Hi Phoebe2
I feel for you so much, I really do. It can be challenging enough raising a 6 year old, let alone a 6 year old who struggles with a seriously unique nature.
Wondering whether it's time to go back to the person who prescribed the med and say something along the lines of 'My son has become so intensely energetic and not in a happy or calm way. We need to address this, as I'm finding I just can't manage it'. With Ritalin being a stimulant, maybe the dose needs adjusting or maybe looking into an alternative med could be an option.
It can definitely be much easier speaking to an adult who struggles with ADHD than it can a young child. For an adult, it's easier for them to express their thoughts and feelings, especially when it comes to how they're experiencing medication side effects. I was just talking to my 22yo daughter who's on a different ADHD med from your son and she was telling me one of the side effects of the med she's on can be agitation at times. While she says her focus has improved out of sight while on the med, if someone tries to shift her focus away from what she's hyper fixated on, she can become incredibly agitated. I asked her whether she knows why she feels agitated, which led her to wonder whether the high she gets from being super focused is the issue. In other words it's the threat of being disconnected from her dopamine fix (gained through that which gives her a sense of excitement, joy, satisfaction etc).
Throughout most of my daughter's school years, it was a struggle to get her out of bed because lying in bed felt calming. Hard to get her out of the shower, based on the shower feeling satisfying. Hard to get her to do anything she felt as boring. She's definitely a natural 'feeler' and always has been. A calm or basic feeler is one thing. A super intense feeler will fight with anyone who tries to stop them from feeling exactly how they want to feel life.
