How can I know?

As parents we tend to worry about how the decisions we make for our children will impact them later in life. We can’t possibly know for certain if, when and how what we do will affect them. We try to do right by them with all the information we have at the time, but it’s by no means a perfect system.

My son was recently diagnosed with ADHD and treatment options are now being discussed. One that has been thrown on the table is medication. His doctor thinks it will be beneficial but I am not so sure. I am doing my reading on various strategies to help folks with ADHD manage the condition but still I am stuck.

I keep coming back to being unable to know what the future will hold. I don’t want to employ a strategy that doesn’t work or that has lasting negative impacts on him. I don’t want to put him on medication when other interventions may help. But I also don’t want to avoid using medication when they may actually help.

I wish I could know what the right approach is. I wish it was possible to know how he would feel after various intervention methods. There’s a lot of uncertainty but I just want to do what’s best.

If you are an adult with ADHD and feel comfortable sharing, please share with me about your diagnosis. What was it like for you before diagnosis and then after any intervention? Do you wish your parents did things differently/better? What do you wish they knew?