To medicate, or live life on the edge....

Ah....the moments of sibling love....a punch here, a shove there, a bite on the shoulder...
Ben will always be a little unsure when the game is over....when the last push or playful shove has occurred. He will always take the joke one step over the line....say silly or inappropriate things....and be, well....Ben.
    While at a follow up appointment today for his neurologist we were asked what we needed from the doctor. He had gone over all the medications that Ben has stopped taking, he noted the weight gain and general happiness of the boy in his office and seemed pleased. I commented that of all the things that seem to pop up in his daily life anxiety seems to come to the front as a major problem....then I tried to site examples and the only ones I could think of were times at the old non patriotic school....so is he still stressed out? Anxious? I don't know, I didn't really have a good example of his behavior when he is stressed and yet I was given a new prescription to help with this vague symptom.
After all we have been through with medication and this boy I would have expected a little fight from the doctor, a little warning, that well.....he might be better off to just learn to deal with things without the help of Big Pharma.....nope. Here ya go....here is your Rx.....
I would have liked to hear, "Have you tried anything else? Any other form of stress management?"
Nope.
Just a new drug to try....one that on closer inspection I wouldn't give to my worst enemy let alone my sweet little boy.....
So back to square one, back to looking for a way to teach him to cope with the things that drive him nuts....deep breathing....taking a walk, zoning out with some angry birds.....all of these are good and have very few side effects....(those birds can be pretty darn addictive....)
With every change, as the dust settles, I see Ben. I see him back to his funny carefree self. I hear with delight all his quirky explanations, I laugh with him at all his crazy jokes...like this one,
"What do you call a beautiful sock monkey?"
wait for it........
Sock-xy
get it?
like sexy but with socks.....
Very funny kid I have.
I don't know if we will ever go back to the medicated world. He does take two medicines right now, one for low thyroid and one to help with his Diabetes Insipidus....(remember he loves to drink water and pee constantly) He thinks those two are enough. Perhaps he is right. I am glad he is older and can have a say in what is happening to him. I listen when he tells me that he just wants to go it drug free.....
Big Pharma has lost one recruit....sadly I am sure they have many many more in the wings...