Growing up: Going off Intuniv

It has been a good minute since I've talked about this guy.
He is so precious to his Dad and I, but my goodness, the things

we have had learn since he joined our family.

He has easily been our most challenging.

The one who brought the most tears and frustration to the table.

The one who struggled the most in our homeschool.

When we had him evaluated several years ago for learning differences,

it was a relief to learn that all we were dealing with

was ADHD - Combined.
I did a lot of research and came up with all kinds

of issues we could "possibly" be working with,

but thankfully, it wasn't as big a deal as I feared.
I cavalierly thought we could manage his emotional outbursts

and terribly aggravating impulsivity issues by ourselves,

with our "magnificent" parenting techniques.
We tried so many things to bring peace to our household,

and to his inner anxieties without medication.
It was just too much with 5 other kids (the oldest with

ADHD - Type 1, and another with Type 1 Diabetes)

to handle on our own.

We researched and prayed, and decided to try a non-stimulant

ADHD medication called Intuniv.
You can read about our journey with this here.
What a terrific tool this was for our family and for our son.

He was on this medication for several years and did so well on it

that I began wondering if it was time to take him off of it.
You can read about that journey in the links above.
He just wasn't ready for it.
But he's 16 now.

He is much more mature and has had clearly better brain development

to take another look at getting off of it for good.

He sleeps much better now, and is focusing so well on his school work

that we've seen a dramatic improvement in his output.

He is much more confident in social settings,
and was even able to talk to complete strangers on a flight this summer

during our missions trip and to lead them to Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Talk about victory!!

Talk about Mama tears!!

So this summer we had a conversation with him.

I pointed out all the good strides he has made over the last couple of years,

and asked him if would consider going off of it.

He agreed.

We visited with the pediatrician several weeks later who eagerly

approved our endeavor to get him off.

We kept the leftover that we had just in case he felt he needed

to wean off slowly, but there was no need.

He went off cold-turkey with absolutely no problem.

No disruption in his sleep.

No disruption in his ability to focus on schoolwork when necessary.

We have had to remind him that his behavior

reaches annoying levels sometimes,

but he very compliantly makes the adjustment and we move on!

I am happy to announce that this marks the end of an era for our family.

No more posts on Intuniv.

It is finished.

That part of the battle is over.

And we thank God for what He is doing in this young man's heart!!

God has driven us to our knees more times than I can count begging

for wisdom in how to guide, correct, and teach our son,

and He has done marvelous things in our eyes!!!

Update: Still using Intuniv

Life can be strangling when you're 13.

It can choke the very breath out of you.

People expect more from you.

More responsibility, more output in your schoolwork, more leadership.

When you think you're stupid, it can be very worrisome.

When things come at you faster than you can process them,

and you can tell that those around you get it,

but you don't,

you try really hard to fit in,

and not stand out

To not be noticed.

As the parent, it's very hard to watch your child struggle.

Oh, there have been definitive victories over the last several years:

An increased ability to feel comfortable in social circles 

and to have lovely, interactive conversations with adults.

Better self control when facing consequences for poor decisions.

Approaching parents (but only parents) for a hug at the end of the day.

Staying focused when working one-on-one with a tutor and progressing in schoolwork.

Some days are so good that you wonder if it's really necessary

for him to continue taking the medication that's helping him manage 

his hyperactivity and impulsivity.

The long-term implications of taking any kind of medication for an extended

period of time is not well understood.

Why take it when you don't need to?

But when you try to wean him off (several different times), 

he can definitly tell the difference.

On the first day, you hardly notice a difference.

But by day 3 without the medication, anxiety levels are higher.

You notice he's pacing the house more.

He's much more irritable and antagonizes his siblings nearly relentlessly.

He reminds you every night that you NEED to go get his prescription refilled.

He needs it.

There is much less peace in the house.

Even the pediatrician, at his yearly check-up, suggests that it would be fine

for him to continue taking this.

That this particular medication, Intuniv, is not a stimulant,

it's not understood to be addictive.

So we are continuing with a 3 mg. dose.

Yes, you never know the long-term implications.

But when diet changes (including complete avoidance of dyes and HFCS)

are nearly impossible to afford or enforce because of resistance

and what seems to be sensory issues,

you consider other options.

Last year, regular use of essential oils became an alternative.

Though he has his favorites, and there are definitely some that help him,

particularly in the areas of calming, none have brought him

that clarity of mind and peacefulness like this medication.

So, here we are.

A new school year.

A successful 1200-mile road-trip with your Mom and two sisters during summer break under your belt.

It wasn't too bad, was it?

You stuck closer to your Mom than ever before especially when we went

places that you had never experienced before.

But you tried new things, met new people,

and are moving on.

To read even more about the strategies we have tried with our son, what has worked,

and what has not.....go HERE.

A very long overdue update on our journey with "Intuniv"

Five years ago, my husband and I came to a crossroads.
We were struggling in our relationship with our son, who was 8 years old at the time.
It was not something new.
On the contrary, we had struggled with this little fellow nearly his entire life.
But by 2009 things had come to a head and I was desperate for help.
After much prayer and consultation with a plethora of people, professional and close friends,
we made the difficult decision to put our son on a non-stimulant medication to help manage his ADHD.
You can read more about the circumstances and the considerations that were involved in making this decision here.

There was quite a learning curve involved with this medication, and I spent a lot of time blogging about it.
If you're interested in reading through how he adjusted and then how our family needed to adjust to his calmer behavior, you can read through my posts about it here.

Since we began him on this medication in early 2010, several things have changed.
First of all, he has gotten bigger.  As he has grown, the medication is absorbed in his body differently.
He will be 13 next month.
We've changed the dosage several times.
We started at the lowest dose of 1 mg., and moved up from there.
At one point he was maxed out at the highest dose available of 4 mg. {considered the adult dose}
During one of his annual physicals {which our pediatrician requires because of the kind of drug it is},
I mentioned to him wanting to take him off all together because I wasn't really convinced it was doing much to help him control his impulsivity and hyperactivity.
Our doctor then suggested we might want to try something different as Intuniv was not really meant to be a stand alone drug, but one that was administered along with another stimulant medication.
I did NOT want to go that route with him, but we did try to withdraw from it all together.
It was while we were trying to wean him off that we realized just how much it was actually helping him have that internal control and to feel like he could settle down and not feel unable to control his own body.
Our doctor also recommended that we try giving him his dose at bedtime rather than first thing in the morning as is usually prescribed.
That has been key for us!!
For some reason, it seems to take a long time for this medication to kick in for him, and now he wakes up very calm and able to get right to the tasks at hand.

Eventually we moved back up to 3mg., and that is where we've found a more peaceful place for him.

He does not struggle in falling asleep, and we don't give him melatonin anymore.

I have been learning about the amazing benefits of using essential oils over the last year, so we're trying some new things with oils instead of synthetic sleep aids.

Read about what happened and the strategies we tried here.

We have always had to work at keeping Grant engaged and trying new things.
He has never asked to try something new.
The only thing that he will do for hours on end without being forced to is video or computer games.

His dad and I have learned that we have to present a new activity or idea to him several different times, and let him think about it and get himself ready before he's comfortable with it.
Most times, he blows a bunch of "smoke" {think throwing a fit} about something we would like for him to participate in, and usually once he's there he really enjoys it.
So we've had him play baseball with his good friends in the neighborhood.
 

We've had him involved with our church's mid-week children's programming called "Master Clubs," and we worked really hard to get him through every level successfully.

  

School continues to be an immense struggle for him.
On paper he started the 7th grade this last fall.
He is only working at about a 5/6th grade level at this point.
We are involved in an amazing "homeschool assistance program" this year that has been a miraculous answer to prayer for us, and I'm hoping that by the end of this year he will be working closer to a 7th grade level.
But he still has a long way to go and this is the time of year where he has always struggled the most.
His ability to focus and stay on task dwindles to almost nothing just before spring break.

 

He has had the opportunity to try out basketball in this little schooling program, and no surprise, he isn't wildly crazy about it.
BUT, he does really good at it.
He has some natural ability with it that has surprised us all, and himself as well!!

 

He still struggles with anger issues, being very demanding, not sharing very well, and being able to focus and stay on task in his learning environment.

These are not new issues, and as he is getting older, we are finding that the intensity to which he struggles with these things is decreasing as well.

One area in which he is doing much better in is sensing humor.

When he was younger, he could not interpret when someone was kidding or trying to be funny or if they were being literal.

He never laughed at cartoons because he didn't see any of them as funny.

He also never ever understood when people were just teasing and having fun with him.

He usually just got upset and thought they were "being mean" to him.

But as he has gotten older, he is better understanding appropriate humor and is learning how to laugh at truly funny things.

