Concerta week 1

Imagine you are in a room full of people. A LOT of people. They are all chattering and laughing and talking. There is a radio on the room blaring music. There is a TV in the room that is blaring white noise. You are in the center of the room with all of that noise. Try to think. To focus. To remember the name of the person you were just introduced to.

Now, imagine the noise suddenly and abruptly stops. Silence. Echoes of the chaos and static ring in your head. Silence.

We talked to Blake's pediatrician about putting him on medication for ADHD. Doc said that in Blake's head, the above scenario is how he lives every minute of every day. He can't think or focus. He doesn't have the ability to *care* about anything, because there is too much chaos in his head. He said that the medication will take that chaos away, and Blake will be able to think.

The pediatrician told us what to expect while Blake's body adjusts to the medication. He may lose weight because his apptetite may be decreased. He said Blake is by no means overweight, but at 118 pounds he can lose a few pounds and it won't be a problem. If he continues to lose weight, then Doc will take him off the meds.

Other symptoms we may notice: overly clingy, weepy, introverted, trouble sleeping, asking a ton of questions, "couch potato-ish". Doc said that all of these things will balance out in 2-3 months when we get the right dosage of meds in him and his body gets used it.

Blake started taking Concerta this week. He started taking it on Monday morning. Came home from school Monday afternoon saying he already noticed a difference and that he felt calmer at school. Placebo effect?


On Wednesday we both had a snow day and he spent a great deal of the day at a friend's house.


On Thursday, another snow day for Blake. Shelley stayed home with him. She said she noticed an improvement in his behavior. He helped shovel the walk for a full 45 minutes without whining or stopping, did 3 (?) loads of laundry, made a necklace for Great Gramma (who we are going to visit next week), and did anything she asked him to do without argument or fuss. When I got home Thursday night, he was bouncing off the walls. The doc said that would happen.


I talked to him today when he got home from school. He said he feels like he can focus better, feels calmer, and can stay on task easier. He said the only time he's not on task is at recess when you aren't supposed to be on task :)

I have noticed that he is less argumentative. If we tell him no, he accepts that. He is able to stop his thoughts....he was telling me something that he had already told me and I stopped him and said, "Yes, you told me that yesterday." and he said, "Oh, oh yeah." and moved on to something else. This is VERY different from before. Before, he would just continue talking about what he had started talking about.

I think this was a good decision that we should have made a long time ago.