Why were we even AT the doctor's?

Okay, a follow up to yesterday's blog. We were at the doctor for that A.D.D. follow up. Remember the infomercial type meeting Frank and I went to a couple of weeks ago? Well, this was the first time we actually met one-on-one with the doctor. Frank could not be with us for it because he is finally back to work and could not take the time off.

So we go to this appointment with mixed emotions. Apart from the infomercial aspect of that meeting, I felt pretty confident in this doctor. He was not all about the medication and seemed to truly be passionate about helping kids with A.D.D. I think I may have mentioned this before but I was never a big believer in the whole A.D.D/A.D.H.D thing. I always felt that it was over-diagnosed and a way that teachers tried to control their students. Well, after doing some research on my own, I see that that is not REALLY the case but it is diagnosed a bit too quickly. But back to our appointment. We got there and I was unsure how I felt. I had talked to many friends about the whole thing and I've met many people who have gone to this doctor and each of them had different feelings about him. Seriously, no two opinions were the same. So it was a little perplexing.

Well, beyond the hair fondling that went on, he was rather quick with the prescription pad. I told him that this was not the route I was looking to take right now and he explained to me that when working with kids with A.D.D, it is a case of trial and error. We've already tried working with him without medication and his behavior/anger issues have not gotten any better. Now we'll try the medication route. It all made sense and while it wasn't what I was expecting, I am willing to give it a try. Now while we were talking, he tried to draw Michael in to the conversation. My normally chatty child sat there and replied "I don't know" or "I forget" to just about every question. So he was not helpful to the diagnosis at all!

I called Frank when we left the office and filled him in on everything and to say that he was not on board would be an understatement. I had the prescription filled but I was told not to give it to him yet. I guess he needs more time to think about all of this. It is only for two weeks and then we go back for an evaluation. I'm willing to try something for two weeks. Sure, I'm not thrilled but the bottom line here is that we need to help Michael. We need to do what is best for him and all of the things that we have tried and his teacher has tried are not working.

Sigh. I guess saying "Because I said so" really DOESN'T work.