Our son has made a lot of progress but still has attention deficits and anxiety issues that may be hindering him from staying more focused at school. Can medication help?
Until now, we have taken the biomedical approach, using mostly natural supplements, and therapy, to try to make inroads in this regard. But one of the recommendations of the recent psychological testing that we had done is to consider medication.
Turning to drugs is contrary to my natural tendencies of avoiding the use of medication unless absolutely necessary. My personal belief is that drugs combat the symptoms but not the source of whatever problem you are treating. And so, I have been reluctant to turn to medication with my son.
I was hoping that the biomedical treatments would help address the core issues of my son’s disorders. I wanted to use a therapeutic approach to teach better behavior without the use of drugs.
But I see every day that my son continues to have attention deficits. When he does homework, he has difficulty staying on task. It is a challenge to get him to listen and follow directions.
And so, if an expert is suggesting that medication may help, we need to seriously consider it.
From what I understand, you can often tell fairly quickly whether or not a medication is having a positive or negative effect. So, a part of me thinks that it couldn’t hurt to try, just to see if it makes an impact.
Still, it feels like a big decision. And although it is not irreversible, it feels like we have come to a major fork in the road. We will ponder our choice carefully.
