ADHD

My son is almost 7 years old.
He has ADHD.
I know. I know. There are mass amounts of people who truly believe that ADD/ADHD doesn't exist. I know this because once upon a time I was one of those people. It took me forever to accept it. As a parent, it is nearly impossible to admit or accept that anything could possibly be wrong with our children. I remember joking when he was a toddler that "I guess I didn't get one of those docile children." He was active. Really, really active. He never slept. But I thought it was no more than that. He was just on the go. All the time.
In hindsight, there were clues. All kinds of signs that I either didn't notice or chose to ignore. I focused on his intelligence which was off the charts. His speech and vocabulary which was years and years ahead. His ways of saying the most inappropriate things at the most inappropriate times but still managing to charm the pants off whoever he had made "said" inappropriate comment to. His ability to focus so intently on something that at times I thought he was in a trance.
Looking back, I wouldn't change the way in which I came to accept that my son was "different" than most of the kids I encountered. I took my time. We saw doctors. I read books. I searched the Internet. We saw more doctors. We met with his teacher. We saw more doctors.
I was careful and tried everything I could. I removed all the sugar he was consuming. No change. I removed any possibility of food allergies. No change. I disallowed all food dyes. No change. I took away all of his video games and took away all television. No change. I asked his teacher to give him a second desk and let him move freely between the two. A little, tiny change. I blamed myself and tried to figure out what I had done wrong. (This also resulted in no change.) Things were getting worse by the day. School was a nightmare. He'd cry and scream daily begging not to have to go. And finally after a year and a half I made what I felt was my last resort choice. The choice I had so resisted from the start. The choice I had sworn I would never do.
I started my son on medication. I made an educated and informed decision for my son. I did not make it lightly. I begged his pediatrician to refer him for a cardiac workup prior to starting the medication. (I lost that battle.) The day he started it was one of the scariest days of my life.
But it worked. I'll never forget the look on my son's face as he was suddenly able to produce at school. The calm that came over him. The realization that I should have tried this sooner. But ultimately the relief in the face of a 5 year old boy who had nearly lost all hope. It was that, that I realized that day. He had given up. My beautiful, brilliant baby had given up. And the medicine that I had so adamantly refused to try, in one day, gave him hope.
It's never easy with him. I don't expect it to be. And I have found with him that just when something starts to work really well is when I need to be most prepared for setbacks. But he's hopeful now. He's seen what he's able to do. And he's finally starting to believe in himself again. And seeing that gives me hope and keeps me strong.
If there's anything I've learned raising a child with ADHD it's this... everything must be taken one day at a time. And I've got all the time in the world.