 

{Valentine's Banquet 2015}

As I mentioned before, I feel that in this journey we are on, the Lord has led us to learn about essential oils.  We've been using them in our home since Christmas time, and they are just wonderful.  I love being able to use natural, God-made, plant-based things in our home to help our bodies heal over synthetic, chemical laden, side-effect producing, man-made products.
I am currently researching different oils that can help with calming and focus and clarity.
We have been experimenting with Cedarwood and Lemon oils.
Like any other strategy you try, it takes time to find the right amounts and time to apply these oils, but Grant is willing to try and interested in learning how to do it himself!!
I will be posting more about essential oils in the near future and what we find works best for our son!

Oh my!! Time for some updates! Intuniv!

(Celebrating a wonderful first week of

 school with sno-cones!)

I simply canNOT believe how much of a blur my life has become since we started homeschooling again!!
So much so, that it has been nearly a month since I last posted anything here!
There has been a virtual flurry of activity around our home, but I barely I have a moment to breathe before it's the next day!

During this next week, my intention is to post about the wonderful changes we have had in our schooling methods this year!!  The Lord answered my prayers for intervention in a BIG way, and it has made all the difference in the world for my sanity and for the continuity and consistency for my children.

I know that some of my readers here have been wondering how we are doing managing our son's ADHD issues since I talked about taking him off of it this last year.
Well, we didn't.
I can't remember if I mentioned that when we did try to take him off, it was too hard for him.
And for us.
You can indeed see my first post about this here.
After just a few days, he could tell an enormous difference in his hyperactivity levels and ability to control his impulsive behaviors.
After a particularly rough ride to church, he was begging us to get him back on it, and my husband was requesting that we find something else to help him because his behavior was so annoying it was driving us all crazy!
At the time, I was experimenting with taking our son to a chiropractor who is very naturally minded in her approach to treating health problems, and even she could tell our nerves were shot.
It was so helpful to have a professional "give us permission" to put him back on this medication just for peace and calm in our home.
So ever since then, our son has been back on the Intuniv and is much calmer.
Thankfully, he never has had stomach problems with this medication, as I have had several comments here mentioning that in other children.
We have had to change our dosage time though.
We found that if we gave it to him first thing in the morning, it started not really taking affect until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
By then, my nerves were shot, schoolwork was never completed, and our day was miserable.
So after consulting with the doctor, we decided to give it to him around his bedtime.
Voila!
He still wakes up and hits the ground running (literally....throughout our entire tiny house.....with little brother following him.....grrrr), but will sit down and play something quietly on the computer, or a video game, and yes, even do his homework!!
But the other benefit of taking this at night is that it's in his system when he wakes up and helping him think clearer and slower so he can learn and hear us!!
He can tell the difference and likes that he doesn't feel as jumpy.

He also doesn't have a problem falling asleep at night like he does when he's not on the Intuniv.
When he's off of it, he needs Melatonin to calm down and fall asleep.
When he's on it, he falls asleep calmly and quietly.
So there it is......my effort to get him off this drug was an epic fail......
but for the time being.....we're better with it.

He still is angry a lot, he still is ridiculously selfish (over-the-top....way more than my other children),
he is still defiant and mouthy and hateful much of the time, but we feel like we can live with all that because he is waaaaay more teachable......
And he's getting it.
He's progressing in school.
He's getting that there will be consequences for lousy choices and obnoxious behavior.
He's finally beginning to accept and see that we love him and are trying to teach him proper behavior.

He is currently taking the highest dose available (4 mg.).
He's getting bigger too.  He's 10 now.
I don't know what we're going to do when he outgrows this medication completely.

I'm hoping by then, we'll have gotten him to where he can tell what his triggers are and have learned how to deal appropriately with his frustrations and anger and impulsivity.
But I'm praying for him continuously as I know that the Lord can bring peace and victory over his fears and frustrations to his life!

Going off Intuniv......epic fail!! {An update}

So over a month ago, I posted a blog here titled "Final Intuniv Update" chronicling
our plans to take our 10 year old son off his ADHD medication.

The plan was to take him off of it because we just weren't seeing the benefits of it anymore,

and we were going to try a more natural approach to managing his ADHD.

Well, it didn't go quite as we had planned.

Here's the story.

Since last December we just weren't seeing that Grant's dose of daily Intuniv was helping him at all.

It took a couple months of trial and error and trying to figure out the next plan before we made our move.

When we were down to his last pill I called a chiropractor I had gotten excellent reviews about, 

and fortunately she was able to get me in the next day.

I have done a lot of research and reading and listening to other families stories of managing children with ADHD, and I had heard good things about chiropratic having good benefits!

Helping Children With Attention Deficit Disorder


ADHD Alternative Treatments

So we decided that before we refill his current prescription for Intuniv or switch to another ADHD medication that we would give chiropractic a try.
The first thing Dr. Taylor said to me when she sat down in front of Grant and I was, "How can I help change your life?"
That was such a loaded question for me that it made me very emotional.
We talked about all we've been through with Grant and where we are now, and she agreed that she might be able to help him.
She explained a particular technique to me that I was completely unfamiliar with, but was willing to try.
So we returned the following week for his first treatment with her.
She used something called the Koren Specific Technique.
It is completely non-invasive and Grant tolerated it very well.
We did this for about 3 weeks.
Dr. Taylor also gave me a couple books for read about diet and ADHD children, and we discussed some supplements that might be helpful for him (DHA, DMAE, Magnesium, etc.).
But after a month of treatments, the changes in Grant were so minuscule that my husband was wondering
if the expenditure was really worth it.
He was not against what we were doing.
The difficult thing about choosing more natural alternatives for managing health conditions compared to traditional medical interventions is the time it takes to see improvements.
When we took Grant off his Intuniv, our pediatrician surprisingly told me that it was fine to take him off cold-turkey.
That was the very first time I had heard that.

The doctor who prescribed Intuniv to us was sure to go over and over with us that he HAD to be weaned off this drug due to the potential affects it might have on his blood pressure.
But I didn't want to spend another $70 for a 2-3 pills just to wean him off.

Well.....
taking him off cold turkey was miserable for ALL of us!
He was intolerable (hyper, impulsive, making annoying noises, conflict with siblings, crying, irritable, etc.), and by Sunday was begging me to get his pills back.
When we saw the chiropractor the next day, she agreed with me that we all clearly needed some peace and rest in our home and that she could "work around" his medication.
Honestly, I was relieved to hear that.
It was like I needed someone's permission or agreement that we were making a good decision here.
So he's back on it.
(And when I picked up the prescription I made a point of quizzing the pharmacist on how to come off of this medication and she agreed that it needs to be weaned down!!  Keeping that in mind for next time!)
He's taking a liquid vitamin supplement now as well, and we're only going once a month to see her now.
I guess the other thing that's different when working with balancing and trying to improve the function of something you can't see.....is that it's hard to make a specific "treatment plan" with a definite end point?
Anyway, in the last week or so, I have also reinstituted a more structured routine with our day here at home and Grant has been much more cooperative with completing his school work since he knows FOR SURE what time it will be over for him and the reward coming if he behaves properly.

This is a difficult journey.
It takes herculean amounts of energy and discipline to keep up a rigid, structured routine that ADHD almost always seems to demand to be managed well.
Dare ya to take a vacation day or a nap!!
It all unravels.
Conflict is always the end result.
You have to make impossibly difficult decisions that always require sacrifice of some kind.
But if I've learned anything in all of this......it's worth it when you see your child struggle for so long....every day....and finally find a place where he can find peace with himself and his surroundings.

I'm still praying for my son.
Praying for the Lord to lead us just where we need to be to get him the help he needs to catch up in his schoolwork, and to be able to function well socially without the help of chemical medications.
God has a plan for him and we are still working to help him find out what that plan is!!

