ADHD The Struggle is Real – A Personal Journey with Melissa Part #2
#ADHD The Struggle is Real – A Personal Journey with Melissa Part #2
When I last left off from the beginning of the story (you can read it here if you haven’t already) My son was just placed on medicine for his ADHD in fourth grade. It was definitely the most heart wrenching decision we ever made but we believe it was the best one. Medicine is not for everyone. There are numerous other interventions that can be helpful. Medicine was the one that we chose to be the best option for our son. It didn’t work perfectly but it worked. Trail and error. Again, you can always change and adjust from what you have been doing. Nothing is concrete unless YOU make it that way.
After a few months of my son being on medication, I had mentioned to the psychiatrist that both my son and I had similar issues and wondered if there was a connection. In not so many words he basically said I was next. After tests and conversations, I too was put on medication. It was actually quite amazing. It was getting to the point where I couldn’t carry on a conversation without me getting lost in three hundred other thoughts and then would lose my place. Just imagine you are literally in the middle of a sentence but you can’t for the life of you try to remember what you were just talking about because you are already 5 thoughts ahead of what your mouth was. Anyone who knows me knows.. THAT IN ITSELF IS A TASK!! I am from Chicago.. I talk.. a lot and fast… I guess it is one of the skills I have achieved to keep up with my brain!! So when I was put on medication I didn’t notice anything right away but I would say within a week or so I noticed a difference. It was nice to carry on an adult conversation rather than one interrupted by a child which was actually my brain not allowing me to finish a thought. Both my son and I were put on Straterra. The pill wasn’t that big.. like a Tylenol so it wasn’t that bad. My son however HATED IT. Partly because he didn’t like the idea of having to take medicine to feel “normal” and partly because he hated swallowing pills. I remember he used to say he would get bubbles in his stomach. Sadly, not the best Mom moment for sure, I thought he was making up excuses to not take the meds because he was being defiant…. Until it happened to me. I can not describe to you the pain I felt with this awful air bubble in my chest. My guess is this is what babies feel when they are colicky or need to be burped but it was A W F U L!! For over two hours I was banging on my chest and back trying to get rid of it. It was so painful.. I then felt HORRIBLE because I knew this is what he had been talking about… Yep, Mother of the Year over here.. NOT! So I went home and told him over and over how sorry I was and that I didn’t get it until it happened to me. I told him how proud I was of him to take it anyway even though it really SUCKED to feel that. We also tried to solve the problem of the meds issue so he would eat before and after he would take his medicine. Not a big meal, just something so that it would clear the way before and make its way down after. It seemed to work… For a while anyway…. Then one day in 5th grade….
To Be Continued….
NOTE: I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one. I am only giving you the information that I have which I have been directly effected or experienced myself.
