5 Year Old Diagnosed with Impulsive Control Disorder (Form of ADHD)

He sounds a lot like my son at that age. I remember how frustrating it was! The docs will start with the smallest dose of medication and work up from there. Keep careful track of what you're seeing and let the doc know. Your son may need a bump in the dosage. Mine was on 64mg of the Concerta before switching over to Vyvance. I've got to say I really liked the Concerta much better! Sometimes it takes a while before you find the right combination of medication and therapies. Stay strong -- I know what a struggle you're going through.

That's a very low dosage of Concerta, the usual starting point. It may not be doing anything because it's too low. I would call the doctor's office and let them know what you're seeing.

Doctors will up the dosage first before changing medications entirely. Don't get discouraged just yet. It can take a bit of work to get to just the right dosage or find the right medication, but when you do, it makes all the difference in the world.

Concerta has been fantastic for our son. He also used to be extreme with his behavior but when Concerta is active, no problems.

My son also has ADHD... We didn't have any luck with concentra either. So when you go back to the dr I would ask for a new medicine. My son also is bipolar so we are choosing not to put him on stimulates at this time either. One thing I have learned is not to let anyone make you feel like any less of a parent for choosing to medicate, in the end when the right meds are found you will see a difference. Good luck with your son and if you need some one to talk to further feel free to message me :)

We started with the same med/dose for our son. We didn't notice much of a difference until about 2 weeks in, and then he started having trouble sleeping. Doc changed the meds to a non stimulant, and it is an amazing difference.
Each kid is different, and what works for one doesn't always work for another. It's definitely a trial and error thing with the medication. Keep an eye out for improvements, but also know the side effects. Don't hesitate to talk to your doc about concerns. And remember, even when you find the "right" meds, he's a growing boy, so things are still going to be in a constant state of flux. Hang in there!

I don't want to be one of those people, but what are you feeding him? 5 is so young to be giving such medication, in my opinion. There are severe side effects from giving medicine to children, and I would definitely look into it if I were you. What do you do for discipline? Rewarding?

My son has been diagnosed with ADHD only 1.5 years ago--he is 11 now and we used medication for only 1 year. I don't know what made me quit this summer but I found that my son is a lot more pleasant without his meds than with his meds. Though I was glad that he was on meds for the time being because it helped him incredibly with his schoolwork. And even though before I was dead against meds I'd suggest now to everybody to go with meds so that you learn again what normal is. Anyhow, I liked his psychiatrist a lot and we had a lot of medication trials--not so much switching on the brand itself but dosage, medication that would help him with his sleeping problems, there was a time when we thought he needed to go on a med that would increase his appetite as we was loosing too much weight. So hang in there.

I was also though very adement that he would get psychological help at the same time and that was hard to initiate but then we found a professional that I like a lot. One thing that the psychiatrist even told me that if I was looking for a 'puppy school' and was hoping that I'd drop off the child and get back a functioning child after the sessions then that would not be the case and I might as well leave it be. Psychology visits are almost more parenting school then children learning something. And now that we have been going for a while I am so with him. My child goes in talks to the dr. and then 1/2 time we switch places and I go in alone. And he wants to hear how my life is going with my son. He never tells me what he talks to my son but gives me tips and strategies and I can ask him questions on how to handle different situations.

So besides finding the right meds for your son I encourage you to go and find a psychologist that you both like. But there are also lots of intersting rescources on the internet. They have helped me too a lot to understand more about ADHD and therefore make dr. visits totally different, rather than you needing to believe everything you can have a more active part on a lot of things.

2 sources I found interesting were: http://www.adhdfamilyonline.com/public/main.cfm
I am getting his free newsletters (too be honest I don't read too much there anymore but..) and he did an internet ADHD expo about a year ago where I found this lady: http://www.addclasses.com/classes/
She offeres about twice a month free tele seminars (I only have used her free stuff so far) and next week she has a free tele seminar on: The Stages – What to Expect After an ADD / ADHD Diagnosis

I think these are great rescources that you can use living overseas--which can be trying as well at times.

Good luck and know that you are not alone. As he gets older and older you will realize that your son is not the only one, actually I sometimes wonder if our special children become the 'norm' and the 'norm' children become lesser and lesser. But then again what is the 'norm'???

What kind of foods does your child eat? I know that certain children don't do well with certain foods. If you do some research you will find how avoiding certain foods had a huge impact on behavior. The child was a different person.