Jazmommie: Side effects that I saw with our ds:
Very quiet. Very, very. . . quiet. (He's a
kind of guy by nature.)
He became very emotional and not in a good way. Particularly when he was "rebounding" or "coming down" from the meds, around five in the afternoon. Giving him a high-protein snack helped. It had to be ready for him to eat right at five o'clock. The meds have a sort of upside, in that if the doc says it has a six-hour window, that's exactly how long the meds work.
Appetite? What appetite? He lost interest in food after eating a few mouthfuls. That was even after the meds wore off at night. He maintained a normal body weight because the doc checked him, but I really don't know how.
He had problems sleeping for the first few months. That's a drag because I don't know about you, but when ds goes to bed, I'm ready to be DONE mommying for the day.
We had to try out different meds, which is what you have to do. Be prepared. This is the schedule we had: Start them over a weekend, stay with them for around a week, report back to the doc about the effectiveness, etc. Anyway, on one memorable occasion, my son was so tweaked out by the new med that I called the doc in the middle of the day and said, "This is like being trapped in my house with someone using heavy amounts of really good cocaine." My ds was so friggin' intense and chatty I was hard pressed to deal with him for that day.
Those are some of the negatives. Lots of trips to the doc, you have to get your new prescriptions mailed to you monthly because the pharmacy has to have a triplicate script (unless you try Strattera, which is a new, non-triplicate script ADD med), oftentimes the pharmacy doesn't have the med in the correct formulation and has to order it --- other negatives.
All in all, as I stated before, as a course-correction it's okay as long as you are an informed parent, and advocate for your child and YOU set the time limit on using the meds -- not that the docs would force you into anything; just that if you let it go, your ds could stay on it forever. .. .
About the creativity -- meds may allow him to finish what he's started. We didn't find any lessening of ds's creativity (he's an artist who works in clay) but it was less forthcoming. Still, he's done some very good work while on his meds. Also has done very good work NOT on meds. Go figure. . .
Oh, Jazmommie, I hope some of this helps you. I know from deep inside how very very hard this is for you. Let me know if you want any other information from me.