Update on Intuniv and my son's progress

Yesterday I took my son back to his doctor for his 6-month check up.
As a recap, in August of 2009 I had my oldest daughter {who was almost 12} and my son {who was 7} tested for ADHD at the Child Study Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
There were several issues that prompted my even going through this process, the most prominent being my son's emotional extremes when it came to time with his friends, corrections at home in behavior, sleep, etc.
Sure enough, my daughter was diagnosed ADHD-Inattentive Type with some dysgraphia and math problems manifesting themselves also.
My son was diagnosed as ADHD-Combined Type with moderate anxiety.  No dysgraphia and no depression.
Immediately, having a diagnoses from a professional who sees children with these issues on a daily basis was so helpful.
I did not feel pressured to be either of my children on medication but the doctor did go over with me some really wonderful interventions we could use at home.
Some of these included:  Family counseling {to learn better discipline techniques and a better family structure for these children, resources for finding educational help, books to read, nutritional interventions, etc.
Everyone in the office was so gentle and understanding and helpful, and it was a great experience for us.
I finally felt like I was talking to people who were not looking at me like I was crazy, sensitive, or a terrible mother!!
But after a couple months of changes at home, both in our homeschooling, diet, and discipline techniques, we still were having over-the-top issues with our son.
The most troubling aspect being we could tell he felt he was "different" and didn't like having ADHD because he really did not WANT to respond to things the way he did.
So at our follow-up, I spoke with the doctor about medication for him.
This was not an easy decision for me as I'm not a big fan of medications for children, especially when not necessary or when the side effects are worse than the initial problem!!
I went in with a list of things that I did not want:  stimulants or anti-depressants that cause appetite issues, mood swings, emotional problems, or that make the children feel like zombies!!
So the doctor suggested Intuniv.
It is NOT a stimulant.
It is not an anti-depressant.
And it has been wonderful for him!!
We started this in January of 2010, and the help was immediate and dramatic for him.
It takes the edge off of him, and he has been able to settle his body down enough to sit and learn.
Academically, he is finally progressing and enjoying learning.
He still gets upset and throws fits, but now his calm-down is less than HALF what it used to be.
He is "getting humor."
We {his dad and I} have been so happy with the improvement that we really feel like he has reached a good stable place.
Not perfect....still has issues....but we're seeing some consistency and that he is getting better.
So yesterday, I asked the doctor if our bi-annual visits were necessary anymore.
You see, our insurance doesn't cover one penny of these visits since they revolve around an ADHD diagnoses.
And at $190 a pop, that's really expensive for us.
He told us that if our pediatrician {who is only 5 minutes from our house} would write the prescription for his intuniv, then we could just switch everything over to him.
So, that's what I'm going to try to do.
Only catch......our insurance changes AGAIN on June 1.
{Have I mentioned before how I HATE to mess with insurance???  I'd rather be shot in the face!!}
If our new insurance has better coverage on these type of visits, then we may just continue driving the long distance and keeping up the relationship with that office in case things change dramatically for him when he hits puberty in a couple years!!
We do not need to change the dosage he is on {3 mg.}.
I asked the doctor what the cues are for needing to bump up to a 4 mg. tablet.
His response was when his progress began to deteriorate and he wasn't learning as well as he is now.
I also mentioned the issue of sleepiness and how I had heard that if they have no sleepiness AT ALL, EVER due to the medication, that may be a cue that a bump up is necessary.  Not that you want a tired child, but this medication tends to make them sleepy and you know it is working if they get a bit droopy occasionally in the afternoon.
If they are sleeping a LOT ALL the time, you may need to drop down the medication.
Overall, we had a good visit, and I left encouraged.
Hoping that we can transfer all this to our regular pediatrician now!!
Have to start making phone calls!
Grrrr.....

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.

Observations of the ADHD child on summer break

Man, oh, man.  

Just when I thought I had the hang of this thing called ADHD, wouldn't ya know it......

SUMMER BREAK comes along.

I mean, we've got a good handle on working with medication, Intuniv, new to us in January.

When I began reading everywhere that a change in diet could POSSIBLY give even better results in managing his behavior and responses to everything in the world around him, I began dropping certain ingredients from our diet.

BINGO!!

What a dramatic improvement.

So much so, that I even consulted with his doctor about scaling back a bit on his dose of Intuniv

(we're up to 3 mg. now.)

But then the weather changed....it got REALLY hot.

Schoolwork was completed.

A more relaxed summer schedule full of fun activity indoors and out has been implemented.

I'm LOVIN' it!!

We're having so much fun.

But WOW, has my son's hyperactivity ramped UP!!
Have you noticed that in the last bunch of pictures you didn't see ANY of my oldest son?
That's because I can't find him still enough for long enough to snap a picture of him!!

I forgot that with Vacation Bible School every day comes highly processed snacks.

Snacks full of Red #40 (Hawaiian Punch, doritos, cheetos, skittles, candy).

Snacks full of Yellow #5.

Snacks full of high fructose corn syrup.

Snacks full of MSG.

So, not only have we a CHANGE in activity and daily routine,

but we have a CHANGE in diet (and not in a great way.)

Change + processed food = Super extreme hyperactive son

I've noticed that in the last week and a half he wakes up and hits the floor running.....every morning.

He runs and slams into someone's bed.

He runs into another room.

He runs around the schoolroom table.

He is jumping on the unsuspecting sibling and wrestling them to the ground (which of course they LOVE.....not!)

He has diarrhea of the mouth when he is reprimanded for this constant running around,

and is responding very disrespectfully and inappropriately to my husband and I. 

BUT, he is still able to play with his friends without getting upset and crying,

and he is doing fine in making new friends at each new VBS he is attending.

