How did you know meds worked?

[svetlana40]

Hello All,

I posted few days ago that our peditrician refused to prescribe meds to my 7yo son who meets diagnostic criteria for ADHD but excells academically (pediatrician thought that it was not a typical ADHD presentation). Pediatrician agreed to prescribe after she consulted with a developmental pediatrician we are scheduled to see next week. Long story short today is day one of 10mg of Ritalin. 5mg did not seem to do anything but I think I am seeing some changes today. My son is still his energetic self but seems less frustrated with limit setting and he is actually doing some pretend play now, which is unusual for him. What were your experiences with behavioral changes after meds were started? Thank you all in advance!

[Mmagusin]

Doing great in school is unusual for ADHD kids. What are you trying to solve here? Defiance? Hyperactivity? This is only at home it seems...

[svetlana40 in reply to Mmagusin]

My son is in the 1st grade and way ahead of his classmates in terms of reading and math. He self taught himself how to read when he was 3yo. I don't think he got any of this knowledge at school. He just happens to be very btight. Unfortunately he is not able to function at school because of hyperactivity, impulsivity and most recently behavioral outbursts. Im sure his academic performance will be impacted soon. Things at home are difficult too but school situation has become unmanageable.

[KimSim]

I'm so glad to hear that your doctor finally agreed to the meds. My daughter was in the same position - doing well academically so no one thought anything was necessary - but the amount of energy it takes for these kids to "push down" their ADHD symptoms and get the work done and done well is absolutely insane. Once my daughter hit middle school everything changed. After a full day of using all of her energy to "keep it together," she had nothing left - and eventually, she couldn't even make it through the school day.

Now that your son isn't using every last bit of his energy to calm his own mind and try to focus, he actually has some left over for the pretend play you're now seeing. And you'll see more and more of that over the coming weeks. Far from "changing" their personalities, I feel like the right medication allows our kids' true personalities to finally come out!