Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Un-Medicated

I had to fill a prescription for Olivia before her dentist appointment last week. I dropped of the prescription at the pharmacy and walked away. Twenty minutes later I was called back to the counter. Apparently they didn’t have O’s new prescription card. This card was new back in April of 2012.

It surprised me that we hadn’t had to get prescription medicine for Olivia in over ten months. She’s really not sick all that often but there for a while it seemed like we were pushing antibiotics into her every couple of months.

I paused in that moment and thanked God and the stars and leprechauns that Olivia is so healthy. I know how lucky we are.

I have a lot of ‘friends’ on Facebook with kids affected by 5p- syndrome. These people are amazing and give me so much perspective when it comes to Olivia and all the things she can do and will do. The very fact that she currently takes no medications at all is amazing when you think about everything than can happen to a person with 5p-.

When she was two and first diagnosed, her doctor told me to put her back on whole milk to help her gain weight.

I agreed to do this but mentioned my concern over constipation becoming more of an issue with the addition of whole milk to her diet.

The doctor off-handedly said that Miralax works very well at helping ease constipation. I took that under advisement, deciding we’d wait and see.

See…I realize that Miralax is a wonderful thing and I’m grateful that it’s out there for those who need it. But I wanted to see if we could adjust O’s diet in ways to keep her off even a medicine like Miralax. She’s got enough going on in her little system that I’d like to keep chemicals to a minimum.

So we give her apple juice a few times a week. And we make sure her food intake is varied and has plenty of fiber.

But I think the biggest bonus to O’s regularity is the fact that Tom, her daily morning caregiver is on the OCD side of the spectrum.

He’s got her on a schedule. This schedule starts with breakfast, leads to practice writing, then to morning snack, then poo time, then lunch and teeth brushing. Then they change her into her school clothes, put her shoes and coat on her and wait for the bus.

This is their morning. Every morning. And it works for them both. Olivia’s little body seems to like this schedule because it makes pooing easier, a habit if you will. Tom did this because he feared her having to go at school. Whatever the reason I’m so, so grateful that we can keep her un-medicated, letting her body work on its own.

This is not a judgment against anyone who does medicate. I realize that sometimes, it’s the only thing that works. We just got lucky enough to find something else that works. If it ever stops working? I’ll be the first in line to purchase a case of Miralax to make my girl comfortable.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think it's great! I hate meds and my daughter has needed them since birth and now my youngest too. Growing up around people who abuse medications made me hate them and as I'm learned for about the negative affects on our bodies I decided to steer away from them and I always did. And even though I have no choice but to use them I still look forward to the possibility to leave it all behind one day.