I'm so thankful that we didn't change the dose of his medication,

because I'm sure we wouldn't be seeing ANYTHING positive in his behavior AT ALL

with all the new stuff going on.

And actually, some of that has even calmed down a tiny bit since we're a couple weeks into our summer.

I'm hoping that after another week or two, 

he'll take less time to settle down in the morning,

and we'll see even less of this craziness as it feels more normal to him.

Of course, by then it will be time to get the school schedule up and going again.....

Update on Intuniv and some new considerations...

Last Thursday I mentioned that we had been noticing some disposition changes in our son who has been taking Intuniv for his ADHD since January 2010. I did speak with the nurse on Friday afternoon, and she said she would ask the doctor about some of our concerns.

She called me back yesterday afternoon and had some questions from the doctor. He said that the Intuniv should not be changing his personality. He was wondering if he had been sick (no) or if things were changing at school (he is homeschooled and he has been done with his formal schoolwork for a couple weeks now). He thought it would be okay to try to ween him down to 2 mg. especially since it's almost summertime when schedules are more relaxed anyway.

But I shared with her about his meltdowns this last weekend (after some junk food which seemed to affect him adversely), and thought that I would rather keep him where he is at the 3 mg. for now. We have an appointment with the doctor on the 7th of June anyway, so I thought we could wait and discuss more of what has been going on when we see him then.

So, as we continue down this road of raising children with learning differences and ADHD, I'm realizing the truth in treating this difference has to be multi-faceted. There's no easy "fix", no magic red button you can push that will make everything disappear and go back to normal.

I truly believe that this issue takes a change of heart, a change of perspective, a change of expectations, a change in diet, a change in environment/routine, and for some the addition of professional advice. I'm beginning to think about that last element for our family.

We're progressively working on changing the foods we eat, we've changed up the lay-out

of our home for a better homeschooling experience, we've completely changed homeschool

curriculums, we've added melatonin at bedtime to facilitate better sleep, my husband and I are

working daily to better our parenting and discipline techniques, and we've seen doctors to help us see things that we weren't seeing. We are now using the medication, Intuniv, to also

unmask the great parts about our son that we have not been able to see in awhile.

But I think that with all this done since last August, we now could benefit from some skills training in living with and training the ADHD child. It's hard for siblings living with the irritations that constantly come with this. Disciplining or enforcing consequences is often so difficult and just plain hard work. We need to know techniques, new ideas, fresh voices. It's often just not as easy as giving a spanking. With a child who has anxiety issues and hyperactivity challenges, spanking usually makes things much, MUCH worse. So anyway, we're considering some counseling, not only for ourselves, but also for our son. I'm wondering if an outside voice could help him learn better how to cope with the things that so often frustrate him. I'm just thinking, and I'm talking to others who are in a similar situation.

Things are never as easy as you think....

So last week I raved about how some of the dietary changes we've made recently have made such HUUUUGE improvements in some issues we have been trying to eliminate in our children.

Well....

scratch that!!

No, not all together I guess.

I'm not THAT easily defeated.

I do completely recommend trying a healthier lifestyle in alleviating some ADHD issues that come along with the territory, but I'm becoming a little more guarded at how excited I get about it.

Ashlyn's blood sugar has been through the roof again this week. Last night after church there was this fellowship full of cookies and goodies of all shapes and sizes, and we hadn't brought her insulin pen with us. She had maybe one cookie and some other protein things. I hated to check her blood sugar when we got home, and sure enough.......

589!!!!

It wasn't all that much better this morning after 18 units of Lantus and the 5 units of Humalog to correct the high.

Still over 200.

Sigh.

I guess it's just life with a life-threatening disease.

Then there are my son's issues related to his ADHD.

Since this diet change, not only have we noticed that he is much, MUCH calmer, but he is much less happy too. Do you remember when Charlie Brown would walk around with the cloud above his head? That describes my son. Just not happy. Not ugly, and screaming, and ranting.....just not smiling, not wanting to go out and play unless he had a friend with him, grouchy.

So, I'm wondering if now we have him OVER medicated?

I'm wondering if we should bump him from 3 mg. of intuniv down to 2 mg.

I've put a call in to the doctor to get his opinion before I send off this 90-day supply

prescription for his next round of 3 mg.

This past Sunday, both my husband and I forgot to give him his dose of intuniv.

It happens.

Six kids.

Sunday morning.

All getting ready for Sunday morning church.

Insulin to figure out, thyroid medications, breakfast for everybody, 12 shoes, 6 heads of hair, etc.

First time we've ever missed.

