My son is medicated for his ADHD. Without the meds, his behaviour is wholly impulsive and inconsequential, with no thought making process between action and reaction. With his meds, it gives a little space for the thought making process to take place.
I was really worried by the stigma of medicating my son but when I thought about how hard he was finding school and life (no real friends, never having any achievements as he couldn’t concentrate and focus, etc - I decided that by deciding not to medicate because of my beliefs, I’d be doing him an injustice. The first or second day into taking his meds, I got called into the classroom after school (“here we go” I thought) the teacher showed me some writing he’d done on healthy living. A page and a half of writing! He’d literally gone from hardly being able to put a single sentence together to writing a whole page and a half!!
True, it’s fucked up his appetite and sleep routine - but I’ve learned how to work around that (dinner at 8pm when he’s ravenous). He’s also a rude and moody git first thing in a morning and last thing at night when he isn’t medicated, but during the day when he is, he’s able to process and reflect. Again, it’s just about working around it.
