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Saturday, September 16, 2017

ADHD too? Sure, add it on.

Bubs 1 continues to improve. 

Since my last post here, Bubs 1 was also diagnosed with ADHD. Not uncommon for kids on the Autism spectrum. His mom and I had our suspicions, as did his teachers, counselors, friends - and so on. He was recently dismissed from an after-school program for "aggressive behavior" and this created some quick planning for mom and I to reschedule our work schedules so for one of us to now pick him up at school dismissal. I work on Saturdays now so to shore up my lost hours, during the week. 

That's ok. I used to work on Saturdays all of the time back when I was food serving and bartending. Back then, for more than 12 years, weekends were part of my "work week." Now I get to spend a couple hours in a comfy office. Like I said, I'm ok with this. In fact, I bring Bubs 1 along. He sits on a couch in my office and plays on his Ipad. Not a bad deal, because he and Bubs 2 only get Ipad time twice a day for no more
than 30 to 45 minutes. I use the phrase "... for no more than..." because it's always not enough for these two guys. They love their Ipad time. Mom and I just be sure to keep it's value so that we can use it to leverage what we want from both bubs, which is "expected behavior" (ABA language).

Although life with Bubs 1's Autism has been improving month-to-month, his mom and I recently dealt with a period of intense arguing from Bubs 1. It was so unavoidable that I recall begging Bubs 1's mom for us to investigate a medication solution to help his ADHD. We both always believed that his ADHD seemed to be more of an issue, than his PDD-NOS. However, I can't say that I knew where one began and other one ended. So we saw his doctor and discussed the idea of trying meds on Bubs 1. After some cursory Internet research, I found smart points on both sides of the medication debate for kids with attention deficit disorders. Luckily for us, Bubs 1's doctor suggested incremental steps and mentioned a new "medical food" that seemed to be effective for another patient of his. He suggested we give it a shot before any stimulants. Bubs 1's mom and I agreed.

Two-plus months later and Bubs 1 seems to have significantly improved. He takes a non-drug, medical food called Vayarin which is some sort of super omega 3 that is specifically designed for ADHD individuals and helping them with their lipid imbalances. Does it work? Well, we're still working with a counselor on this, but let's just say that I'm not begging for stimulants anymore.

Most of the professionals, in the field who work with Bubs 1, tell us they've never heard of this medical food. Even my flex health account argued with me for two weeks about paying for Vayarin. "Does it need a dr's prescription?" they kept asking. "Yes, it does," I kept answering. Finally, they unfroze my flex visa card and approved it. 

Now I just have to contact the other medical bill providers and explain why I'm paying them so late. Some haven't been waiting so patiently for their money, while I've been struggling with my health flex peeps... but Bubs 1's mom and I are used to it by now... unfortunately.  

Link to a great blog I just discovered. 

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