Putting your child on medication for something other than a physical illness can be a scary and overwhelming thing for any parent.

You read all kinds of crazy things online about how terrible Big Pharm is and medicating your child is bad. It’s hard to pull out the fact from within the paranoid, conspiracy-laden fiction.

I thought that I would sorta highlight what I do for my kids and perhaps it can serve as a guideline for others trying to make this difficult decision.

I had to take Emmett to his psychiatrist’s office yesterday to deal with his medication and I want to share the mental/emotional process I go through we hen making these types of decisions.

After discussing things in regards to Emmett’s ADHD and extreme anxiety with Dr. Reynolds office, we decided to make some changes to his medications.

Anxiety is one of Emmett’s most prominent challenges and it’s something that has proven very difficult to manage.

I’m going to spend the next few days weening him off his current anxiety medication and moving him over to something else that commonly used to help with things like separation anxiety, which I think is at the root of Emmett’s tummy aches every morning before school.

The second change is going to be with his ADHD medication.

Currently, his medication completely wipes out his appetite and he’s losing weight.  The switch will hopefully improve his appetite and will also help keep him from crashing when the meds wear off in the afternoon.

Making decisions about medicating my kids is never an easy one for me.

I believe that when used properly, under the right conditions and for the right reasons, medication can greatly improve one’s quality of life.

Even with the above paragraph being true, it’s not necessarily easy to put my kids on meds or even make changes to them.

It comes down to trusting my kid’s doctors, research, research, and more research.  I educate myself because the more I know, the better position I’ll be in to make a responsible decision.

At the end of the day, it comes down to what’s best for the kids.  Will this medication improve their quality of life? Will it help them in school?

If the answer is yes, then I know I’m doing it for the right reasons.

Lastly, I always reevaluate the situation and touch base with their doctors on a regular basis, in order to make sure that there isn’t a need for change or discontinuation.