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.

ADHD and the need for vigorous exercise

I read this article recently and knew immediately that it was worth sharing. It makes so much sense!! This particular part of the article just leaped off the page at me:

Dr. Block, who works extensively with children with attention challenges, explains that exercise is key to solving attention and learning challenges in two ways: Physical activity burns sugar (which contributes to hyperactivity). It also builds connections between the right and left sides of the brain, a necessary step toward building a better learner. “I [commonly] hear parents say their child’s recess is taken away if he has misbehaved in class,” says Block. “But there is a direct relationship between physical activity and a child’s ability to focus.”

The first suspect, says Block, is an elevated sugar level. But, she warns, “Many parents have their children tested and find that the child’s blood [sugar] is normal.” This, she says, can be misleading because hyperactivity occurs when sugar levels are elevated (after eating, say, a sugary bowl of cereal). “The body naturally releases adrenaline to drop the blood sugar—this is why the kid can’t sit still,” Block says. Yet, if you test the blood an hour or so after this incident, the body has probably regulated the sugar levels back to normal (so a child’s test results will appear fine).

Do you know what else this says to me? That being on the path of eating better.....less sugar....less processed ingredients that spike the blood sugar (i.e. high fructose corn syrup) is exactly the place I need to be for my children with attention challenges!!!!

This also seems to say to me that it makes sense that some of the best interventions and treatments for ADHD children are living a healthy lifestyle......i.e. lots of exercise, lots of outdoor time, and more whole foods that were designed for our nutrition by our Great Creator!! Forget the packaged stuff that really isn't food, forget about the computer games and XBox that keep us indoors and sedentary, consider forgetting about traditional schooling methods that trap your child indoors when he is misbehaving!! Another great advantage of homeschooling!!

Let's get moving, people!!!

This article is really worth your time, and you can read it by clicking on this link below:

http://www.dfwthrivemagazine.com/showarticle.asp?artid=73

Sweetness.....

Yesterday, we celebrated 4 years with the most adorable little fellow we have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

He was two days overdue, but arrived with a bang just 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital.

9lbs. 4oz.

21 inches

He's been charming and surprising us ever since!!!

2 months old

14 lbs. 12 oz.

4 1/2 months and using all his muscles!!!

Just a little bit after baby sister, Aryn, was born.

He was 4 days shy of being 20 months.

Notice how his "special" blanket is stuffed in his mouth? He used to do this before the soggy blanket seemed to gross him out. Now he sucks his thumb.

The "smearing things on my face" stage.

The "smooching the girls" stage!!

Watching the renovations on the neighbors house.

He has been pure pleasure from day one!!!

Sharing cupcakes with friends in Sunday School.

Happy 4th Birthday, Sweet Boy!

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........

All in the family

I thought I'd share a few glimpses of the wedding our entire family attended the other night.

My husband's 1st cousin's daughter was getting married. From what I hear from genealogical circles, that makes the bride my children's 2nd cousin. How about that??

Let me tell ya....it was a bit hairy getting there....and we were even discussing "Plan B" in case we didn't make it to the church on time. We had to make two stops before actually getting on the highway where we needed to be, and it seemed like each time we would start out we had misjudged our time schedule by a half an hour!!!

But fortunately, as all good wedding coordinators know, 99% of all weddings don't start exactly at the moment the invitations says it will

so we were seated just as the mothers were being seated.

Plus, we ended up with some of the best seats in the house!!!

After the wedding was over, we had a round of bathroom stops and diaper changes,

and then we all loaded BACK UP into the van and drove on over

here.....

for the reception.

And what a party it was!!!

It has been a looooooong time since I've been to a wedding reception as beautiful,

as creative, as well thought through, as personal as this one!!

What fun we had!!!

From the....

to the....

to the candy bar.....

to the game room!!!

And check out some of these gorgeous details....

But this was the most breath-taking part of the evening.......

seeing my own daughter as gorgeous as this bride in the very near future!!!!

Surprise!!!!

