Intuniv update

Recently, I've noticed that many of you stopping by to visit here have been looking for information about the ADHD medication, Intuniv.  Of course, since we started our son on this medication in January, I've talked extensively about it.  But I haven't spoken of it in several months, so I thought I would give you a little update on our son and how he's doing now that he's been taking this for nearly 10 months.

Can I just say that we are THRILLED??  

I'm not sure how else to put it.

Compared to this time last year, he is a completely different person!!

This medication has been so helpful to him, and thus to the rest of the family.

For those of you new to this medication, Intuniv is not a stimulant.

So it doesn't have your typical stimulant related side effects such as crazy mood swings, weight loss due to suppressed appetite, etc.

The generic form of this drug used to be used to treat high blood pressure.

So we watch for any changes in that area, but so far he has had no side effects whatsoever.

But this medication has taken the edge off of my son.

We give him his 3 mg. dose (which took several weeks to build up to) first thing in the morning.

It's a 24-hour time release thing, but he wakes up quick and happy and hits the ground running.

We don't cut it in half.  He gets the full pill first thing in the morning.

Within a half-hour or so, he can be still and engaged in seat work,

and now he can sit and participate in great conversation for at least a half hour at a time.

He still has his meltdowns and gets angry and mouthy with us.

So we send him to his room where he has been instructed to stay until he can calmly 

discuss the situation with us,

and then we can peacefully dole out the discipline for the disrespect or disobedience.

It used to take him a half hour or 45 minutes to calm down; now it's 5 or 10 minutes.

He GETS it now.

We are seeing new things in him that we couldn't see behind the mask of the ugly side of ADHD.

Now that the mask is coming down, we're seeing him draw pictures that have a fluid story line.

We're seeing him eager to learn.

We're seeing him retain math concepts.

And this last week, he quoted from memory the entire 1st Psalm as a part of our monthly scripture memorization here at home.

I do want to say though, that I really think the reason we have seen such tremendous progress in our son,

is not JUST because of the Intuniv.

We have made a number of changes in our home since he and his sister were diagnosed with ADHD.

You can read through all the things that we have worked on by clicking "ADHD" and "Intuniv" under the labels on the right hand side bar of this blog,

but they include "cleaning" up our diet, changing up our schooling completely,

and solidifying our daily routine.

My husband and I have been working very hard with ourselves and the other children also

in remembering that now that Grant is thinking  more clearly, 

we need to adjust the way we respond to him too.

We got so used to him always throwing a fit about everything, that we would brace ourselves and usually end up angry ourselves.  That never works.

So we've changed our perspective and our responses too.

ADHD is such a complex issue. 

It has so many varieties and so many "parasites" that like to hook onto it just for the ride,

that make it just enough different from person to person that it's hard for professionals to see a pattern and know just exactly what the "magic bullet" is to make it all go away.

So I've learned that there is no magic bullet.

There is no perfect pill to cure it.

Intuniv has just simply been one tool in an entire collection to help us manage our son's issues,

and to help him learn how to control HIMSELF.

I think all parents of ADHD children would benefit from understanding that medication alone is not

the end all.

We have seen a "clean-up" in his diet to be as equally beneficial as the Intuniv alone.

Put those two changes in combination with changes in our lifestyle at home, 

and the progress in our son has been no less than DRAMATIC!!

I'll be talking more about Intuniv here in the next couple days, so feel free to ask any questions you may have.  I can only share my own experience, but would be happy to help in any way I can.