...We haven’t had an episode (manic,
depressive or psychotic) since I started him on the Attend and
weaned him off the rest of his meds a year ago.
It’s almost impossible to remember the way
things used to be anymore as we breeze through transition after
transition, day after day, month after month without incident
and absent worry. Not only have Rylan’s ADHD symptoms become
down right manageable, but his bipolar symptoms are nearly
nonexistent. We haven’t had an episode (manic, depressive or
psychotic) since I started him on the Attend and weaned him off
the rest of his meds a year ago. Anecdotal as it is, it
substantiates for me that the Concerta was in deed provoking the
bipolar as I had theorized.
It has opened up new avenues for him that were otherwise closed
before as he has successfully endured the harsh conditioning of
football in the heat of August to become one of the few rookies
in the league to actually get field time during a game. This
experience has further molded him into a respectful, thoughtful
young man who takes the initiative to complete his homework
assignments, fix his own meals, get along with his teammates and
ready himself for school independently.
We are into the second week of his 5th grade year. He has spent
the last 4 years in a special classroom, all the while fearing
that any success would remove him from this cocoon and return
him to the chaos of the regular classroom. His teacher is
already talking about mainstreaming him for social studies. When
I apprehensively brought it up to Rylan, his only reply was “I
wish it was math.” He has found that place inside himself where
he “knows” he can meet the challenges before him and there is no
hint of anxiety in his response.
While many have attributed such changes to simple maturation,
such maturity could not have taken place without the removal of
the stunting effects of his mood stabilizers and
anti-psychotics; and the removal of these would not have been
possible without managing the ADHD without stimulant. So you see
the chain reaction here, right? It is not that Rylan never
struggles with his focus – he does. It is not that Rylan never
becomes frustrated – he does. The unmistakable, glaring,
overwhelming difference is it no longer cripples him either
educationally or emotionally. He is “catching up” so fast the
rest of us are pretty much left standing with our chins on the
floor and shaking our heads in disbelief.
I used to think allowing him to dream of college was setting him
up for failure – no more. I used to feel like I couldn’t leave
him with anyone else other than his grandmother, for fear others
may find him intolerable – no more. The thought of his
approaching adolescence, when it is common for bipolar children
to follow-through on thoughts of suicide, used to terrorize me –
no more.
Oh, we have our typical pre-teen issues: messy room, too much TV
or video games. But it is just that – typical, and I almost
enjoy the normalcy of the contention between us about such
things. I never dreamed … I really never dreamed life could ever
be this easy again.
Meg Larcomb (9/8/2006)