So, I've been on a little bit of a journey to clean up my family's diet in hopes of even better managing my two ADHD children's focus, hyperactivity, and attention issues. I began this journey several weeks ago after spending several weeks of reading about it on the internet and the ADHD forum that I joined last year. At first I was once again overwhelmed with how many things can exacerbate the issues we deal with at our house on a daily basis, and really had no idea where or how to begin. So, I figured I would just take some baby steps and pick a couple things that I felt I could bite off and not be frazzled by, and start eliminating them from our diet. Because our second daughter is a Type 1 Diabetic, I was first drawn to the high fructose corn syrup and looking for just that in our regular diet.

I've learned that high fructose corn syrup is super cheap and easy for producers to make, hence it cuts down the cost to make the product. Apparently LOTS of "food" producers want this in their product as it is not only cheap for them, but it's super refined, super sweet, and makes whatever product it is in TASTE REALLY GOOD. So good, that you want to eat more and more of it. The bad thing is.....it'll spike up your blood sugar. Bad for a diabetic.....bad for a child who already has enough energy on his own that he certainly doesn't need that simple carbohydrate creating another rush of energy from the quick digestion of that sugar.

We've been "off" it now for a couple weeks and here is what I've started noticing:

The very first thing that stood out to me was how Ashlyn's blood sugar levels started falling in the "target" ranges more often. I wasn't even THINKING that would make a difference for her, so it has been a marvelous surprise for us!!! Usually we have been CHASING down highs from 225-400+ at some point EVERY day. We have cut back on those highs by over HALF!!

The next thing that popped out to me was how my son's waking himself up every night to go to the bathroom has completely stopped. He was wetting the bed up until he was 5 years old (maybe even closer to 6) , and then until now would start to go, but it would wake him up before it had gotten on the bed. So he was waking me up every night to help him find another pair of underwear (until I figured out I could just put a pair in the bathroom for him to get himself) Magically.....that has stopped.....within the last two weeks.

The most amazing thing that has become more prominent to me within the last 4 days has been how my son has indeed become WAAAAAY less hyper. To the point of almost seeming depressed. In fact, I've told my husband that I'm now wondering if that because we are doing a better job keeping his blood sugar levels more stable.....we've cut out those food additives and colors...that he is now OVER medicated. We're still only on a 3 mg. dose, but we haven't given him any melatonin to help him fall asleep at night, and he is spending his days SITTING most of the time. He doesn't want to go outside unless he has someone to play with, and he is WAAAAAY less fidgety. It's so amazing to me that the more I think about it as I'm writing this, the more I think I will call his doctor next week and discuss it with him. He has been grouchy, irritable, and generally unhappy.....but he's not making the rest of us miserable.....he's just not as restless.

The only real thing that I can point to for these significant changes is our change in diet.

So what are we eating now??

I haven't made or purchased any sweets (cookies, doughnuts, cakes, desserts, etc.) in several weeks. No one has really complained about this though I am starting to get questions about when we can have some cookies again. I am surrounded by children everyday, so I am aware that they do need something fun once in a while, but we'll be making them homemade from now on, and with some extra stuff to beef up the nutrition levels.

No more Easy Peasy Smores.

(graham crackers have HFCS as do the marshmallows I believe)

No more Peanut Butter Popcorn

(calls for Light Corn Syrup)

No more Chocolate Eclair Cake

(graham crackers again)

Not as much Tator Tot Casserole

(those cream soups have MSG)

We ARE eating WAAAAY more fruit (except for my son of course who doesn't like fruits or veggies).

Today we were eating hummus dip with fresh, raw, sweet baby carrots (except for my son.)

We still eat PB and J sandwiches almost daily for lunch, but I have switched the brand of bread we buy.

I haven't the time nor the space to make my own bread yet, though maybe.....someday.

I am experimenting with new fun recipes.

Like this one, though I've modified it and am now using

the Wal-Mart brand of "Shake and Bake" which has no HFCS in it.

I also do not roll it in the oil prior to coating it either.

I have also found a recipe to make my own chicken coating mix which I intend on trying soon!

Here's another recipe I've enjoyed tweaking for my family.

My husband LOVES this stuff, but not all of my children are as enthusiastic.

I've also found that when my children eat heartily at their meals, they aren't as likely

to be grazing their way through the afternoon to dinner time.

So we've cut back on our snacking too.

Also, I'm trying to concentrate on feeding my son more protein, especially at breakfast.

I hear that's really good for the brain connectors to get connected first thing in the morning.

