Need help, something above and beyond medications :-(

[erbaledge]

I have a suggestion to try for the next scout meeting, well, that is if she is usually one of the first one's done with the project:
BEFORE the meeting, take her aside, and assign her your lil buddy helper, tell her that if she gets her project done first, (she must show you) and if given the okay, she is then to go buddy her scout friends and assist them (by telling or at times showing) with completing their project. Or, if you have another project to complete, that she can go get the items out and ready. hth

 

[DaisyFace]

jl--

I can't help but wonder if you couldn't just change the troop meetings - say Saturday mornings or early Sunday afteroons? Why mess around with medications just for the sake of a 6 pm function at this age?

 

[cboz]

Can you give her another dose at 5:00?

This would be my suggestion, or maybe a half dose just to get her through the meeting.

 

[jlsanchez08]

Here is an update and a few comments/replies:
At the last meeting she was allowed to help the others before the medications wore off because she was actually tying the knots better than the adults (I think it was the tiny little fingers being able to tie what little string was left ).

DaisyFace - Trust me the original meetings were to be scheduled on Sunday's and were led by another troop leader but since she is suppose to go with my ex on his weekends (even though he only takes the kids when he feels like it, and that is not often) he would not allow her to go to scouts and since there was not another troop for her to join, I ended up starting a troop so that she could be in it like she wanted. My ex being a &^%# (not so nice person) leaves the weekends out of the question.

Update: She will stay on her regular medication that she has already been taking since her meals seem to be in perfect timing with when the medications wear off so she still have her full appetite and she will just take a very low dose of the same medication but in a short release pill in the evenings. We can either give her the pill in the evening or not, just depends on if she is having to go somewhere or do something (or if she is just having an overly aggressive day) but she won't have to take it every day unless it is actually necessary. She has also been chosen to do the anger management counseling sessions at school which will probably help out some too. On another subject, I just got the phone call that she is going to be evaluated by the speech therapist for the school district and they have moved her up a tier in math and reading so she will be getting more help there too. If she can be put into speech she will actually have ARD meetings and 504 meetings and not just have us fighting a constant battle of trying to get her the help she needs since her ADHD/ODD does not qualify her for anything no matter how far behind she was/is.

Thank you for all of the comments/help! I will keep you updated!

 

[DDD]

I could be wrong but I don't think so. If you are using a time release medicine and sprinkling it on apple sauce the medications can not work as designed. Time release medication has to be slowly absorbed by the body. Maybe that is why you are not having the results you need.

There are alot of choices for ADHD. Some are in pill form which can be put in apple sauce. Check with your MD and explain the issue. Worse come to worse you can dose every four hours or so with medications that are not time release. Most of us have had to try numerous medications before getting the best results. It's tedious but worth it. DDD

 

[Marguerite]

DDD, they have been specifically told that THIS form can be taken that way.

I also take a long-acting medication which is also available (not to me) in short-acting form. My long-acting stuff is in a clear capsule in the form of tiny white beads. The instruction leaflet tells me that if I need to, I can open the capsule and swallow the tiny beads whole. If I chew the beads, they will release rapidly and not be long-acting, so I have to be careful to swallow them properly. Apple sauce would work well. This medication of mine is designed to be taken that way because most patients who take it are elderly with swallowing problems, and cannot take a capsule.
I have used this to my advantage - if I am out somewhere and have no water to help a capsule down, I have simply swallowed the beads dry.

Similarly - my kids take dexamphetamine which has been privately compounded. Their pills are compressed into 10 mg tablets which can be cut in half if they need a smaller dose. We specifically order these tablets rather than capsules, because the capsule form have to be taken in 10 mg increments, and some of out kids need the 5 mg increment at times. We could cut them into quarters if we needed 2.5 mg increments.
When difficult child 3 was on Concerta for a few months, I noticed the instruction to not cut those tablets. His friend is on Concerta and friend's mother felt the dose was too much for him, so she bought a pair of dog nail clippers to cut his Concerta in half. She did not read the leaflet that says to not do this. However, he did seem to do better with the half Concerta anyway, so I think there must be still a fair amount of sustained-release effect. I did persuade her to ask the doctor for a lower dose.
[Incidentally, friend's mother is also an idiot - she took her son's pills because she wanted to know what they felt like. I explained to her that she can't get into his brain, what the pills do for him is not going to be necessarily what they do for her.]

Marg

 

[DDD]

Thanks, Marg. It actually is very unusual for me to post without reading through from the first. Obviously this time I didn/t.
Glad they have one that works that way. I know I tried that method many years ago only to be told that I needed to change
even if it was more inconvenient. Yeah, modernization. on the other hand, I'm very glad I'm not back at the six year age. That was so stressful. DDD