Tough Decisions

For those of you that don't know, Spencer has ADHD and Tourette Syndrome. It was so difficult in the beginning getting a diagnosis. When he was six, he was diagnosed with ADHD. It was really difficult for his dad to accept.

Before medication, Spencer had ZERO impulse control. He knew right from wrong, he just couldn't stop himself. We tried every parenting trick in the book before we chose medication. Nothing worked. It was frustrating and I began to feel like a failure as a mother.

The first tough decision was to try medication. He began treatment with Vyvanse which is a long acting medication. It worked really well for him. After he had been taking Vyvanse for about a year, someone pointed out to me that he appeared to have a tic. I called his pediatrician and told him about my concerns. He recommended that Spencer see a child neurologist. So we waited for six weeks to see Dr. Cheng at Child Neurology Associates in Atlanta. Spencer was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at seven years old. He could not take Vyvanse anymore because it is a stimulant like most ADHD medications. Dr. Cheng recommended we try Intuniv. The second tough decision was to try a relatively new medication.

I was terrified by what this meant for my child. All I really knew about Tourette Syndrome was from movies I had seen that sensationalized the disorder and from a 60 Minutes special I had seen about a camp for children with Tourette Syndrome. I was worried about the future.

Then I did my research and discovered that the one symptom I had hoped he would not have, coprolalia (cursing), was a rare symptom. His symptoms will likely get worse as he approaches puberty. (Insert sarcastic tone here.) Great because puberty is easy. But on the up side, they should improve through his teen years and he could go into complete remission of his symptoms as an adult

So we come to the next difficult decision. He has been taking Intuniv for two years now and in the past few months, it just doesn't seem to be helping anymore. We have an appointment with Dr. Cheng coming up on December 9th. (Yeah, we had to wait six weeks again for an appointment.) I am a little nervous about what he will recommend because at the last appointment he mentioned that we may have to try a combination of medications. I can't stand that he is taking one every single day. His dad doesn't want him on any at all.

This should be fun.