This is going to be long one so hopefully I can get it all out and you can stay with me...lol
Madison is 5 years old, Starting kindergarten in the fall. Madison has always been very high needs. Needs lots of attention, wont sit still very any length of time, has screaming fits or anything, wont listen or comprehend what she is being told to do, time out/spanking/discipline of kind does not work with her.
ADD runs in my family and I have thought for a very long time that she had it but didnt know where to go for help or what kind of help there might be for someone so young.
I found a psychologist in Dec. and started there. They said ADD and started her on Adderall and therapy. The therapy was stupid.."how does that make you feel Madison" I need help with her behavior and this was not helping at all. Adderall made her even more emotional. Kept her up all night!! After about a month they switched her to Focalin. That seemed to help some but after a few months it wore off. It took 3 months to get another appointment to change the meds and by then I was fed up with this place!! I took her off the meds and asked my ped about seeing someone different.
May: The place we found wanted to do a bunch of psychological testing on her. Seemed like we may be on the right path. So she spends 2 hours with this guy doing testing. But then we had to come back because she was being too difficult to continue. What should have only take another hour of testing to complete ended up taking 2. Then we went in for the results. Yes, they believe she has ADHD, but there are some underlining problems that they want to investigate. They said, which I already knew about her, she is very emotional. When there is something hard for her to do or something she doesnt want to do she will shut down or try to manipulate her way out of it. Yup, thats my Madison!! They decided they wanted to do more indepth testing and try out Interactive Metronome (IM).
5 more hours of testing!! This time it was with two women and I think she enjoyed it a lot more. They tried the IM training and it was too much for her.
Results again: So this part is fuzzy and confusing to me. They went over the tests that she did and said on most of the tests she was below average or impaired. They said she has a hard time with executive decisions, problem solving. They say its stuff that is controlled by her frontal lobes so they want her to see a neurologist and see if there is damage. They also wanted to start brain training with her.
Madison has also had problems sleeping. Since she was 1 years old, she has woken up during the night. It started to get bad last Sept. when she would wake and then not go back to sleep. Im talking like getting up at 3am and not going back to sleep till 8/9pm that night!! She also takes forever to go to sleep. The ped back in Sept. wasnt concerned, said to try melatonin to get her into a sleep pattern. Didnt really work!! Well this new psychologist wanted us to see a sleep specialist so we did.
Madison had a sleep study done, which she was amazing for!!!
They said there are times that her Co2 levels are higher and they think her adenoids maybe enlarged. So off to ENT we go!! lol (everyone still following our journey lol)
ENT says he cant see them, doesnt want to put a tube in her nose because he can tell she will freak out. So he says he wants to sedate her and look at them and if needed take them out. That is going to be July 29th.
The last few weeks we have been doing brain training games with the therapist, which she loves. Makes me feel totally guilty becuase I feel like I should be able to do this stuff with her but we have 3 kids and Im pregnant and there just isnt enough time in a day!!
Ok, today was the appointment with the neurologist. He again agrees with ADHD diagnosis and after talk to us and her, he also thinks she has ODD Oppositional defiant disorder and/or bipolar. He says there are a lot of meds that he can use to help with this but first more testing!!..lol...
Tomorrow we are going for blood work which is not going to be fun!! Monday we go for a hour long EEG, results to that are Thursday. And then Sat. we are doing an overnight EEG where they will hook her up and then we get to take her home.
Ok I think that is everything!! lol Im confused and concered and just not sure about anything right now. I have had a few people say they would see someone else but essentially we have seen 4 different people and they are all pretty much saying the same thing.
When people see her, they see a normal kid that is acting up and this is tough for me because they blame me. Like Im a bad mom that cant control my kid. I hate it!! I hate feeling like I cant control her, I cant connect with her. I worry about her being behind other kids her age. She is smart, so smart!! But she has these hurdles she is going to have to get past and I hate that for her!! I hate that she has heard me talk about this stuff with my family and thinks there is something wrong with her!! She says she wants to be a doctor and a dentist and a mommy when she grows up and if thats what she wants I want her to have that!!
Im just looking for advice that Im on the right path for her and if there is anything I else I can do to help her.
