Week one of ADHD meds, update on incontinence issue

I honestly admit I was a little scared about what kind of change the medication would have on Tessa. She is very spunky and high spirited, and I did not want to change that. I just wanted her to be a bit more compliant when I asked her to do something, not have so many meltdowns and do better at school.

Her first day on the medication was a Friday. She usually goes and plays for a few hours at my aunt's house (she lives across the street), because my aunt's grandchildren stay over there while their mom is at work. I didn't let her go over there because I wanted to see if she had any kind of reaction. She didn't eat much that day and was very calm, until late afternoon. We were getting ready to go eat with our family, and we were at my aunt's house because she always rides with us. Tessa had a meltdown of epic proportions. She was crying, rubbing her eyes and scratching her cheeks. I almost called the doctor right then.

I decided to give it another couple of days to see if she had another reaction. She had a small meltdown on Saturday afternoon, but nothing like Friday night. She had another meltdown on Monday afternoon, but we are doing well since then. Most of these meltdowns have been late in the afternoon when the meds were wearing off.

I almost can't believe the change in her. She's still spunky, but she minds me so much better. She doesn't pitch fits if she doesn't get her way. She can sit and play with one set of toys for hours at a time instead of bouncing between them. She also doesn't get frustrated. Yesterday, she was playing with her Barbies and dressing them. The strap broke on one of her outfits. Before the meds, this would have been the cause of at least a 30 minute meltdown. I suggested a fix, and she was fine with it.

While Tessa loved to be read to, she would never volunteer to read on her own at all. Yesterday, she grabbed some books out of her room and sat down on the couch and read them. She needed help with some of the bigger words, but she read most of them on her own. I do think the meds are going to help with her problem of processing information.

My biggest issues were her not eating after she takes it, the meltdowns in the late afternoon and how calm she was. She was never zombie-like at all, just a lot more calm than what I am used to. My cousin said it's just because we are so used to her being loud and up. We saw the doctor today, and he agreed.

Tessa had lost four pounds. He said that while she's not overweight, it's not going to hurt her to lose a few pounds. She weighs 69 pounds now, and he doesn't want her to get below 60. I have to weigh her twice a week to keep an eye on it. We go back next Thursday.

We talked about her incontinence issue today. She had to pee in a cup, which she found totally disgusting. She also had to have blood drawn. I was honestly dreading it so much, but she didn't even cry. I thought we might need, oh, 10 people to hold her down, but she did wonderfully. He also sent her for an x-ray of her stomach to see if she's constipated which could cause the incontinence.

He is making her an appointment with a urologist. He thinks she might have something called reflux or a problem with the neck of the bladder. We will see. I just hope it's an easy fix that doesn't require surgery.