{Disclosure: I am fully aware that what may work for our family and our child may not work for your family or your child. To each their own. This is just our experience.}
It has been a couple days shy of a month since I have updated the progress we have made with B.
I first introduced you to B – my explosive child – shortly after our launch on January 1.
In summary, B went from being my sweet, loving, cuddly, happy little boy to being physically aggressive, defiant, angry little boy.
He was having difficulties sitting still in class and unknown to us at the time, was tardy to class nearly every morning.
We decided to start seeking treatment for B.
We saw a therapist, his pediatrician, the dentist, and finally a child psychologist who assessed B and told us his ADHD was so severe that not only did it need to be treated, it was so severe that we wouldn’t know if he had any underlying diagnoses until after his ADHD was under control.
As a parent, you hear the whispers, the judgement. You feel stuck. You have to do what is best for your family and your child.
We decided to visit a child psychiatrist. The child psychologist fell off the face of the Earth so treatment options were lost in the air. We knew that if medication was going to be something we needed to research, a child psychiatrist was our best option so off we went.
The child psychiatrist assessed B to have anxiety which we determined right away would be handled with medication. It was clear that his anxiety was something serious with him; the child psychiatrist thought it was the cause of the physically aggressive behavior; and frankly, as someone who suffers from anxiety, I cannot see making anyone suffer through that.
He was prescribed a low dose anti-anxiety medication and within days the aggressive behavior stopped and while not back to my ‘happy, cuddly, loving boy’ I could tell that things were calmer and he wasn’t as angry.
Unfortunately, once his anxiety was controlled, his ADHD soared. His teacher would mention that he just couldn’t control himself and was struggling. The child psychiatrist said she could see it in his eye.
We had decided to delay the medications for ADHD, but after being suspended from the bus for 3 days and still being tardy nearly every morning (which might I add, he takes the bus to school so he gets there early and then goes to the cafeteria for breakfast so he is at school well before school starts) we decided to give a low dose ADHD medication a try.
Within days, he was so much calmer.
He was happy. He was hugging us randomly. He was cleaning the house without being asked or prompted. He was randomly coming up to us to say that he loved us (something that hadn’t happened in months and if it was said, it was an angry forceful tone.) He cuddles with us on the couch while watching tv and movies. He is happy. He says he feels better. He says that his friends don’t think he’s annoying anymore.
Taken 1 week ago
He has gotten positive notes home from school. His teacher tells K every afternoon how great B is in class. He hasn’t gotten in trouble on the bus and yesterday, we got his report card that indicated he had 1 tardy this last quarter! (Seriously, he was getting on average 13-16 tardies per quarter and he only got 1 last quarter!)
It’s amazing to see how much has changed. How much happier he is.
He’s back to his ‘normal’ behavior. My once upon a time happy, loving, cuddly son who I wasn’t sure I would ever get back.
This doesn’t mean our journey or our struggle is over.
We are still seeking out therapy for him (finding child therapy is darn difficult) and will continue to monitor him for side effects or for growing on his behalf that can alter the medication effects, but I know we are doing what is best for him and he is happy.
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