Choosing  to medicate your child for a behavior problem is not an easy decision. It was one I made with a heavy heart, but I knew we had to try something. Medication has been my son’s savior.

I never thought of myself as a parent who would chose to medicate their child, but I am that parent.  I am not talking about medication for asthma or for a heart condition. I am talking about medication for behavior. Elijah has been on medication since the day he was born. He was eight week premature and came home on oxygen. He took medication to control his reactive airway and the fluid on his lungs. He has been on asthma medication since he was six months old. These are medications he has needed to keep him healthy.

When Elijah was five years old we completed an ADHD screener and his teacher did one also. We started him on ADHD medication, because his behavior was so out of control. This medication worked for a time, but we were always tweaking it. Later, at the age of eight he was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, and he began medication to control the tics that kept him from being able to have a “normal life”. He wore himself out with tics. He also started a medication to help control his aggression. Many children with Tourette Syndrome suffer from OCD as well as ADHD. Shortly after his Tourette diagnosis he started Zoloft to control his OCD. He was anxious all the time. This medication did wonders for him. He went from a child who was deathly afraid of our cat(he had not always been afraid of the cat) to one who picked up the cat and carried him around.

Elijah is now 13 years old. We have had more medication changes than I can count. he now takes four different pills at night with two inhalers and he takes seven different medications it the morning. I spend one day each week organizing his pills. Some medications require him to take two pills. Just this past December, Elijah became aggressive again. I took him to the doctor and we completely changed his ADHD medication. We waited until the Christmas break to do it and WOW, what an amazing change for him. I cannot imagine what Elijah’s life would be like without medication. Tourette Syndrome is a neurological condition, but it affects Elijah with behavior more than anything else. Medication has saved him and me.

I don’t think every child needs to be on medication, but for my son it has made a HUGE difference in his life. He could not function without his medication.

Choosing to medicate your child is not easy. I don’t judge those who choose not to medicate their child and I hope they don’t judge me for choosing to do so.