Let me start by pleading with the drug manufacturers to create an ADHD medicine that's timed to be active in your system when you wake up in the morning. I know all of you out there have the same morning struggles I do -- those first 20-40 minutes are sheer agony! (As an aside, that's how we stumbled onto the Daytrana patch -- my doctor thought it would help if I could put it on my son 30 minutes before he woke up. No go! No matter what I tried, he felt the change in air temperature when I moved his blankets or pulled down the side of his PJs, and every morning did the "tuck & roll" with his blankets. I wasted many of the patches before I gave up on the pre-waking application.)

THE STORY: I try very hard to keep everybody's Rx in their own labeled and color-coded pill boxes to avoid any kind of mixup. Pink for Stephanie, blue for Kyle and clear for me. Easy, right? But true to my nature I don't always refill the boxes when they become empty so I frequently end up dispensing everybody's meds straight from the bottles. Unfortunately, my daughter tries very hard to avoid taking her medicine. I've found them tucked in the tracks of my closet doors, under the cabinets in the kitchen, tucked under the far side of her breakfast plate, at the bottom of a bottle or cup of water, etc. I have to physically put the pills in her mouth and watch her swallow them to be confident they are in her system.

One morning last October everything was cruising along as "normal", until it was time to drop my kids at school. My daughter was being particularly dramatic, pretending she didn't have the energy to walk, or even stay awake. I'm sad to say I yelled at her to knock it off, and even thought about driving away so she wouldn't have an audience. I'm glad I didn't! After reaching the point of desperation, I suddenly realized that maybe she wasn't faking. I watched her with more objectivity, I realized immediately something really was wrong. That's when it hit me: I had given her my high blood pressure medicine, which is virtually identical in size, shape & color as the Tenex she was taking at the time. I told my son to get back in the car, then raced to the e-room. They took her immediately and made her drink a huge amount of that black charcoal stuff, trying to get her to throw up. Her blood pressure was dangerously low and I got one heckuva scolding from the doctors/attendants who were caring for her. My heart broke that day, not just because I was the one who caused her to suffer, made it necessary for her to drink that awful stuff, and be so scared about what she was feeling and going through -- but also because I had treated her so badly when I thought she was faking.

Steph was in the e-room for about 4 hours until she was released. I After that incident I recommitted myself to paying more attention to the meds and keeping the pill boxes filled but of course I occasionally slip up.

Fast-forward to yesterday, when my kids came back from their first sleep-away camp. They both had their Rx bottles with them so for a week, I only had my own Rx to think about. This morning was a bit disorienting because I had to paw through their bags and baggage, trying to remember where I stashed their medicine when the camp nurse returned it to me. (I hear you all saying, "you should have done that the night before")

Kyle was easy -- he and I both use 30mg Daytrana patch so I just gave him one of mine. Stephanie takes both Focalin and Straterra and I take blood pressure medicine and an anti-depressant. I finally found Steph's bottles and put the day's dose in my hand. Without thinking I popped them into my mouth and chugged them down with water. I realized immediately what I had done but obviously it was too late! I was frantic -- not so much because I had taken her meds but because I had screwed up again. Luckily this time was me, not Stephanie. But it could have easily been a repeat of last October's e-room incident.

I had no idea what to expect. I know Straterra takes time to build up in your system but I've never taken Focalin. Luckily -- so luckily -- my day went just fine. I actually got a ton of work done. I took my kids to the community pool (and even jumped from the high diving board twice!), I finally hung the basketball hoop I bought months ago, painted the trim on the house which has needed it for a couple years and played basketball with my son, my daughter and the neighbor boy until I finally called it quits at midnight!

I'm writing this in such detail to warn others who control the family meds. Pay close attention to what you're doing, and find a way to make it mistake-proof! Clearly, I've been lucky twice. I thank God today didn't affect my daughter directly but it could have just as easily. I wasn't thinking this morning, and in that lapse of awareness, anything could have happened.

Thanks for listening.

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