Looking for Some Support on My Childs Medical Issues

C., my son has a whole in his heart that he has had since birth and is now 5. He also doesn't gain weight because it takes so many calories to pump his heart. When we were told about this, his doctor said that we need to feed him as much fat as possible. This means high sugar, starchy foods. So we have been doing chocolate shakes, cake, cookies, pudding anything along those lines. It's not hard to get him to eat those things and in time it may be hard to change the habbit once the whole is fixed, but that is what works, so we do it for him. He also eats whenever he wants. For this reason I stay home with him. He eatss all the time throughout the day and I knew a daycare wouldn't allow that. He usually eats about every hour. I know it seems weird to allow this type of habit but he has been much better since we started this.

I had the same promblem as growing up and i am ADHD too. Frist of all the ADHD meds causes you to never get hungry. I have been on the ADHD meds since i was 6 until just a few months ago they took me off of the meds due to heart problems. I have aways had to force my self too eat when i was on the meds. When growing up i was under weight the doctor had me to drink ensure before bed time. The doctors told my parents to let me eat what ever i wanted so if i wanted pizza or cake for breakfest thats what i had. The doctor told my parents to write a letter to the school saying that i was not aloud to leave the lunch room until i ate all my lunch and a teacher would check my lunch before i would get up. Since i want to play with my friends i would eat my lunch. I was also aways sick to and even had asthma. Today i wish i had a problem with gaining weight. I turned out ok. I had problems with weight gain until i hit about 20. Today i only get sick maybe once a year. So dont worry he will be ok.

I have a 7 year old son that has Hydrocephalus and ADHD. He went through the same problems with the eating. His doctor finally had to give him a syrup that would make him hungry so that he would eat. I cant remember what it was called but we gave it to him about 1/2 hour before each meal and it worked. After awhile we didnt have to give it to him any more and he would still eat. You could ask your doctor about the syrup and see what they say.

Well my daugher is nearly 3 and you are lucky if she eats 3 bites a day. She does drink but she only wants juice of any sort. She hasn't gained a pound in a year at all odds. We mention it to her Dr. all the time. She tells us she will eat when she wants to. That never happens. She is also always sick. She had the "flu" from christmas till days after new years...Took her to the ER one night finally. They refused to help her. Told us to bring her back at noon. She wasn't dehydrated enough in their opinion. Regardless, you get my point. My family has Lupus really bad so I am insisting that she gets checked for it. Could be a reason why she is always sick. You know I guess I am just telling you that I am in your same situation. I really have no information that can assist you as I have never found any myself. Just thought it would be nice to know that you are not alone. If you find a Dr. that is listening to you could you please drop me a line and give me there name? I would really appreciate it.

Hi C., I don't have any personal advice to offer you altho I do have a son that was FTT when he was younger and was fed with a feeding tube for a while and in the end turned out to be immune deficient. I did want to offer you a great support site tho that has helped me tremendously during that time and still today. It is called Parent-2-Parent and they offer a lot of support on topic from feeding aversion to FTT and ADHD and just about everything else you can think of. Please stop by and see if they can offer any suggestions. Hugs. http://www.parent-2-parent.com/forum/index.php

A.

C. has your son ever had the blood test for immune deficiency? It sounds like maybe he doesn't have an immune system if he catches everything and has a hard time getting over everything he catches... maybe something to look in to? I don't know much about it, but I did read an article about how it is the most passed over diagnosis and a simple blood test would catch it. It has to be so scary for you!

ADHD medication really suppresses the appitite. We had that problem with my stepson. What we were told to do is to stop the medication on weekends and school breaks so that he will have a chance to grow and eat. He lived with us so I understand the hesitation to stop the meds for the weekend but the meds can stunt their growth. Another problem could be that Oppositional defience disorder also goes along with ADHD sometimes so eating can become a control issue as well. Always check with the doctor before stopping meds but when we took him off he ate like a horse.

I had a step son that had ADHD and he was on medication for it. I ended up taking him off of it because he was barely eating and complained that his stomache hurt when he ate. After I took him off the meds he started eating again. I know that children are difficult to deal with when the have adhd, but I chose to deal with it instead of him getting an ulcer or something worse. Talk to your doctor about the meds and see if they can change it or something. I know they have new meds out now that might be more helpful for your child. Good luck to you!!