Need Advice on ADHD

[txgrneyes]

Ok ...I am finally coming to my fellow pixies with something more personal that the topics we talk about on here.

My son (age 7) has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is now on medication (started on 10/03/05). Of course i am terrified and confused about all of this. With all the information on the web I just want to here from someone that is going through this too.

If anyone has any information or advice to give another parent please do. I just need help making since out of the situation.

If you would rather contact me via email go ahead. Either pm here or write email at: [email protected]


Thanks for your time.

[Lilith]

I have a student currently who is literally a completely different person once she is on her meds. She is the first student I have ever had who truly can not function without it. For students like that one I am very glad we have it.

[Fangtasia]

My eldest (ADD) was a nightmare without the meds....he's off them now...but i must say i was very thankful to have them available to help him and keep me sane

My youngest has ADHD and the meds also are a great help for him too

Believe me i fought like mad and denied for years that there was anything wrong....but after seeing the good the meds can do....well all i can say is thank the gawds

[Aqua]

I also was very much against putting my child on meds, but it finally came down to that being the last option. Well, that or watch her struggle and fail classes. We have worked very closely with the Dr and done lots of evaluations to make sure she was not on any more dosage than needed and it has helped a great deal without her being a zombie-like or displaying a different personality. It helps her focus, although she still has to work on it concentrating as well.

[jseal]

txgrneyes,

Listen to Alassë. If the diagnosis is correct, then properly administered medication can enable you son to lead a normal life. One of my nephews has ADHD, and everyone can see the behavior change when he is on and when he is off his meds.

[scotzoidman]

Hits close to home for me...#1 son was first diagnosed with ADHD at 4(!!?!), his first go-round with meds did not go well at all...I think it was a couple of years before we were willing to try them again, but when we did, we became true fans of Ritalin...unfortunately, it has turned out his probs go far beyond just ADHD to fall under the broad umbrella of something called Asperger's Syndrome, which can have ADD as a component...as a parent, you need to educate yourself on ADHD, since some educators want to shove any troublesome child onto meds, one of #2 son's teachers tried to suggest he might be ADHD to my wife, until the asst principal brought up that we had another at home with it, & she pointed out to the teach that "this lady would know"...my point being that I have seen both sides to the issue of giving kids meds, they can be a wonderful thing, but they are also sometimes pushed onto the child who is just strong-willed & active...to repeat, educate yourself, & if it does improve your child's behavior, you will know right away if you've made the right call...

[Scarecrow]

I have to agree with the previous posters, if the child needs the meds and gets the proper dose it will do wounder for the child. One word of advice, do not take a ritalin by mistake, you will be wired for 3 days, I know.

[bare4you]

I too am the parent of a child who was diagnosed with ADHD many years ago. She is my oldest and when we decided to put her on the meds I was scared, mad as hell, and very confused. I used to think it was just a ploy the teachers used to "pigeon-hole" the kids they didn't have the time to deal with. As my daughter grew though I realized there was a problem. We tried everything we could to keep her off the meds.

It was a social stigma for the daughter as much as a concern for her mom and I. She hated needing the extra help in class and had a difficult time accepting the fact that she was ADHD. Knowing what I now know, she needed so much more than we could offer her.

I don't regret keeping her on the meds until she was old enough to make her own decision whether or not to keep taking them (well into her high school years). There may be alternative treatments, but nothing worked for her.

You'll be in my thoughts as you go through this. You aren't alone! There are support groups in most cities you can seek out for help.

[calihotguy]

here I chime in as someone who has actually treated ADHD and other mental disorders.....

ADHD I believe is currently being diagnosed somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% of the population, but in fact studies estimate that only 3-5% of the population actually is truly medically ADHD.

In context of Ridilin and other ADHD drug stimulants, studies have proven conclusively that if you give such drugs to anyone, their attention and focus will increase. It is why currently ADHD drugs are so hot in colleges, med schools, and law schools....allows you to stay up longer with more focus and coming down off of it isn't that bad. So a lot of parents say, well my kid obviously has ADHD cause the meds work...the problem is anyone can say that. The meds truly are for those who need it to function, not just so they can perform better Would you put yourself on speed just so u could get more done in a day and have more energy? Same thing with using steroids for athletic performance. Sure your performance would improve, but it does have some negative effects because your body does not require speed to function.

Secondly, a sure fire way to tell if your kid has ADHD is ask observe your child by placing your kid in a situation where s/he enjoys what s/he is doing. Can s/he concentrate when s/he wants to? Is it simply a matter of focus or is it a matter of liking variety? Many kids have a limited attention span, that is called being a kid...it does not mean they cannot focus when they are desire to or are made to through proper discipline and a proper environment. In treating families and children myself, generally most of the problems I have seen that are symptomatic of ADHD or ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder which can look like ADHD) can generally be resolved through time in implenting consistent discipline and operant conditioning (reward/punishment systems).

So steps before putting your kids on medication:
See a behavioral therapist (kid individually and to look into operant conditioning for your own parenting style)
See a family therapist (with the whole family)
Take a parenting class
Observe your child at school yourself
Talk to the teachers, possibly work out a reward/punishment system with them that you can use at home

ADHD drugs are stimulants which have side effects and generally are not permanant solutions. At some point they will have to get off the drugs, the drugs do have side effects (both physical and psychological), sometimes they can be addictive, and generally allow you to avoid the real issues that might make that child out of control (whether they be in the family or with the kid itself).

Psychotropic medicines are meant to stablize the situation so someone can be more susceptible to therapy and learning. Psychological Drugs in general are NEVER permanant solutions, if anything they should only be used up to the point where you can learn not to need them anymore.

