Adoptive Parenting, Child Parenting - Frustration With Medicating the Adopted Child for ADHD

01/22/08

Frustration With Medicating the Adopted Child for ADHD

Posted by : Faith Allen in Adoptive Parenting Blog at 05:55 am , 413 words, 503 views
Categories: Special Needs

In my last post, Medicating the Adopted Child for ADHD, I shared the positive side of medicating my adopted child for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This post is about the frustrations.

While the first day of my son being on ADHD medication was sheer bliss, the side effects were just awful. Once the medication wore off, he was just as hyperactive as he ever was. It was jarring to have him go from being a rational, clear-heading child to a wild and out-of-control child again. He ate nothing for dinner because he was not hungry (a common side effect of ADHD medication).

The Daytrana patch left a red mark on his hip that bothered him in the tub. (Fortunately, the redness went away overnight and did not bother him in the morning.) I spent the night worrying about whether his skin could take the irritation from the patch.

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The worst part was the insomnia. My son has struggled with insomnia from the ADHD for over a year now, so I have been giving him melatonin to help him sleep with good results on most nights. The melatonin did nothing that first night. The child, who usually goes to bed at 7:30 and is asleep most nights by 8:00, was still wide awake at 11:00 p.m. He finally managed to sleep close to midnight.

I cried myself to sleep that first night. Not using the medication is not an option because he needs to be able to focus. He is such a great and "normal" kid on the medication. However, the medication could stunt his growth. It is already affecting his appetite and ability to sleep. That is not okay.

I cried in sheer frustration from handling this special need. While some adoptive parents, like Nancy on the Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) blog, choose to adopt kids with special needs, I did not. I thought I was adopting a healthy child. I was not prepared for facing special needs like his asthma and ADHD.

And yet I would not "trade him in." He is my kid, and I love him with all of my heart. Even if I had given birth to him, I would have had no guarantees that he would have been 100% healthy.

That being said, it is still hard. I asked God for the 1,000th time why my kid had to have these issues. I prayed for the strength to handle them because it is so incredibly hard sometimes.

Photo credit: Lynda Bernhardt

3 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Chromesthesia [Member]

I'm sorry you're going through all of that.

Permalink 01/22/08 @ 11:33

Comment from: John [Member]

Loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping are the common side effects of ADHD meds. Your child isn't likely to focus even with the med if he only had one to two hours of sleep the night before. Usually, the med does address the focus problem, but the side effects are what drive the lengthy search for a usable med. Good luck Faith, this isn't an easy problem to resolve. Its very frustrating because you get a glimpse of what your child can do, only to see that disappear as the med wears off. John

Permalink 01/22/08 @ 13:02

Comment from: Julia Fuller [Member]

· http://special-needs.adoptionblogs.com/

Faith, this is one of the reasons that I homeschool. My 15 year old son has 32 college credits now. He will have his associate degree by 17. He has always been homeschooled. I know if he had been at public school he would have been in the principal's office everyday. He can get sooo much work done when he takes Adderall or Ritalin, but he won't take it. He said it makes his head feel fuzzy, gives him insomnia, and he can't eat. He has always been thin, just recently breaking 100 lbs, so not eating isn't an option. I used to buy him ensure to drink. I do let him drink coffee and sometimes encourage it, the caffiene is a stimulant and helps a little. We set timers for him to race against because he is very competitive. He has earplugs to use. Sometimes he works under his blankets so he can't see anything else to be distracted. He is genuinly crushed when people think he is bad or doing things for the wrong reason. he is a very loving boy, but does rub some people the wrong way with his non stop chatter, touchy feely, wiggly, hyperactive self. The schools have cubicles they can put around a desk to help a student avoid distraction. However, in public school, kids try to avoid being different. Hugs to you(()). Julia

Permalink 01/22/08 @ 22:03

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