Tracking medications is not done by most parents, but it's easier than you imagine and way more important than the credit you're giving it.
Children with RAD often get prescribed a slew of supplements and psychotropic medications: ADHD, anxiety, depression, impulse control, sleep, enuresis, anti-psychotics, etc. You think you can keep it straight, but in no time you've found that it is actually SO EASY to lose track of it all! Whoops.
Psychiatrist: "So, which medications has your child been on?"
Parent: "Uh, all of them I think."
Doctors don't usually go for that answer. And do you know what the next thing they'll want to do is? BASELINE.
Psychiatrist: "Ok, well then, I think I'd like to wean him off all his meds, see where we're at (a.k.a. what kind of hell that causes for everyone) and then start over." Yuck.
Even if this doesn't create a living hell for you, it means you're starting over EVERY TIME or at least starting with "Oh, I think he was on...and I think it was for...and I think he stopped it...and I think maybe it made him feel...", which isn't much, folks.
If you want your child's treatment to be scientifically based,
then you (not the scientific doctors) need to collect and track the data.
If you have a record of medications in progress, as I'm proposing, then you can just hand the psychiatrist your list and you're already WORLDS AHEAD in finding something helpful because you've just handed the doctor data instead of constantly starting from scratch.
So here's what you do.
1. Take a cheap 8.5"x11" notebook.
2. Write the following across the top in marker / pen.
Start Date - Medication - Prescribing Dr. - Intended Reason- Stop Date- Reasons it was DC'd
Possible Effects by Date:
3. Take the notebook with you to all appointments. During the appointment ask the doctor, "So what issues are you hoping this medication will help with again?" Sometimes doctors use pills for reasons that aren't the typical use. You need to know what he's aiming for.
4. Ideally, you want to write the date that your child actually starts ingesting the medication, not the date it was prescribed. Sometimes there are hiccups in getting the pill started, so knowing exactly when it started vs. when the doctor ordered it is important.
5. DC stands for Discontinued. This category and the "Possible Effects" are super important! It's one thing to know that at one time the child was on Diazepam, but it's another thing to know how it effected the child. For instance, if a med made your child lactate, that's good to know, and future psychiatrists will want to beware of medications that could increase those related hormones.
6. "Possible Effects by Date": Just leave several lines here so you can add things you notice as you notice them with the date on which the behavior/observation occurred. You'll need to leave several lines because there's a good chance your child is on more than one prescription at a time and you'll need to put details for the other med several lines down from this one or give each medication a whole page. That's ok too.
So grab a notebook and you're off and running!