Medications

Mom in the Trench wrote this morning about her reluctance to used medications and she recently read that Mountain Dew may be an option. I first heard the Mountain Dew advice about 13 years ago when a former foster son's behaviors were driving me up the wall and we tried it a few times with much hope but limited success. You can find info on Mountain Dew for kids with FASD / ADHD here.

I used to say that my children would never end up on brain altering medications. Then I slowly realized that their brains had already been altered and it might be a kindness to help them. I would be very careful about recommending medications for everyone with FASD and I would not suggest that one particular combination is helpful for everyone. Ben cannot have stimulants, they make his aggression worse. Anna is helped incredibly by a stimulant (we won the battle I wrote about in that last link, by the way) and would not be able to attend school without it. Anna's regulatory system and sensory processing disorders are calmed by a combination of stimulant and mood stabilizer and without them she can get very dysregulated and overwhelmed.

Everyone with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is unique depending on individual factors and how much alcohol was used and when the use occurred during brain development. Some people also have co-occurring mental health issues (bi-polar and FASD or ADHD and FASD and RAD). There is no "one treatment fits all" so it is crucial to find a professional who understands the complexity of FASD if medications are used and that is no easy task sometimes. (I just read this last link and I had forgotten that Anna could not return to occupational therapy without meds- this blog serves as a great historical document for a forgetful mom.)

The answer will never be found in a pill and professionals must work together with families on what is best for each individual, but some people with FASD have been helped by medications like these. And Ben and Anna, despite my initial reluctance, have been two of them.