The honeymoon is over : (

[pumpkingirl71]

I am sitting at the computer trying not to completely lose my mind or worse freak out on my child.  She has been refusing to swallow the pill that makes her sweet and loveable...Such a dramatic statement of what it means to have an attachment/trauma disorder, she hates the medicine that helps her live a happy life

[Mom31]

hugs

[queencarr]

I'm so sorry. I'm guessing you may have tried these strategies, but thought I'd offer in case you hadn't. We always offer chocolate in some form after meds. It started out to cover the aftertaste, but has continued. We have used squares, m&m's, Oreos... If it is a small pill, perch in a spoonful of applesauce and swallow. If it is not timed released, a compounding pharmacist can make a liquid or even sometimes a transdermal gel. The liquid can be mixed with root beer or chocolate syrup ( best flor covers). The gel gets rubbed between wrists. I'm truly sorry -if I could not get Isaac to take his meds, it would be very difficult indeed. It was one of my worst fears when he started. He has ADHD (severe) and some "attachment issues"...

[queenjane]

btdt. :(

Only mine, for a time, was really sneaky...once i caught her taking her pill out of her ear! I thought she had swallowed it! i had to start watching her swallow it, not taking my eyes off her even for a second or she'd pocket it. Which is so confusing because her behavior is so much worse unmedicated (and when her behavior is terrible, my parenting skills seem to take a nose dive too :( )  She's now at a point where i can trust her to get her own pill and take it and i'm not even in the room, although in the back of my head i always think "did she REALLY take it?" but the truth always comes out in the behavior.

can you bribe her? as PP mentioned, a sweet after taking her pill?

[pumpkingirl71]

Thanks for the support   Katherine, we have dealt with pill hiding too.  It is very scary.  And Carrie, thanks for all of the ideas.  We have tried some, but the pill is time released.  I got in touch with the pediatrician today and she was so helpful.  I am very happy that I didn't break down and cry with gratitude.  What ADHD drug does Isaac take?  This is Concerta and besides the swallowing, it is a miracle drug.  I feel like a kid with severe ADHD and trauma/attachment is something that no one can understand if they haven't been through it...The doctor is trying to get our insurance to OK the patch that is similar to Concerta.

[queencarr]

Isaac takes Procentra, 5 mg in the morning and 2 1/2 mg after nap. Plus Intuniv for impulse control and to "smooth" his more emotional moments, except he gets 1mg every morning and night, rather than the typical 2mg 1x day, which for him got rid of the "med crash" at bed time, which was always difficult anyway. It was not pretty! The Procentra is a short acting liquid amphetamine, which lets us tweak the dose mg by mg as we need to. He also still takes Regular and time released melatonin at bedtime. I hate that he is so medicated so young but the change is night and day. He can color (we have coloring pages 3-4 days before and after meds and it looks like 2 different children's work-the psych actually scanned copies for his charts!), sit long enough to eat a whole meal, sit through church, and is just generally more aware of what is going on around him. I'm hoping to save the long acting amphetamines, so we have something to move up to, as I have a feeling he will not outgrow the need for meds. Have you tried the Intuniv? It seems to help regulate the emotional outbursts, which has been our ped's experience and why we specifically added it.

[queenjane]

My dd is on 15 mg of Focalin XR which i give her in the morning (although...if i forget, i've given it to her as late as 1pm because NOT giving it usually ends up badly) and seems to hold her through until late evening. The difference in her behavior on and off meds is startling. When she moved in with me she was on Vyvanse for ADHD but i took her off because i'm one of those people who thought  "eh, i dont mind an active kid!" and my older son was a pretty active/hyper kid...i thought her issues were just attachment related, and i thought "how would a med help that?!?" months of hell later.... its amazing the change on meds. Of meds, she is way quick to shout at me, be overly emotional about everything, falls on the floor, bumps into walls. Easily tantrums over nothing. Poor impulse control, she would get into little arguments constantly at school, or constantly tattle.

All of those things are still present to some degree but its more along the lines of normal kid behavior. She even walks differently off her meds! she does this strut thing off her meds i find so annoying.

I never thought i'd be a parent to medicate for behavior, but its been such a benefit.

