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Growth Spurt!
By Betsy Richter | 8:44 pmDrama Mama (now henceforth to be referred to as @ladeedoo) and I have been in a routine that’s been working to manage her off-the-charts ADHD for the last year or so. Her psychiatrist and I are both pleased with how effectively her long-acting Focalin has been working for her — but more importantly, my kid feels successful and in control when she’s taking her medication.
She doesn’t get it all the time — instead, she gets one pill every weekday, plus one on shabbat school/hebrew days on Saturday – but the rest of the time (including holidays), she’s medication-free.
I’ve been typically keeping her on medication during the summer weekdays as well, as it helps curb the impulse control issues (among other things) that can damage summer camp friendships. (Plus, it makes getting out of the house easier for those of us who still have that pesky day job, even though it’s summertime…)
This year, though, the kid balked. She’s tired of not eating anything for lunch, you see. She’d like to get her appetite back.
We knew that loss of appetite is a typical side effect, and had done what we could to work around it: healthy (or not-so-healthy) breakfasts, copious snacks, even before dinner, and regular snacking before bedtime. Plus two whole days of a chance to force feed her before another Monday rolled back around. But even with all of that, her weight was barely creeping up between bi-monthly checkups; her doctor was starting to get a bit concerned.
This time around? We had a whole 3 pound weight gain since March, woo-hoo! Nevertheless, she asked us if she could go without for a while, please.
And her doctor (who was quite amused to see my unmedicated kid after months of getting the calmer, quieter, yet still effervescent @ladeedoo — “at least we know we’ve found the right treatment for her, right?”) okayed it. We didn’t need to worry about fluctuating doses in her system; once the medicine’s worn off, it’s gone.
My kid’s been medicine-free for over a week and a half now.
My grocery bill — already reeling from The Mogul’s voracious teenage appetite — may never recover.
Here’s what my rail-thin kid had since we got home tonight:
- Three huge handfuls of sugar snap peas and a plum, which she snacked on while waiting for dinner
- Two heaping plates of chicken alfredo with zucchini; a mound of steamed broccoli; and some roasted asparagus
- Two more plums, almost an entire pint of strawberries, and a popsicle.
(yes, our organic produce box got delivered today, can you tell? no, we don’t eat like this every night.)
Last night after-dinner/before-bedtime snack? A pound of sugar snap peas. A pound of cherries. More popsicles. More strawberries. A lemon meringue pudding cup. And a few squeezable yogurts; maybe a hunk of cheese in there somewhere.
We only have three weeks this summer that we know she’ll need her meds (for two weeks of musical theater camp and then a week of overnight camp.) And as of right now, she weighs a whopping 78 pounds at 4 feet, 9 inches (for a BMI of 16.9, or Pretty Freakin’ Low.)
If she keeps eating like this, I can’t wait to see where we are when September rolls around!
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