We noticed no difference.

It was like he had taken his medication.

So I experimented on Monday to see if we saw a difference. I did not give him his pill on purpose this morning. I do not recommend missing for several days though because of the blood pressure issue associated with the intuniv medication.

He was OFF the CHARTS hyper.

Back to his obviously unmedicated self.

Running constantly through the house, jumping on people,

wrestling for hours, making noises all day.

But he was very happy....smiling and laughing all day.

He got his medication Tuesday morning.

On Wednesday evening he was SO sideways.....huge meltdown!!

Now it's Thursday and he's back to being calmer and easier to live with.

The jury is still out on his disposition.

We had a lot of junk food at that fellowship last night,

so I'm waiting a day or so to see how he is by the weekend.

Too be continued........

Going through "the CHANGE"....

Don't worry. This isn't "the change" you might think of that usually begins to torment women somewhere around 50 years of age. Hopefully, that is still way off in my future.

But I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, along with a ton of reading online, about the nutritional benefit of changing the way my children are eating. Though Grant is still doing pretty well on his 3mg. daily dose of intuniv, he still struggles in a lot of areas. We still have emotional meltdowns (though they don't last nearly as long or are as frequent as they were before intuniv), and he still can be very touchy and very disrespectful to my husband and I. I'm not looking for a magic cure here, but I know we still can see more positive changes that do not require medication. I'm beginning to see that managing the hyperactivity, the volatile anger, the impulsiveness, the ugly side of ADHD has to come from a multi-faceted approach. We have experienced the benefits of changing up several things in our family dynamic, but we still have more progress to make. Some of the things we have done include:

**Getting an official diagnosis from a trained physician who knows what he's looking at when he sees a child with multiple issues challenging him/her.

** Completely ditching the homeschooling curriculum we used for several years, and going with something totally new to all of us. We were using ACE (which is a nightmare for the ADHD child) and have loved every minute of Math-U-See, and Shurley English.

**My husband made a concerted effort to move from a night shift to a day shift. This has allowed much more interaction with Dad as well as setting aside his day off (Monday) as our "Funday" where we incorporate a lot of field trips and just plain fun without a schedule. This has done a lot (and I believe will continue in the future) to build a great rapport with our children when many days we are correcting, and correcting, and correcting.

**Modifying the way we discipline our children. We've learned that spanking our ADHD son only causes him to escalate in his emotions. It has lost much of its effectiveness and only causes him deep, deep anxiety. Not just the normal "I don't want a spanking" kind of thing, but throwing chairs, screaming, mouthy disrespect that only escalated. We've learned what his "currency" is and that calming down in his room before having something of value (i.e. Xbox time or computer time) taken away for a time speaks so much louder to him than spanking ever did. Plus, we've found that reminding him of what we expect of him BEFORE we get in a public situation really helps him behave better.....especially if we express to him that we noticed his good behavior and especially if there is an unexpected award to go along with the praise!!! WOW!!

**Being willing to try some medication for him to see if it would help him gain some inner control and take that edge off of his anxiety so that he was calm enough to LEARN when we tried working with him. We needed him to be able to listen to US and not have his brain going crazy wild. He has had no side effects except for feeling sleepy some days in the afternoon. No loss of appetite, no crazy mood swings, no head or stomach aches. He has been taking intuniv now since January.

**I've noticed that he does indeed do pretty well on a rigid schedule. He gets bored when we let things slide and relax, and then he starts bugging people. He is constantly looking for something to be moving or playing with. If I have it all laid out for him, it seems to help him know what the next thing is and how long before it is coming.

We have noticed a tremendous change in our son since implementing all these changes, but I know there is still more that we need to try. I've been hearing on the ADHD forum, that has been a tremendous support to me, that some people have found unexpected, surprising benefits of making some changes to their diets. Here are some of the things I've been reading that have gotten me to thinking:

The fact of the matter is what we put in our bodies affects our mental state. Our bodies and minds are bio-chemical machines running on the fuel given to them. Diet is not a cause of ADHD, but diet can and does affect our child's mental state, and they have enough going on up there that they don't need to try thinking through dairy and sugar clouds.

http://www.4-adhd.com/article2.html

My son starts getting distracted from lack of fuel and begins to become more emotional about 3 hours after his last meal. The longer he goes from that point, the worse it gets, and nothing is going to help him when he's at that state. There are a number of arguments about whether medication is the way to go with ADHD children. I leave that between you and your doctor. What I will say is if his meals are not regular and balanced, and if they are absent of foods that are nutritious but more difficult to prepare, medications are not going to matter.

http://www.4-adhd.com/internet-addiction.html

New scientific research proves children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) function better if they spend part of their day outdoors in nature.

