My eldest son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 8, he is now 15. The diagnosis was made because his juniour school could see signs of ADHD and they asked me if they could refer him to be assesed. I had been asking his infant school for help since he was 5 and was constantly told there was nothing wrong with him, although I could see definate problems with his behaviour and his schooling from that early on.
He tried several different medications for his ADHD in the beginning and we found Equasym XL to be the best for him, he started on a low dose and slowly the dose was increased until we found the correct level for him where he could concentrate in school and his behaviour improved massively.
He is severley underweight and we have issues with him having no appetite because of the medication but he is now having meal somesupliments (complan) and making a real effort to eat all the right food, especially once his tablet has worn off.
Thankfully he only has to take it once a day, although that means it has worn off by the time he gets home from school I try my best to manage his behaviour so that he can eat a good size evening meal (now has the same size portion as my boyf lol) and go to sleep at a decent time of the night - I used to get top up tablets of a lower dose for him to take after school (always took before 4pm) but I stopped those as he wasn't really eating anything all day and would be awake all night.
Once he was on the correct dose of medication the school assesed him for Dyslexia and found him to have a form of that too which he immediatley got help for and this has made a big difference in his school work too. He had been tested for Dyslexia previousley but the results were always inconclusive as he would refuse point blank to do any writing (not just for the test but he would refuse to write at all times as it was a real chore for him to write - he has since said said it hurt him to write before his diagnosis & meds).
It is a tough thing to live with a child who has the ADHD chemical imbalance in their brain but the difference in them once you have found the correct medication is wonderful. I look back and wonder how I ever coped with him before his meds as I know within 2 mins of being in a room with him if he has taken his meds or not that day.
We have recently gone through a bit of a tough time with him, where he decided he didn't want to take his meds and being a teenager he thinks he knows what's best etc.. etc.. He made a months tablets last nearly 2 months (which meant he was taking them once every other day at most so we were arguing and putting up with mood swings daily) so I confronted him and asked what was going on & why he wasn't taking his meds propperly.
He said he didn't want to take meds anymore and thought he was fine without them so I made him a deal. He could go 1 month without meds so long as he promised to try really hard to behave at all times and to work hard in school and we would then look back over the month and see how he had done and we would talk with his ADHD Dr after that month to discuss where to go from there.
I booked a Dr appointment for after the month and I also asked the school to ask all hi teachers for feedback on his behaviour and his work for the last 2 months (explaining that the last month was med free) the school were fab and passed a form around for all the teachers to comment on and it turned out that they ALL said 'he needs to concentrate more and the level of his work has dropped in the last month' or words to that effect.
We talked and he read the teachers notes and agreed that he obviously wasn't ok without the meds so he would go back on them until his GCSE's are done (massive relief for me lol) and we would then revisit the situation and see if he could stop the meds at that point.
Life is tough with having him and 3 other younger children but I wouldn't change him for the world. He makes me soo proud and I see my boy growing up and struggling with his illness but he also understands that it is an illness and that there is nothing to be ashamed about or to be worried about.
We hope the time will come soon when he can stop the meds and learn the skills he needs to control his temper and thought processes enough to get by in life without others noticing he is any different to them.
Good luck with the meds and remember they are not going to work instantly and you may not even notice the difference in him at first but stick with it and you will know if the tablets work when he forgets to take one, as the difference is sooo noticable then lol.
Feel free to PM me at any time if you want to chat or whatever. :Love: