I have shared several times that my adopted son Nicholas, who is seven years old, has Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I have been advocating for medication for well over a year, but I have not gotten much support from the doctor or my husband until recently.

The school got involved with a situation that happened on the campus, and my son was referred to the school's intervention team. Long story short, they sent home a bunch of paperwork expressing "significant concerns" and asked us to share the information with our physician.

Hub, Nicholas, and I went to see the doctor last week. We were able to answer most questions, but we had very limited information when it came to his birthfamily's medical history. This was disturbing because, if he had a medical history of heart issues, then it would not be prudent to prescribe him stimulants to manage the ADHD. We were not informed of there being any history of heart issues, but his birthmother had limited information herself, having been raised by people other than her birthparents since she was a toddler. So, it can be scary to make decisions about medicating your child when you do not have a complete birthfamily health history. You have to make the best decision you can based upon the information you have and hope for the best.

In our case, I am so glad we have started medicating him. I cannot believe the change in him even after only a few hours. Nicholas (obviously) has trouble focusing, but for the first time in his life, he focused on a Lego set for ninety minutes. Not only that, he was focused on the details of putting the stickers on correctly (that has never happened), and he even told me to leave the room and only come when summoned because he wanted to do it himself. To the extent I could get him to look at Lego's in the past, it was me doing all of the work and him losing Lego parts. Also, he struggles with his fine motor skills (which the occupational therapist says is due to the ADHD), but he managed to snap together difficult parts that he has never even attempted before.

It took a leap of faith to medicate him for his ADHD, because I had to hope that things would be okay without having a full medical history. Unfortunately, this is a part of adoption that is likely to be an issue for the rest of his life.

Related Topic:

Adopting a Child with No Health History

Photo credit: Lynda Bernhardt