The research results were very specific. In order to improve ADHD symptoms, the children in the study had to be outdoors in a natural setting.

http://www.4-adhd.com/greentimeadhd.html

Finding Out if it is ADD ADHD or Food Allergies

What NOT to eat for TWO WEEKS: the first step in this ADHD Diet

First, let's find out if there are food allergies causing the ADHD symptoms or behaviors. Eliminate these foods for two weeks, then get ready to add them back in to the ADHD diet...

• NO DAIRY PRODUCTS, especially cow's milk.

  This is the single most important restriction. The American Pediatric Association estimates that a significant percentage of all children are allergic to milk. Instead try Almond milk, Rice milk, or Better Than Milk. And drink lots of water instead of milk for two weeks.

• NO YELLOW FOODS. Especially Corn or Squash. Bananas are white, but don't eat the peel. About 1/1000 people have problems with the stuff that makes these foods yellow in color.
• NO JUNK FOODS. If it comes in a cellophane wrapper, don't eat it. Stop eating junk food and your brain will work better. Junk foods tend to be very high in sugars and carbohydrates, and our brains get fuzzy and our kids get more hyperactive when sugars and carbohydrates are eaten together.
• NO FRUIT JUICES. They have too much sugar. One small glass of apple juice has the sugar content of eight apples. Later on you can have juice, but for now if you have to have any juice just dilute it with water 50/50.
• CUT SUGAR INTAKE BY 90%. If you can, cut it down to zero. Sugar is in just about everything, but give it a try. Do your best to reduce your sugar intake without going crazy.
• CUT CHOCOLATE BY 90%. No more than a single piece, once a week.
• NO NUTRASWEET. None. Period. Never. It's bad for you. It is bad for your brain.
• NO PROCESSED MEATS and NO MSG. Only get meats with labels that say, “Turkey and Water,” etc. If the meat has chemicals listed that you can't pronounce, don't buy it and don't eat it.
• CUT FRIED FOODS BY 90%.
• AVOID FOOD COLORINGS WHENEVER POSSIBLE. See if your child is sensitive to any particular colors, such as Reds, Yellows, etc. For now, though, avoid all if possible.
• AVOID FISH. We hate to say this, as there used to be so many benefits to eating fish, especially the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) or Omega Oils. But the problem these days is that the mercury levels in most fish is simply too high to be either safe or healthy. Mercury is the second most toxic metal on earth, and is a terrible neuro-toxin. Until we clean up the oceans and the rivers of mercury, just don't eat it. Sorry.

SUMMARY: Just eat foods that God made for a while. Eat like people did in the 1940's, or the 1840's. Go to a used book store and get some good old cook books for recipe ideas. There really are about 10,000 meals that you CAN eat. Just not much in the way of “fast foods” or “convenience” foods.

http://newideas.net/adhd/adhd-diet

Here are some more links also:

http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/adhd_diet.htm

http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/adhd_recipes.htm

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1659835,00.html

http://blog.naturalremedies4add.com/2009/02/02/high-fructose-corn-syrup-horrible-for-addadhd/

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/9-ingredients-to-avoid-in-processed-foods-1268429/

http://www.nativeremedies.com/articles/adhd-feingold-diet.html

So, I've begun to wonder how in the world I should go about experimenting with a different approach to the foods we eat. Where do I start? I certainly agree that our bodies are very chemically based. Our bodies were designed by the amazing Creator God to chemically transform the food we eat into energy that keeps every system in our bodies functioning. So it makes sense that the better and more nutritionally sound the food, the better our bodies can work the way it was designed to.

I also am learning that the ADHD brain operates and responds to stimulus differently than what is usually considered "normal". Sometimes I wish Americans would really think through what "normal" is and if that's really how we want to box everyone in, but that's another soapbox discussion for another time. The Lord God created all species of every living thing as well as non-living with great complexity and variety. What would this world be like if we all looked the same or thought the same or reacted the same or behaved the same? Anyway, because we are looking for a more focused, clear, sharp, fully functioning brain in our children which facilitates better interpretation of their environment as well as the ability to control impulsive behaviors, I'm researching what others have found to be the most helpful in achieving these goals in the areas of smarter nutrition.

This week I'll be talking name brand food items that we have eliminated as well as things we have added in their place. Come on back tomorrow!!!