After I posted about Emma’s ADHD, it occurred to me that maybe I should write about medication.  It’s kind of a hot topic, but one that’s important nonetheless.  If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll remember this post about all of Emma’s medications.  I choose to see the medications that she takes for her hormones simply as replacements for what her body doesn’t make naturally.  I don’t really count them as medications in the traditional sense.  Of course then we have her anti-seizure medications.  Those are a given.  There’s no need for a second thought on those.  However, when it comes to ADD/ADHD medications, there is a lot of debate out there.  I do believe kids are over-diagnosed with ADHD.  And I believe they’re over-medicated.

When we sat down to hear the results of Emma’s evaluation, the doctor did give us her opinion.  She said with all of the “therapies” she is in, and given the type of ADHD and the symptoms, she did feel that medication was best for her.  And so we went with her opinion.  We also felt strongly that if Emma should receive this diagnosis, that we would  put her on medication.  We looked at it from a few different angles.  First, we had a concrete answer for how much Emma was delayed (globally).  We wanted her to have the chance to catch up to her peers, if possible.  And our hope was that with medication, she might be able to catch up academically as well as socially.  She would have a bit of the focus that her peers had.  Another thought we had was time.  Emma receives OT, PT, and speech…all at home and school.  She’s also in ballet right now.  Quite simply, there aren’t enough hours in the day to add another therapy that might help her focus.  We would be looking into behavioral therapy, a provider, and a location (if a provider couldn’t come to us).

We had some ground rules to follow that we gave ourself.  For example, if a medication altered her normal behavior in any way (with the exception of her focus, of course), we wouldn’t continue on with it.  If the medication had any side effects like headaches, etc., no dice.  If the medication tasted horrible (as the Strattera did), we would stop taking it.  Fortunately the patch has worked really well for us.  She doesn’t behave “drugged” like I’ve seen on some anti-seizure medications.  She can’t take it.  The only side-effect we see is that her skin is red where the patch is adhered to.  That’s a normal side effect and doesn’t bother her in any way.  It works for us right now.  It won’t always work for us (I don’t think, anyway), and then we’ll try something new.  But for now, it does the job.

I fully support any parent in whatever decision they feel is best for their child.  Every mom wants what is best for their child…to make sure their quality of life is the fullest it can be.  If that is behavior modification, that is great.  Some people choose a diet change (such as GF/CF), and that is super.  Our way is the medication way, and we’re sticking with it!

What’s your opinion on the subject?  I want to know!

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