What Doctors Won't Tell You

Out of all my children, Sydney is the most like me.  She looks the most like me and her personality is similar to mine.  She is definitely a day dreamer.  I'd like to spend a few minutes in her brain every day just to take part in all the activity that I know is going on in there.  In some ways she reminds me of a story book character who, bless her heart, despite her constant efforts to please those around her is always getting into trouble because of her active imagination.   I know she must have inherited this trait from me because my husband has made it very clear to me that there is always just one thought going on in his mind at a time.  And sometimes fewer.   He doesn't get how I can jump around from topic to topic and I don't think that he even knows the meaning of the word "multi-task".   So, though I have mostly grown out of the "day-dream" stage I try to relate to her as best I can and often reassure myself that she will eventually grow out of it too.    

Last year, her first grade teacher had some things to say about it.  When it came time for parent teacher conference (about a month and a half into the school year) she told my husband and me that Sydney reminded her of someone who had ADD.  That she had trouble focusing.  This news was not surprising to us.  We were surprised however, that the teacher felt it necessary to bring this up to us.  I mean, she has 24 other 6 year olds that she's with all day, don't they all act like they  have ADD?  Was she planning on saying this same thing to the other 48 parents she would speak with today?  We left the conference only slightly concerned.  

The teacher called me in to talk about this a few more times during the year and each time my concern grew until it escalated to full on panic.  I decided maybe I should take her to the doctor to see what he would have to say about it.  This is where it gets interesting. 

I told him what my concerns were.  He asked me a few questions about Sydney and immediately diagnosed her with ADD.  He even wrote a prescription for her and gave me some samples of a drug called "Strattera" that was supposed to help her focus.  

Now my husband who is always a skeptic hardly believes there is such a thing as ADD.  He thinks it's a made up illness.  He took a test on the internet that was meant to diagnose people with ADD and sure enough, they said he had it.  Remember this is the man that always has one thought or less in his brain.  How could a doctor possibly know that Sydney had ADD by asking a few questions about her behavior?  To think that he so readily prescribed medication is alarming.  Needless to say, John was completely against giving her the medication.  But I, being in the panicked state that I was in, convinced him that we should just try it and see if anything changed.  He agreed to it and we decided that we wouldn't even tell her teacher she was on it.  Within a few days I ran into her teacher and she didn't even have to ask.  She knew that we had put her on something because the difference was like night and day.  

Despite the results, we took her off the medication because she hated swallowing the pills.  We decided to look into other options.  We found a place that was recommended to us called 

"Encode Decode" (or maybe it was vice-versa) She went there once or twice a week and they worked on concentration and cross patterning.  She also recommended a program where she listened to classical music 5 nights a week.  She also recommended non-synthetic vitamin supplements.  By the end of the year her teacher had noticed a difference.  She said it wasn't as drastic as it was with the medication but that she had definitely been more focused since beginning the tutoring program.

Just recently I had an awful day.  These days happen very seldom to me but it was enough to set me off.  If you read one of my previous blogs you know the history of me not dressing Sydney in appropriate clothing for her school concert.  Well, a few days later she was supposed to have another concert (according to my wall calendar) where she had to dress up.  This time I got her up, dressed her in the right clothes and even brought the video camera so that "daddy could see it".  I was feeling good like I was being given a second chance to redeem myself but I suspected something was not quite right when I drove up to the school and the parking lot was mostly empty.  I went in and inquired at the front office and they told me I got the day right but the wrong month.  Chalk another one up for me.  Later that day I got a call from Sydney's teacher asking why she had missed so many days of homework.  The teacher explained to me that it was my responsibility to make sure she got it in and that I needed to find a way to be more organized.  Ouch.  Those two things on top of spending 2 hours at the orthodontist and not being able to find Bryton's soccer shin guards which led to him missing practice were too much to bear.  I went strait to the pantry and pulled out some of Sydney's "Strattera" medication that the doctor had given as a sample and proceeded to pop one into my mouth.  Maybe it wasn't Sydney that had the problem but me.  Plus, this way, I could see for myself what kind of side effects it might have if I ever thought Sydney might need to go on it again.  

Here's what I found out.  I took the medication two days in a row.  Once on a Tuesday and once on a Wednesday.  Today is Thursday and I haven't slept since Tuesday morning.  Tuesday's night sleep was disruptive but last night's was obsolete.  Every time I felt myself drifting off it was almost as though I could feel an electrical current in my brain acting as an alarm clock and waking me up.  Even the book on World War II that I've been reading couldn't make me go to sleep.  Trust me, I am NOT an insomniac.  It is now 2:00 in the afternoon.  Usually by this time I am wiped out and ready for a nap.  I could not sleep right now if you paid me.  This morning before school I asked Sydney if she had a hard time sleeping when she took the medication and she said, "Yes.  I tried really hard but couldn't."  I never would have guessed that if I hadn't taken the medication myself.  To think that a doctor would be so liberal with a medication they know so little about, for an illness they know so little about, with a 6 year old child is unbelievable.  

So, if I ever have another "focally challenged" child or grandchild my prescription will be to stay away from the doctor, listen to classical music, take omega-3's and work on concentration exercises like memory match and sudoku.  Or, to just let nature take its course and solve the problem on its own.  That's what seemed to work for me.

And one more note.  Sydney's tutor told her last spring that she should stop coming because Sydney didn't need her.  She said, "Sydney is such a bright girl that I'm not worried about her at all. "