  We are watching him very carefully though.  I'm not completely comfortable with it.  The real test will be if he can pay attention better in class. 

Only time will tell.