Well, here I am. A 28 year old mom trying something new. I want to be clear from the beginning. I am not doing this to provide any kind of advice, professional therapy, or medical remedy of any kind. I am simply a mom sharing experiences, thoughts, frustrations, and, yes, even the occasional successes in an effort to journal the fantastic and chaotic journey that is ADHD.
I am also NOT here to debate the existence of the disorder, or the over or under diagnosis of it. I am simply here to vent. SO, without further ado:
Donavon, my 8 year old son, was professionally diagnosed by our pediatrician when he was 5 1/2, spring of 2008. We knew he was different from other children in that he was behind on a few developmental things but between the ages of 3 and 5 it became more and more apparent that he was not the same as his playmates. There are quite a few things that frustrated us but at the time he was an only child and so we were working with him constantly which, in my opinion, made a lot of difference.
Donavon is an exceptionally outgoing child. He is very happy, most of the time and will talk to you till he passes out or sees something more interesting and will halt in his tracks and head in that direction! We always considered that an endearing trait that he possessed.
The summer he turned 5, I gave birth to fraternal twins, Nathan and Maya, both of whom are now 3. Needless to say, my hands are overflowing! At first, Donavon was an awesome big brother but when the twins were four weeks old, Donavon was hospitalized with MRSA in a bug bite. Long story short, the picking "tick" that is associated with ADHD, caused him to pick at a mosquito bite on his leg and he contracted MRSA. He could not touch the twins or even be in the same room with them for about three weeks. We all had to undergo antibiotics! It was a mess! That incident really set Donavon in an attention war. We were torn between newborn twins and our quarantined son! I usually had twin duty since I was the milk machine! Donavon, being a boy and still tugging on mamma's apron strings, went through a tough roller coaster. He had lots of fun with Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie, and Daddy but could not get enough Mommy time. And, because MRSA is contracted by saliva, I couldn't get too close because I could have been the carrier between him and the twins.
Then he started Kindergarten. Looking back, it was a mixed blessing. I'm glad we started him early (he was the youngest in his class since his birthday was just before cutoff) because we were able to better gage just how different and special he was. However, he also struggled with some of the minor things. For example, he tried so hard to learn to tie his shoes. To this day, he still has some trouble and usually ends up tying knots a few times before he gets it right. He would practice and practice until he cried because he just couldn't understand the steps. All of his evaluations came back excellent in most areas. Now, in Kindergarten, he had the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green cards. Green is the best. Red is the worst. That one was a phone call home. Black was sent to the Principal. He seldom went further than Orange. I do recall that there were some substitute teachers who didn't know him very well, and got frustrated easily. I got phone calls those days. His reports were something like this:
DONAVON is a happy, outgoing student. However, we need to work on excessive talking and roaming around the room.
On many occasions, I would get the phone calls. Mrs. A. was a great teacher, but we couldn't seem to get past these reoccurring problems. One after another, we would discuss the issues on phone calls, notes back and forth and Parent/Teacher conferences. Then, spring came. Spring break, I had a check-up scheduled to see the Doctor so he wouldn't miss any more school (he was sick a lot that year). When I talked to him about how frustrated I was with his education, he gave me the evaluations for me, my husband, and the teacher to fill out. We scheduled another visit for two weeks later. At the second visit, he decided to put Donavon on the lowest dose of medication (I'm not looking to advertise for any drug companies. If you really want to know, inbox me, and I'll tell you what it was).
That was it. ADHD. It explained SO many things. A lot of our whys were answered! I cannot tell you that medication was the "miracle" we were looking for. Far from it! It was simply a turning point in the story/journey that is ADHD.
A wise person once said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over, and expecting different results." We were going insane. But then we tried something new. And wouldn't you know, we got different results!
TO BE CONTINUED...
I am also NOT here to debate the existence of the disorder, or the over or under diagnosis of it. I am simply here to vent. SO, without further ado:
Donavon, my 8 year old son, was professionally diagnosed by our pediatrician when he was 5 1/2, spring of 2008. We knew he was different from other children in that he was behind on a few developmental things but between the ages of 3 and 5 it became more and more apparent that he was not the same as his playmates. There are quite a few things that frustrated us but at the time he was an only child and so we were working with him constantly which, in my opinion, made a lot of difference.
Donavon is an exceptionally outgoing child. He is very happy, most of the time and will talk to you till he passes out or sees something more interesting and will halt in his tracks and head in that direction! We always considered that an endearing trait that he possessed.
The summer he turned 5, I gave birth to fraternal twins, Nathan and Maya, both of whom are now 3. Needless to say, my hands are overflowing! At first, Donavon was an awesome big brother but when the twins were four weeks old, Donavon was hospitalized with MRSA in a bug bite. Long story short, the picking "tick" that is associated with ADHD, caused him to pick at a mosquito bite on his leg and he contracted MRSA. He could not touch the twins or even be in the same room with them for about three weeks. We all had to undergo antibiotics! It was a mess! That incident really set Donavon in an attention war. We were torn between newborn twins and our quarantined son! I usually had twin duty since I was the milk machine! Donavon, being a boy and still tugging on mamma's apron strings, went through a tough roller coaster. He had lots of fun with Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie, and Daddy but could not get enough Mommy time. And, because MRSA is contracted by saliva, I couldn't get too close because I could have been the carrier between him and the twins.
Then he started Kindergarten. Looking back, it was a mixed blessing. I'm glad we started him early (he was the youngest in his class since his birthday was just before cutoff) because we were able to better gage just how different and special he was. However, he also struggled with some of the minor things. For example, he tried so hard to learn to tie his shoes. To this day, he still has some trouble and usually ends up tying knots a few times before he gets it right. He would practice and practice until he cried because he just couldn't understand the steps. All of his evaluations came back excellent in most areas. Now, in Kindergarten, he had the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green cards. Green is the best. Red is the worst. That one was a phone call home. Black was sent to the Principal. He seldom went further than Orange. I do recall that there were some substitute teachers who didn't know him very well, and got frustrated easily. I got phone calls those days. His reports were something like this:
DONAVON is a happy, outgoing student. However, we need to work on excessive talking and roaming around the room.
On many occasions, I would get the phone calls. Mrs. A. was a great teacher, but we couldn't seem to get past these reoccurring problems. One after another, we would discuss the issues on phone calls, notes back and forth and Parent/Teacher conferences. Then, spring came. Spring break, I had a check-up scheduled to see the Doctor so he wouldn't miss any more school (he was sick a lot that year). When I talked to him about how frustrated I was with his education, he gave me the evaluations for me, my husband, and the teacher to fill out. We scheduled another visit for two weeks later. At the second visit, he decided to put Donavon on the lowest dose of medication (I'm not looking to advertise for any drug companies. If you really want to know, inbox me, and I'll tell you what it was).
That was it. ADHD. It explained SO many things. A lot of our whys were answered! I cannot tell you that medication was the "miracle" we were looking for. Far from it! It was simply a turning point in the story/journey that is ADHD.
A wise person once said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over, and expecting different results." We were going insane. But then we tried something new. And wouldn't you know, we got different results!
TO BE CONTINUED...
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