ADHD

So I have decided to do a serious post for once. Don't get use to it though, it won't happen often. So my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD last February. Everybody thought I was crazy for having her testing, everybody kept telling me it's my parenting and I should be doing things different. I knew she had ADHD and I approached my pedi about it. Lets backup a few years first, I had Kadyn evaluated at 6 months for behavior issues. Yes I said 6 months old, kid has been a challenge since birth!! At 6 months old, she was almost kicked out of the babysitters...rebel child!! At this time my pedi spent 2 hours with her in his office, he asked me question after question. At that point, he told me I have a "difficult child"...(well no shit Sherlock, I could tell you that).... gave me a few books to read and said she is probably ADHD but they can't treat or diagnose that at this age. So last year I was having a really hard time with her and she wasn't doing well at the babysitters again. (I'm convinced I'm ADHD, which is why I have so many issues getting things done and I do not want her struggling the way I did) So I started doing my research, I started reading article after article on kids with ADHD. I took Kadyn to her 4 yr old check up and asked my doctor about it. He gave me a 15 page book of questions to fill out, gave my babysitter one also.  That was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to fill out. I felt like when he was reading it he would think I hated my child. I had to write horrible things down about her and it was HARD!!! 

I do love my baby, how could I not just look at her:

Lets get one thing straight before I continue...ADHD is not just the hyper activity, it's soooooo much more then that. I can handle her crazy hyperness, I'm crazy hyper all the time!! It's the lack of sleeping through the nights (girlfriend was up at least 5-6 times every night and she is 4), the difficulty she had completing the simplest tasks, the frustration she had from being in trouble, the fact that her mind is going 100 miles a minute and she can't process everything going on in that little head of hers, the fact that she couldn't conform at the babysitters and she didn't understand why she can't sit there and read like everybody else or why she is always in trouble because she can't settle down when it's time to. The fact that she can't do the simple things like get dressed without any distraction. It's tough staying patient with her esp when I'm in a hurry. These are the things that made me question the ADHD and have her tested.

Girl is a bit crazy also:

  

and LOVES being dirty:

People judged me, people thought I was crazy, people didn't understand why I would even entertain the idea of ADHD. Everybody told me it's the age...Wait until she is school...School will change her...She needs to be challenged.  My response, why wait until she is in school....Why wait until it's a bigger problem..Why not fix it before she ends up in trouble at school or thinks she isn't smart, or thinks she has something wrong with her. So go ahead and judge, I put my daughter on meds. YES that's right, my 4 almost 5 year old is on ADHD medication. She takes Focalin XR. It is a slow release drug that starts working immediately and is completely out of her system by 2-3. Yes you can tell a difference in her while she is on it. No she is zombified!!  She can focus, she can sit still, she isn't in trouble all the time, she is sleeping through the night. I never give her her meds on weekends because to me weekends are a free for all, which brings me to my weekend!!

I will start giving her them on weekends because it is bad when she isn't on them. It's frustrating for her and it's frustrating for me. The task of getting dressed is a 40 min production!! So this weekend was the last weekend of me NOT giving them to her...OMG I almost started drinking at 8 am on Sat and Sun!!

So before you judge listen to my reasons for medicating my 4 year old:

• She was always in trouble and I do NOT want her thinking she is a bad child because she has a chemical imbalance that makes it hard for her to do things that a normal child has no problems doing
• I struggled in college, high school, and even at work to accomplish the simplest tasks because I can't focus and I do NOT want her to struggle like I did. ADHD is not an excuse to be lazy
• I want her to be able to thrive with every opportunity given to her.
• I want her to do well in school and be able to focus on what needs to be done.
• I did NOT want to see her frustrated anymore!!
• I want her to be happy and know she is smart and can do anything she puts her mind to.

 But she is a HAPPY little 4 year old: