Posted by utopizen on October 13, 2008, at 22:38:10
In reply to ? about meds for my son, posted by Lorenzo05 on October 11, 2008, at 18:37:13
> Hi
>
> I am brand new here but I need some advice about my sons medication. The Dr diagnosed him with ADHD a couple months ago. He already has Acute stress disorder and PTSD. When his hair started falling out and he chewed his fingers to the point of infection they thought it was time for meds.
>Okay, I haven't read posters below, but for the sake of your son, and most are likely also echoing this...
please do not listen to your friends. In fact, for the sake of your son I know he's your son, and you're worried, and he's young-- but it's generally not a good habit to get into revealing meds to anyone but his doctor. If you have concerns, seek a second opinion from another _doctor_. Not a nurse, not a soccer mom, and not the lady who cleans your house.
Your son might be young now, but if he's 10 now, in 2 years, he'll be 12. And let's say you'll all agree he'll need Adderall, once he gets behind in his algebra or something. (It's quite possible). Well, telling a gossipy mom your son's med history means odds are pretty good she told someone, if not her own sons, that told someone else's sons. It doesn't take much.
So your son, 2 years from now, switches to Adderall, and some creep at school decides to rifle his bag one day, or hang out with him after school, only to steal his stuff without him knowing. Or, better yet, convinces him to sneak some out to sell. Great. you now have a drug dealer, and the cops just called. (Note: none of these scenarios are remotely rationale for avoiding Adderall, should a doc advise it. 99% of kids don't do any of this).
Worst case scenario? No. I told my friends in school I had ADD all the time. One person who I never knew stole an entire month's supply. (My friends happened to mention to some friend of theirs, innocently enough). I failed classes that summer as a result.
Not to mention, anything happens, ever, and it's not the kid, it's the meds. So any normal, awkward behavior, or eccentric style of the day as he grows up, gets reduced to a chemical by all those judgmental gossipy types who know nothing about meds but love to assume they do and how it must explain all quirks in one's behavior. He gets reduced to a chemical, for things he'd do on or off any med. Awesome.
So don't do it.Oh, and it's probably too late to explain, but, the last person you'll ever want to share medicine info with is a teacher. All they do is gossip about kids. And teachers love to gossip about how the medicine they couldn't spell if their job depended on it somehow is the reason why your kid acts the way he acts.
If his ed plan requires extra time, fine, let them infer. But there's all sorts of reasons for that time, so there's no reason to disclose he's on meds.
When I was growing up, lots of kids went to the school nurse at lunch time for their "asthma." Some probably did have it. I doubt it was 100% of the kids growing up in the 90's. Their parents coached them this, so they wouldn't be subject to other kids, teachers and parents gossiping about something that's none of their business.
I could go on and on. If anything, the fact it's ADD is way more of a reason to keep it between your son, you and your doctor.
I advise coaching your son to realize he doesn't ever, ever need to reveal what medicine he takes, ever, unless it's to a school nurse, or his doctor. This includes even close friends. And yes, asthma is a great cover.
And if he ever does anything stupid as a teenager, he should know never to answer to a cop what "he's on." This can be used in court against him, prescribed or not, to imply all sorts of things. And unlike docs, his medicine becomes public record for the rest of his life-- there's nothing to control that info once he volunteers it.Honestly. It's your kid, not your friend's. What grand insight does your friend have that your doctor doesn't? Aside from the fact it's silly advice... it's just a bad habit to gossip about your kid's meds. There's 1,000 more reasons why, and I won't get into them here.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but, how would you feel if your son went around telling folks about every med you were on? Or, while you have some accident, what opiate you are on, spoken loudly to all your co-workers while he visits your office? Every mistake you do would become "Oh, she's abusing her prescription, poor thing."
Seriously. Don't. Do. It. No good can come of it. Like I said, if you have doubts, get a second opinion from another _M.D._and while I'm on soap box: this site is helpful. It's not meant to override the advice of medicine professionals. I do not have an M.D., but now and then I might mention I had a good experience on a med. That doesn't mean my advice is better than an M.D., or should over-ride it. I'm 25. If anyone is going to take advice from me to over-rule an M.D., they need to up their dose.
poster:utopizen
thread:856971
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081006/msgs/857329.html