just found you guys!!!!!

[beautymama]

hello, wow this weekend will go down in history. I have a son, he is 5 1/2 and a year ago was found with ADHD/ODD. This last year has been successful with medication and improvements. I am a sponge wanting to learn more about all this. In browsing around I found a few who mention adoption. M came to our home at 11 months and was adopted at 1 1/2 years old. I love him dearly but I do not like this ADHD. I have many fears and concerns. Feel like I "belong here" and I read some of this. I am open to any suggestions from experiences. Saturday we stopped all meds and started all over. Wow, I was not prepared for that. The daytime meds are manageable and yet they still need some adjustments. The late afternoon and evening are, well, many of you may have already experienced this. I had no idea what I in for. Maybe the old meds were working okay. Tonight I can kinda laugh about this, instead of cry and pull my hair out. Sat. . night he woke up at (well I will never know) but I heard him and woke up at 2:20 a.m. to find him under a blanket on the couch eating fruit snacks, marshmellows and peanut butter, with the dog. He was rather proud of himself for sharing. However, during the days prior to this he knew very well not to feed the dog "people food". After 3 hours he went back to sleep (with the help of some of his new meds) Of course 2 times on Sun the dog vomitted and yes I had him clean it up. Then Sun. night he was up at 5:00. this time he ate more fruit snacks, cut the packages into little slivers, let the dog out of the kinnel again but says he did not share the snacks. Instead he cut up a blanket, some into tiny pieces so the dog ate that and vomitted again today and is at the vet tonight and went onto cut his own hair. Oh yeah, last week before the Dr. changed all the meds he flicked his vitamin across the table because it was green (mind you, green is his favorite color and he request it often) and it hit the floor and the dog ate that too. So we ahve tired yet another approach today in medicationa and I have high hopes he will sleep through the night. the dog is safe at the clinic, all the scissors are hid, knives have been removed from teh drawers, the baby moniter is hooked back up, the teacher is notified, what else should I prepare myself for. Any words of wisdom? I am anxious to have aplace to come to for support as I feel rather alone out here. I have another foster/adopt mom friend who also has a son in my son's pre-kindergarten class at school. She has a broad shoulder and we bounce around alot of issues. Glad I have found you all.

MM's mom, M is 5 and M is 4
s

[Linda]

:)beautymama and welcome...I see you have already been around the board and posted...that is great We have a wealth of information here so browse around.

[Amsmom]

welcome beautymama! we are so glad you are here. ;)this forum is a wonderful, safe place to share your concerns, vent, ask questions and maybe offer some of your experiences to others.

if the weekend behaviors are new, then definitely take a look at the meds. i know very well the frustration of trial and error with the meds. it took 3 yrs to get my ds9's meds right. i dont say this to upset you, merely to let you know we've all been through this and understand what you are going through. call the dr with your concerns and keep us posted.we're here for you!

[catseye]

and welcome aboard!!

The baby monitor is a great first step, and would of been one of my first suggestions!

What medications is your son on? As amsmom said it can take quite a while to get the right fit for your son, medication wise... My sd it took a little over a year, to find the adderall xr 30mg that she is now on... That was the worst year of our lives! I really hope the adderall keeps working and we dont have to go through that heck again...

This board is a huge wealth of information, not to mention that none of us are alone anymore! We have all been there, in some form or another, and I wish you the best of luck!!

cat

[rosyred45]

Welcome to the family :DIt is my saving grace

YUP, you fit right in already, oh and I forgot, Mikey cut his hair lat week after I gave him a flat top a couple weeks ago.......it was getting in his eyes How is beyond me

Any how, I see you have posted around, so ask away, vent away, and be prepared to laugh away as you realize that in some strange way, all of our kids do the same things 8-)Some good some bad, some laughable, some cryable.

Welcome again
Kaiti

[camismom]

Beautymama! I gave you a hello and welcome on another thread you posted on, but I'll do it here as well.

Yep, reading about your weekend "fun" tells me you'll fit right in here. I hope things have calmed down a bit.

I can't say anything that hasn't already been said, but I do think you are on the right road. Just keep absorbing, going thru the trial and errot, and you'll get through I'm sure. In the meantime, we're all here if you need us!

[finnmom]

Beautymomma and a big welcome to our family.

Sound´s like you´re really busy cant say I envy you at all. I remeber time when my ds was around 5, I had just told someone that I should cut my dd2´s hair, and before I knew, he had already done that Gotta say, that he was almost better than I in that thou ;D

Babymonitor; GOOD idea, there are also some motion monitor´s you might want to try if you dont wake up when he does, you surely dont want him to walk around while you sleep . Med´s, along all the other thing´s to help adhd are true trial and error, so it´ll take some time to get the working combination of anything. Good luck with that.

Like has been said; we all know what you´re going through. It´s even funny to notice that our kid´s are so similar despite all the cultural and other difference´s between them. Welcome again, nice to have you here!!!

[beautymama]

thanks for all the welcome. we had a much better day yesterday and an NON-eventful night. Today is his fourth day of Adderall XR, 10 mg. then as needed a sleep pill mid afternoon and at bed time. We even did 1/4 tablet, which seemed to work very well at 4:00 and then a full one at bedtime. we all sleep all night in our own beds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then i talked to the dr this morning and we will see how school goes today and probably bump up the daytime adderall to 20 mg. thanks again to all of you.

M & M's Mom M is 5 and M is 4

[rosyred45]

A big thing that helps my kids that I try to see things from their level. And I explain thing in a way they understand what is what and why things aren't appropriate and such.

Natural learning is my key to their success. Plus we have Mikey on the Feingold Diet.
www.feingold.org

It helps big time with his hyperness, impulsivity and all around mood. We don't have candy in the house because if we did Mikey would eat it all, have a belly ache-that's where the natural learning comes in---eat a bunch of junk, get a belly ache, you still have to do what you normally do WITH a belly ache.....not fun for him.

[beautymama]

rosyred45-can you breif me on what the diet consist of....i did go to the web site but at this time i am short on time to find my way around there. special foods? cost invloved? what symptoms have changed since you have him on this diet. we have candy but i keep it under lock, key, chain, you name it. i dividy it out very carefully because i can see such a change in behavior and it is not a good or managable change. thanks for you help.

[tridlette]

Welcome to LIFE IN THE FAST LANE!

Shaun DS 10 woke up with a bloody pillow... appears he had cut his hair too, but he cut a little more than hair!

Feingold... as I understand it is, eliminating foods that cause behavior changes. My DS 14 goes wild if he has orange soda, even if it is caffeine free and sugar free. It is the food coloring for him.

He actually does quite well with sugar and with caffeine most of the time... it is just certain food coloring or additives that push him over the edge.

Some day, we will all write a prize winning comedy sketch based on our lives with these kids... If we don't go crazy first!

Welcome to the family!

[kppy3]

yup, my son reacts the same way to food dyes. a couple sips of orange pop and an air head will create a jeckyll hyde kid!. regular sugar and caffeine seem not to do anything to him..

welcome aboard.
kppy