If you made it this far..THANK YOU!!
Madison is 5 years old, Starting kindergarten in the fall. Madison has always been very high needs. Needs lots of attention, wont sit still very any length of time, has screaming fits or anything, wont listen or comprehend what she is being told to do, time out/spanking/discipline of kind does not work with her.
ADD runs in my family and I have thought for a very long time that she had it but didnt know where to go for help or what kind of help there might be for someone so young.
I found a psychologist in Dec. and started there. They said ADD and started her on Adderall and therapy. The therapy was stupid.."how does that make you feel Madison" I need help with her behavior and this was not helping at all. Adderall made her even more emotional. Kept her up all night!! After about a month they switched her to Focalin. That seemed to help some but after a few months it wore off. It took 3 months to get another appointment to change the meds and by then I was fed up with this place!! I took her off the meds and asked my ped about seeing someone different.
May: The place we found wanted to do a bunch of psychological testing on her. Seemed like we may be on the right path. So she spends 2 hours with this guy doing testing. But then we had to come back because she was being too difficult to continue. What should have only take another hour of testing to complete ended up taking 2. Then we went in for the results. Yes, they believe she has ADHD, but there are some underlining problems that they want to investigate. They said, which I already knew about her, she is very emotional. When there is something hard for her to do or something she doesnt want to do she will shut down or try to manipulate her way out of it. Yup, thats my Madison!! They decided they wanted to do more indepth testing and try out Interactive Metronome (IM).
5 more hours of testing!! This time it was with two women and I think she enjoyed it a lot more. They tried the IM training and it was too much for her.
Results again: So this part is fuzzy and confusing to me. They went over the tests that she did and said on most of the tests she was below average or impaired. They said she has a hard time with executive decisions, problem solving. They say its stuff that is controlled by her frontal lobes so they want her to see a neurologist and see if there is damage. They also wanted to start brain training with her.
Madison has also had problems sleeping. Since she was 1 years old, she has woken up during the night. It started to get bad last Sept. when she would wake and then not go back to sleep. Im talking like getting up at 3am and not going back to sleep till 8/9pm that night!! She also takes forever to go to sleep. The ped back in Sept. wasnt concerned, said to try melatonin to get her into a sleep pattern. Didnt really work!! Well this new psychologist wanted us to see a sleep specialist so we did.
Madison had a sleep study done, which she was amazing for!!!
They said there are times that her Co2 levels are higher and they think her adenoids maybe enlarged. So off to ENT we go!! lol (everyone still following our journey lol)ENT says he cant see them, doesnt want to put a tube in her nose because he can tell she will freak out. So he says he wants to sedate her and look at them and if needed take them out. That is going to be July 29th.
The last few weeks we have been doing brain training games with the therapist, which she loves. Makes me feel totally guilty becuase I feel like I should be able to do this stuff with her but we have 3 kids and Im pregnant and there just isnt enough time in a day!!
Ok, today was the appointment with the neurologist. He again agrees with ADHD diagnosis and after talk to us and her, he also thinks she has ODD Oppositional defiant disorder and/or bipolar. He says there are a lot of meds that he can use to help with this but first more testing!!..lol...
Tomorrow we are going for blood work which is not going to be fun!! Monday we go for a hour long EEG, results to that are Thursday. And then Sat. we are doing an overnight EEG where they will hook her up and then we get to take her home.
Ok I think that is everything!! lol Im confused and concered and just not sure about anything right now. I have had a few people say they would see someone else but essentially we have seen 4 different people and they are all pretty much saying the same thing.
When people see her, they see a normal kid that is acting up and this is tough for me because they blame me. Like Im a bad mom that cant control my kid. I hate it!! I hate feeling like I cant control her, I cant connect with her. I worry about her being behind other kids her age. She is smart, so smart!! But she has these hurdles she is going to have to get past and I hate that for her!! I hate that she has heard me talk about this stuff with my family and thinks there is something wrong with her!! She says she wants to be a doctor and a dentist and a mommy when she grows up and if thats what she wants I want her to have that!!
Im just looking for advice that Im on the right path for her and if there is anything I else I can do to help her.
If you made it this far..THANK YOU!!