I feel like a kid with severe ADHD and trauma/attachment is something that no one can understand if they haven't been through it

I think we also may have some FASD type stuff going on, which makes it even MORE interesting!

[pumpkingirl71]

Wow Katherine , we have the same daughter!  I am happy to report that today had been an amazing day.  Thank you all so much for your support!  I tweaked my bribery plan and it worked!  I had tried a bunch of different bribes over the last few weeks, but the combo of a concrete bribe (chocolate) and an abstract bribe (five days of swallowing and she gets to pick a restaurant) worked.  Hopefully, it continues to work :)

We had to run a bunch of errands today related to the med stuff, driving around to pick up prescriptions and then the leg work of getting them filled early due to wasting pills.  It was STILL fun for us because she had a great start to the day.  Then we went to Whole Foods (a huge treat) and I shared all sorts of treats with her before and after shopping.  I just hope she is getting that these sorts of things are only possible when she takes her meds.

 I hate that he is so medicated so young but the change is night and day. He can color (we have coloring pages 3-4 days before and after meds and it looks like 2 different children's work-the psych actually scanned copies for his charts!), sit long enough to eat a whole meal, sit through church, and is just generally more aware of what is going on around him.

Carrie, I totally know what you mean.  My love/hate relationship with meds may make my head explode.  But I know how much they help my kid.  Coloring is an easy way for us to to gage her state, too.  That and glitter glue  On a good day she draws beautiful pictures.  On a bad day, she unscrews the cap and starts smearing it everywhere....

[Polliwog]

DS isn't showing a need for medication yet, but I know from personal experience what a wonderful tool it is. I've been off my meds for financial reasons and I'm struggling a lot. My brain is so foggy and I'm MUCH less patient with my kids. Concerta used to dry out my mouth and the Daytrana patched itched me like crazy (although I know it works well for others.)  My doctor says that medication is both over- and under-prescribed.

It looks like DS might be outgrowing some of his ADHD symptoms. His IEP needs to be reviewed in Feb and I suspect he won't qualify any more (which is both good and bad.) But he turns 8 in July and he would lose the Developmental Delay classification at that point, anyway, and wouldn't qualify for a Learning Disability classification.

[SundayCrepes]

Whipped cream from a squirt can is also amazing. We had to give my son an antiparasitic that he hated despite being reflavored by the compounding pharmacy. Chocolate worked on the other med, but not this one. So I squirted some whipped cream in his mouth, gave him the liquid, then squirted in more whipped cream (okay, I had a squirt myself.) Not sure if it covered the taste or if it was just fun. Who cares. It worked.

[pumpkingirl71]

Thanks SundayCrepes   I feel like I am building a bribery toolbox!  And so far, it is working...

[queencarr]

Overall, I use little bribery in parenting, but do think there is a time and place for it. I mean, we do similar with ourselves just on a different level. For example, when I lost enough weight to need new jeans, I got the more expensive ones I preferred rather than any old pair from wherever. Plus, I love the whip cream idea! Of course, we sometimes make banana splits in our mouths-small slice of banana on the tongue, spoonful of ice cream, squirt of chocolate, and gobs of whip cream! It is surprisingly cheap entertainment and ridiculously fun!!!

Also, do you think we could have a discussion about ADHD combined with attachment "stuff"~strategies, presentation/what it looks like in our kids and how it differs from regular ADHD, affecting sibling/partner relationships? I have looked for info and mostly what I find is just not age appropriate, or comes from philosophical background I can't get on board with, or involves outright RAD, which is not really our issue at this point. More like insecure attachment with triggers that take us back to square one at times. And as much as it stinks to know y'all are going through similar, I had no idea we all seem to have similar experiences even after all these years of " hanging out together" lol

[pumpkingirl71]

I agree, I had not idea.  I think a separate thread would be a great idea.  I am off to give a bath, but if someone else doesn't start one, I will later

 

Originally Posted by queencarr 

 And as much as it stinks to know y'all are going through similar, I had no idea we all seem to have similar experiences even after all these years of " hanging out together" lol

[angelabarnes38]

I am also very clumsy at eating meds, my dad used to give me mashed meds, and I still remember that bitter taste which stayed a week in my mouth. After that I preferred to swallow.