He's kinda a simple carb fanatic though, so it's been a trick finding things he'll actually put into his mouth in the protein category. He prefers a carnivorous diet to the vegan of course, but I don't always have money in the budget for all that meat.

But when we do snack we've been enjoying:

Mini bags of microwave popcorn (100 calories each)

Costco's tortilla strips (chips)

Little clementine oranges

Bananas

Apples

Toast with peanut butter

Strawberries

Cheese

Hard boiled eggs

The next thing I'm going to be experimenting with: Cutting back even MORE on our gluten intake!! More on that later!!!

What's on the menu??

After doing all the reading that I've been doing online, and thinking through what my family enjoys eating, here is what I've decided I wanted to eliminate FIRST, in my baby steps toward a "cleaner" diet for my family:

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup

Do you have ANY idea how many products that sweetener is in??

I didn't.

So I started looking through my cabinets and refrigerator.

It was everywhere.

Here's a partial list of where I found it hiding at my house:

Certain brands of store bought bread (every brand that I had, of course)

Go-gurt yogurt

Graham crackers

Heinz and Hunts Ketchup

Almost all brands of salad dressings (italian, french, etc.)

Ice cream

Premium (brand) Saltine Crackers

Many brands of store bought cereal

Seasoned bread crumbs (such as Pepperidge Farms!!)

Hotdogs

Here is another comprehensive list of products containing this ingredient:

http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct

2. Artificial Colors particularly Red #40, and the Yellows

I found this hiding in several unexpected places:

Nacho Cheese Doritos

Our jelly

Hawaiian Punch (this was not a surprise, but I didn't usually have this anyway)

Almost all cake mixes

Crystal light drink mix

Candy

3. MSG

(Monosodium glutamate....a flavor enhancer most notoriously used in Chinese food)

Here's where I've found this:

Some of those mix-it-yourself salad dressing mixes (in the packets) such as

Hidden Valley Ranch and that Italian Dressing in the glass shaker

Cream soups such as Cream of Mushroom

4. Reducing milk intake

For right now, I don't think I'm going to completely eliminate all dairy products.

We all really like our cow's milk ice cold!!

But we do like that Silk Chocolate Light Soy Milk.....yummy when processed in the blender with coffee ice cubes!!!

I'm allergic to almonds.....so don't start with the almond milk.

I have reduced our cow's milk consumption down to 4 gallons a week though. That's about 1/2 gallon per person a week at my house. (Probably a little more for those little people who

sneak in the fridge and drink out of the milk leaving their gum behind to turn the rest of the milk all "Minty" tasting....EWWW!!)

5. Using organic (less processed) sugars

I've been buying the organic cane juice crystal sugar from Costco instead of regular

white granulated sugar. Nobody knows the difference.

I try to stay away from brown sugar if I can and we've been sweetening our oatmeal

with pancake syrup (sugar free for the diabetic).

I'm also trying to sneak honey in where I can since my children aren't huge fans of it.

6. Much less convenience, high saturated fat laden snacks

I used to try to make it easy on myself and get those mini donuts really cheap at the outlet

store for Sunday morning breakfast.

Not anymore.

Too much high fructose corn syrup. Too much high saturated fats.

No more goldfish, or packaged snacks. Too much processing, too many chemicals, too much salt

.

No more hotdogs.....at least not on a regular basis. We used to eat them every Wednesday because they are cheap, quick, and everyone likes them!!

Here's what we do eat.

4+ pounds of fresh strawberries a week

10 pounds of apples a week

(Around) 5 pounds of little clementine oranges a week

Torilla strips from Costco with Hummus dip

Peanut Butter and "Schmucker's" low sugar concord grape jelly

on Nature's Own 100% whole wheat bread

Homemade casseroles and pasta dishes

Salad with homemade salad dressings

Hard boiled eggs (cage-free, hormone free chicken)

Cheerios

Home-made "instant" oatmeal

Rice chex

Homemade pancakes

Ground turkey

Chicken tenders

Raw baby carrots

Protein bars

Tomorrow I'm excited to share the AMAZING, very surprising benefits my husband and I have noticed since leaving out the above ingredients from our diet. I didn't notice any big changes until about 2 weeks into this, but they have been so good, that I won't be going back.

I'll also be sharing some of the recipes we are leaving behind and new ones we are enjoying!!

Stay tuned!!!