[Lilith]

calihotguy are you a behavior specialist, a psych student, or an education major?

[wyndhy]

whatever he is(*cough*unemployedfoodcritic*cough* :D) i agree with much of what he said on principal (not the stats or the med advice...no clue about those) but to expound slightly.... imho, as a society we are so gd quick to medicate and diagnose. kids are weird, ya know? lol and if you show me a kid who can keep their attention on something for more than a half an hour, i'll show you the kid who really needs the meds (kidding!…kinda). i'm not saying that there is never a time to medicate a child for behavioral ‘deficiencies’ or deviations is more like it. that's the problem, mayhap...deviations from the norm..i think that we have become too focused on what we think would be perfect and normal, but we forgot that 'perfect' and 'normal' are subjective and individual.

i’m sorry i don’t have any advice, txgrneyes…it’s just an opinion i wanted to share. it’s so frightening trying to figure out what’s the right and good thing to do for your kids and it’s even more frightening waiting around to see if you’ve made the wisest choice. the best of luck and health to you and your family!!!

[calihotguy]

lilith....I have a masters degree in clinical psychology emphasis in marriage and family therapy, I have been practicing therapy basically for the last 2 year and up until about a month ago I taught a parenting class for about a year and a half.

I have seen individuals, children, couples, and families as a marriage and family therapist intern. I still have a lot of hours left to be completely licensed, but in my own estimate I have a good amount of experience and education.

Since I wrote the earlier response somewhat quickly, an adendum (sp?)...

I am not against medication...in fact, conjunctive therapy is generally the best way to go. However, ADHD is a propoganda based epidemic in our society that searches for quick fixes instead of long-term consistent and healthy parenting. My only contention is that not seeking out all options before medication or relying on medication soley is the wrong way to go.

Specifically with children, I believe medication should be avoided as often as possible because often problems are behavioral and not physiological....it is only easier to look at physiology because popping a pill seems more palatable than the struggles of day to day efforts of increased or more efficient parenting. However, there are cases (such as that 3-5%) whom truly need medication simply to function and for those, I completely recommend it.

Also I meant to recommend before to see an occupational therapist and/or a behavioral therapist.

Medication can actually be a permanant treatment (not a solution) for certain conditions....bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders (schizophrenia, delusional disorder, etc.), certain people with extreme personality disorders, and a few physiologically based disorders first found in childhood (like tourettes, extreme examples of authentic cases of ADHD, asbergers, autism, etc).

For any parents reading this, while on the topic of medication for children, a warning... the only antidepressant that has been approved by the FDA to be used on children is prozac. Although most antidepressants generally use the same mechanisms, they have not been tested like prozac on children... the problem is that doesn't stop many doctors and parents from giving them to their children (particularly teenagers).

[txgrneyes]

Well, I want to start off by thanking yall for the comments and advice yall are so willing to give. I was a bit worried about posting this type of issue on here but I needed to reach out.

To give you a bit of history this has started about a year ago. The teacher he had last year mentioned it only because he was showing the same symtoms as her oldest son ( she has three) which just happened to have ADHD. But I really thought she was just being "lazy" when it came to her teaching skills. That was wrong on my part. But I did however get him tested at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas mainly for Dyslexia. They diagnosed him with Developmental Dyslexia and Developmental Cordination Disorder. And did adv for me to get him tested for ADHD. So I set up appointments with 3 mental health docs. And talked with each one myself without my child. Being a mom I check and recheck things out. Anyway, I decided on one and made another appointment to get my son tested. We saw this doc about 4 times and filled out numerous questionairs. My family and the teachers also filled out the questionairs too. He then diagnosed my son with ADHD. So now we are seeing another doc that can prescribe meds and specializes in children. I did stress to the doc that I really didn't want him on meds but I do want him to succeed in school. She understood and adv she also has ADHD and knows what he is going through. So he is on Strattera 25 mgs.that he takes once a day. He seems to be doin ok he has only been on the meds a little over a week.

[Lilith]

calihotguy, I was just asking because I have worked extensively in ABA programs. I would also suggest that there are therapies being developed everyday to try to tackle some of the "brain wiring" issues that seem to accompany these behaviors. I have seen some be useful in making changes in children early to prevent some of the educational difficulties that arrise.

[jseal]

txgrneyes,

Good luck to you and yours.

[calihotguy]

that is why I suggested seeing a behavioral or occupational therapist....

New approaches I am sure are being attempted everyday, and all are some derivation of conditioning. Its a very complex field where something great like biofeedback can be invented and something terrible like assisted communication with autistics can be used and wrongfully promoted.

I am wary of medication because why introduce a mind or chemically altering substance into a child whose body chemistry and physiology is not yet fixed and can be easily influenced (whether beneficially or to the child's detriment). That is why I say avoid meds when possible.

So TX Green Eyes, it seems you have done your homework....but again, the best approach is one that comes from all angles. If all the experts you have consulted says your child needs meds, use them, but do not neglect the other side which is the behavioral adjustments and conjunctive therapy.

[Lilith]

something terrible like assisted communication with autistics can be used and wrongfully promoted.


:x: PECS/ is bullshit! I make my babieswith Autism talk. If they have the physical ability then by God/Goddess they should just plan on coming around cause I don't plan on giving up til they do :D

Sorry for the highjack just nice to hear someone else with a similar view. Often I feel like i'm standing alone on my soapbox.

[scotzoidman]

tx, it sounds to me like you came into this thing with just the right balance of skepticism to not settle for the first opinion (or the 2nd or 3rd ;) ) & the willingness to educate yourself about something so critical to the future of your young'n...here's hoping for the best for yours, mine is almost 23 & still we struggle to bring him up to speed with the real world...