Trudy, thanks for the info. All I know is that my little guy is on some of the same meds that his 72-year-old grandmother is on. After he takes them, he is sleepy and has to take a nap. I'm just beginning my research on ADHD. Maybe there are better meds out there than what he is on. I also found some articles about diet that I found interesting. Wanda

Well my experience may not be what you want! First I will tell you that I work in the field of education. I am an educational diagnostician - I do evaluations for learning disabilities and mental retardation, I am the school case worker for most students served by special education. (And I do a lot of totally asinine paper work but that's a whole other thing) So I have some professional experience with this. But more of my experience is personal. My nine year old daughter has ADHD and has been on adderal since she was 5. I also have a 15 year old son who does not have ADHD. My husband struggled in school - he went to school in NY state in the 60's and 70's and tells stories of being evaluated and them trying to figure out why he had such a difficult time reading. (He now has a Masters degree.) As I have watched him he has ADHD to a great extent and has learned how to manage it for the most part. He knows what he has to do though. The best he did in a Masters level clas was when the teacher let him pace at the back of the class. He shouldn't try to take notes because it just distracts him. He doesn't enjoy movies for the most part. Even now he doesn't have the attention to watch the whole movie and get everything that goes on. I remember taking the kids to see Mulan and about 15 min. into it he leans over and say "what is going on?" I tell you this to say that I do believe that ADHD can be genetic as it is in Kathryn's case. In researching about attention issues I read some information by Dr. Mel Levine author of "A Mind at a Time." It was so insightful for me. There were a lot of things that we dealt with with Kathryn that I had no idea were related to her attention issues. She has a very difficult time going to sleep and waking up. He talkes about that is the part of the brain that has switching attention that is effected. If she gets to doing something she can become very difficult to switch to a new tasks. Sometimes she will get on something that is funny but has difficulty moving on. For Kathryn, medication is the difference between her being successful (and even excelling at school) and just getting by. The difference between her handwriting when she has taken medication or hasn't taken it is amazing. You can bearly read it off the medication and it is beautiful on the medication. Along with medication we do responsibility charts which really work well for her and if I don't get one printed up for a week - she asks for it. She went to school for one year without medication and tells me it was a horrible year and she had no friends. Now everyone is her friend. She is a champion for the little guy - the new kid or the disabled kid. She struggled to learn to read and went through an intense dyslexia program. She has come out of the other side reading well and even enjoying it sometimes. I truly believe that a lot of what she has accomplished would have been totally unattainable without her medication. I explain to her all the time that the medicine doesn't make her good or make her focus but... it helps her to stick with the decisions she makes. If she decides not to talk or to pay attention she can. She is old enough now to verbalize how she feels about taking the medication and she notices a huge difference is how well she is able to focus taking it. She participates in gymnastics. Her best meet this year was the one that started at like 8:30 in the morning - because he medicine was in full swing - many started in the evening - she did well but not as well. That said... a schedule is a wonderful thing for a person with ADHD and works great with Kathryn. Diatary changes can always be helpful, however for someone who truly has ADHD sometimes medication is the only humane thing for a parent to do. Prior to medication Kathryn stayed in trouble at school all the time and didn't have friends. After medication she rarely gets in trouble - had one year where she never had a yellow or red mark - and has friends. Sorry - but.... I have a passion and you touched on it! Trudy

That's exactly why I think my outcome was less than desirable. I was their 15th surgery of the day! I have a list of bad things that happened there during my ordeal. I won't whine about all the details, but I won't be back for any more surgeries. I made an appointment with my PCP to see if she thinks I need to seek another plastic surgeon to fix my issues or if she thinks I might heal ok. I just didn't need to deal with this right now. I got stuck working a 12 hour day today. I don't have time for this self-inflicted pain that I put myself through.

I know it is REALLY late in the week to post but I actually got on the scale Monday morning with all intents of posting then. But my week has been hectic both at work and at home and this is really the first time I have even been able to lurk around the internet all week. I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well and I fully understand about Brit needing a break. We all need one from time to time. Coffee has become a staple of the morning with me. I used to drink black coffee all day long when I was in the Navy. Then I cut down on it for the last few years to just about 1-2 cups a day. I would wait till I got to work to have any and so on the weekends I wouldn't even miss it because I wouldn't make it at home. Then, I stopped drinking it all together right before surgery and up until about 6 months ago. Then I started drinking it with creamer and splenda so I could have something sweet without the calories. Now I am addicted to that and have it every day. My ex bought me a Keurig for Christmas last year and I make a cup every morning to drink on the way to work. Every blue moon I drink a cup of black coffee but I prefer my sweet treat! Mom is doing okay. We ended up putting a catheter in on Tuesday because she wasn't making it on the bedpan at all and then she hated for me to change her sheets. It was a mess but I finally convinced her that this would be for the best. She has been sleeping a lot and not eating much but this morning she was alert and actually wanted something to eat. So I fed her before I came to work and now Debbie is trying to get her to eat a little more before she leaves and the Home Health care aide comes at 11am. My Mother's Day was alright. My sister and her husband, and my brother, his wife, and 2 kids came for the day to see my Mom. I fixed dinner and we all had a decent time, I guess. We are still upset with my sister but she doesn't seem to be phased by it at all. She's so clueless! But Mom wanted the family to be together so I made it happen. My daughter and son gave me a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret, a T-shirt, and a cute card. Just the fact that they thought of me was wonderful. My stats: Starting weight: 233+ Last week: 138.8 This week: 135.8 Loss: 3 Have a great week! Susan

Life is too hectic! I usually deal with it pretty well, but I'm in pain and feeling vunerable. I wish I could take the rest of the week off, but I can't. It's nursing home week, I have to sign off on payables, I need to prepare for the Board of Director's meeting, I need to complete three quality initiative studies, I need to begin our capital expenditure projects, I need to prepare our center for re-survey....and on and on and on. Whaa! Ok, I'm done whinning for now.