Sunny's Getting Bigger (Another Medication Post)

Sunny has gained quite a bit of weight since coming to us. He's about ten pounds overweight for his age. The scary thing is, it's all muscle. He doesn't look particularly big... he's just very, very solid.

His old swim teacher explained to me that he had a tough time teaching Sunny because of his muscular build. Skinny kids float, chunky kids float, but Sunny sinks unless he forcefully uses his arms.

I think the 15% weight gain is turning his medication into a proportionally lower dose. It was already a very low dose... now I'm forced to consider the horrible prospect of raising it.

The medication is just so closely linked to his school. When he forgets it in the morning, or when we were trying to get him off it last year, his school performance just falls apart, and he can't write at all. He becomes so much more unhappy. He keeps falling into a cycle... frustration, anger, attempt to leave the situation that's making him angry, rebound back because he's scared of being alone, getting angrier, melting down, blaming himself. He still goes through those cycles on the medication, they're just a lot more frequent and severe when he's not on it.

Last night it was a simple request "please come over here, it looks like you need some chapstick" that started it off.

I don't want him to have to take medication for the rest of his childhood. He doesn't have any side effects now, but what if we raised the dose? What if he stays on it for years?

I'm going to try something new... neurofeedback. I've been researching it a lot. I'm not a believer in alternative medicine at all -- I think scientific trials are better proof than anecdotes or tradition. Neurofeedback seems like it's in a different category: promising, though not fully proven. The medication carries just as many if not more unknowns, however. With neurofeedback, the beneficial effects are supposed to be permanent.

The medication is free, because of Medicaid. A full treatment of neurofeedback might cost more than $5000. It's not covered by any insurance. The cost makes me nauseous. What if it doesn't work and turns out to be a complete waste?

I'm just thinking out loud. I haven't come to a decision yet, but I'm leaning toward giving the neurofeedback a try.

It's not like we're completely at the end of our rope. Sunny's behavior can be annoying at times, and I'm very worried about his future in school, but most of the time he's just a great little peppy kid.

On the plus side, he's had times recently when his focus is fantastic. Honestly, I never thought he would be able to play with his Star Wars Lego kits. Their boxes even say they're really for ages 8 and up. After a few rocky starts, he's starting to get the hang of it. He can focus and work on putting them together for up to half an hour at a time.

Sunny also spent more than half an hour yesterday taking apart a coffee machine. Guy likes to give Sunny small broken appliances to take apart, using real tools (hammer, miniature power screwdriver, pliers, wire cutter). Guy says the trick is to cut off the power cord first so Sunny won't be tempted to plug it into anything. Every ten minutes or so, Sunny would run into the house, show us a piece of the coffee machine, and breathlessly explain his theory behind why it worked.

We're also considering child modeling for Sunny. It's something he might really enjoy, because he's a total camera ham. Maybe we could pay for his neurofeedback that way! Errr... that sounds unethical, but I have to be honest, it's crossed my mind. Anyway, that's an easier decision. If he likes it, we do it; if he doesn't like it, we don't.