We had a rare day yesterday. The kids had a late soccer practice -- 7-8 p.m. And Abby, who was awake until 10:30 p.m. Sunday night woke up at 5 a.m. Monday. We made the executive decision to delay her medication (Vyvanse) on Monday until about the time I dropped her off at school so that she'd still have SOME focus left for soccer practice. But it was Monday, the busiest of mornings, and I forgot my phone and purse. My son forgot his lunch. I returned home once after dropping the kids off at school and delivered the lunch. Ten minutes later I realized I had forgotten to give Abby her pill!
At this point, my day was already delayed. I wasn't turning around again. Dan told me to be sure to contact her teacher and giver her a heads-up, but it was Monday. And I still had 20 minutes of driving, a long to-do list at my desk. It was after school hours when I remembered that I'd forgotten.
Monday evening was interesting. She was focusing decently, but she was VERY energetic. It was quite obvious to us that she was unmedicated. Her voice teacher, who happens to specialize in children with behavior/emotional disorders, clued in, too. In fact, Abby started her lesson out by jumping on Jeni's furniture. Yikes!
She didn't listen very well at soccer practice, and I took a fascinating video of her watching a few minutes of television. It's insane how much she was moving!
So the next day she had a little tummy ache, and I discovered she had taken a science test while unmedicated on Monday. I definitely couldn't forget to send the teacher a note. I didn't, and I learned two surprising things:
1. Her teacher didn't notice that she hadn't taken her pill. That was shocking to me, since every other teacher has been able to discern those rare days within five minutes. Maybe this is a good thing.
And 2. She found Abby passed out at her desk during a 10-minute study period and then struggled to keep her awake all day.
What?!? My daughter was sleeping? Without Melatonin? All on her own? It turns out that extreme sleepiness/fatigue is a possible effect of skipping or missing a dose of Vyvanse. I'm thinking her tummy ache was, too, so even though it sounds tempting to skip a dose in order to get this child to sleep, it's not a good idea for the long-term effectiveness of Vyvanse.
This day off meds wasn't the worst by far. It was almost amusing to see her on the move as much as she was! Much more dramatically than when it wears off at night. In general these rarest of days are a reminder to us -- and to Abby -- that her medication helps her focus and helps us function well as a family. It's a reminder of how far we've come and that medication is definitely not a bad thing.
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