Good morning. Just checking in. Two kids went on new medications yesterday. We are not good medication takers -- we get a lot of side effects that are impossible to live with ( fainting, hallucinations, migraines, mania are a few that I can think of that have happened to them recently), so we are rarely on them in general. 18 yr old ADD'er started Daytrana patch. 13 yr old. difficult child son started in Intuniv.
Last night the poor kid was holding his eyes open by 6:30 pm, but he had a calm night. I "forced him" to play Xbox Kinect until almost 7, then we had a late supper and he was asleep by 8 pm. He's almost 14, and he went to sleep like he was 7. This morning he got up, got dressed, did his morning list without complaint. Was agreeable, and read a novel on the way to school!!!! Rare for him. He is really quiet. I know it takes time to get used to these things, but he is very different. Probably because he is wiped out.
My ADD girl was able to finish all her work without driving herself crazy and was in bed by 11. Rare for her, too, since she takes 4 AP classes, and is senior class president with a lot of responsibilities. She is testing out the patch for her last series of SAT/ACT tests this weekend and next.
I have pretty bad unmedicated ADD as well, and don't want her on this Daytrana without knowing what it is like, so I put a patch on. So far it has given me an incredible headache, slight nausea, no appetite, feels like my head is squeezed slightly at the temples. But I did sit down and finish a bunch of stuff that I really needed to do. I also cleaned the house without flitting from thing to thing, unfinished, and scattered like I usually do. My thoughts are clear and the tasks that stretch out before me are not overwhelming. So this is what it is like to be able to concentrate. I like the concentration, but I hate the feeling of the medications. Taking the patch off.
I would hate to be one of our kids, trying out medication after medication, feeling funny, getting side effects, having things not work, upping doses, dropping doses....It must be very difficult for them to go through.
Have a lovely day everyone.