ADHD Medication - Springfield,MO

I always direct people to google Dr. Hallowell-he's the top 'doc' in terms of ADHD studies esp the drugs.

I also recommend visiting chadd.org which is an organization for kids/parents with ADD..and finally look up the DVD-documentary...ADD & Lovin' it.

Drugs diagnosed correctly are nothing to be frightened of-they will help immensely!!!!!! I promise!

My son cannot take a stimulant. The side effects were to severe for him. We finally settled on Intuniv 2 mg every other day. It's not a miracle drug, but it helps him out. Calms him down alittle bit. Good luck, it's a long process to find out which one works for them at what dosage.

My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD when she was around 5, she is now 8. We chose to medicate after much deliberation and research. We currently have her on Vyvanse. It comes in a capsule. She too, will not swallow a pill. Per the doctor's suggestion, I pour the contents into some applesauce and give it to her that way. Some meds you can't do that with because it takes away it's effectiveness but with this one, you can. My daughter has responded well to it. However, we have recently had to start giving her another (smaller) dosage in the afternoon because the med started to wear off. But this was after being on it for over a year. So it was a combination of the length of time it has been in her system, she's older and has grown some since the beginning. I can tell you from personal experience, that it has helped tremendously. She went from a level 1 in reading to a level 4 in a month after taking the meds. It has helped her focus a lot. Check with your dr about Vyvanse or any other meds that comes in a capsule. Make sure though that doing it that way won't effect the drugs effectiveness. I understand completely what you and your husband went through to get to this point. We too have dealth with it. It's not an easy decision but we feel now that it was the right thing to do at this time. We always re-evaluate from time to time to make sure it's still a good fit. Good luck!

Our sonis 8. We started him on the lowest dise if Concerta about three months ago.We told him it was a focus pill and it would help him have an easier time paying attention at school. We made sure that he understood that it would just help and he still had to try his very best to behave and do his best work. We explained that it was not a magic pill and he had to concentrate and work very hard in order for it to work. We are so happy with the results. I do not see any changes in his personality, except that he is able to stay on task longer. The first change we saw at home was that he was actually sitting down with us and having real conversations. He was able to sit at the table longer and finish meals with us. We have seen great sucess at school as well. I would not say that this erased all of his issues, but made them more manageable.

Everyone has a different journey and it is difficult to make the best choice for your child. Your child is not the same and will not react the same as another child to medications or anything else for that matter.

For us, we made the choice to not use medications for our son and he is now 14. We found that by eliminating when possible or limiting his exposure to harmful chemical cleaners made a huge difference for him. He also uses all natural vitamins and supplements that help him with his overall health and his mood and concentration.

Another choice we were able to make was to remove him from public school in the 4th grade. He was a big part of the decision process which helped him feel more in control of what was becoming a negative "out of control" experience for him. I realize that this may not be an option for everyone, but we feel very Blessed that we had this choice.

All you can do is to make the best choice for your child and your family with the information and resources you have available.

I don't know anything about the meds, but I have a suggestion for what to say when you give it to him. Buy him a childrens vitamin and give him both together. Then all you have to say is time to take your vitamins.

Strattera works wonders for our son.

What do you tell him? You tell him that there's a chemical imbalance in his brain that needs to be corrected with medication. I often compare it to something like diabetes or hypo/hyper-thyroid conditions. My son knows I take a mood stabilizer, and why, so it was easy to explain to him that like any other organ, sometimes our brains don't work as well as they should.

We had to teach my son to swallow his pills. He was diagnosed with ADHD at 4.5 and we started him on intuniv which helped until he started having other issues. Ultamatly henwas diagnosed with early onset bipolar disorder. And we have to make the decision to stop his ADHD meds because the non stimulants were making him to sleepy in combination with the bipolar meds and stimulants were making him violent. But recently he was put on the clonodine patch whih has worked wonders! It keeps him calm and helps him focus. And it's not a pill just a patch we change once a week. My nephew is also ADHD and takes adderal which from what I hear has some pretty harsh effects as well, my nephew doesn't eat as a side effect and only weighs 45pounds and is almost 9...it's a tough decision to medicate or not but i think when it comes down to it if it's something that's goin to help your child why wouldn't you? Just remember it's a lot of trial and error when finding the right combo for your child, and nothing is
An instant fix. Good luck

We did not put my son on meds and have found other ways to help him but I know that is a individual choice and would never put a parent down for trying to help their child in a way they think is best. I know one of my firends son's has a patch. Sorry I don't know the name of it but there probably are not a lot out there. I know it took a while to get the right meds. But like your son hers had issues swollowing pills. You might ask about a patch. He was 7 or 8 when they gave it to him.

Good luck and God Bless!

I agree with everyone's posts - medications are a God send but it may take some trial and error to figure out which one is best. I wanted to give you a hint for helping your son learn to swallow pills. My 7 year old and 4 year old can swallow pills no problem and we taught them by putting a pill (melatonin which we were using to help with jet lag) in a very small bite of banana. The bite was small enough that they just swallowed without chewing. Once they gained confidence that they could swallow something like that we transitioned them to just swallowing the pill. My son with ADHD (the older child) has been on Ritalin (good but didn't last long enough), Concerta (seemed to stop working after 1 month), Focalin, and now Adderall. He has a lot of insight into his difficulties and will honestly tell us when his drugs aren't working properly. Good luck.

Our son has done fabulous on Concerta. No side effects right now, other than a decrease in appetite at the beginning (which you can make up for with breakfast and dinner). Our son did see his tics get bad on Concerta when we had to boost the dosage to the max, but we've since lowered the dosage and he's fine. I can't say enough good things about what Concerta has done. Completely transformed everything. People don't even know he has ADHD when it's active. The only downside is that it doesn't last all day, so we're still dealing with severe ADHD-combined type later in the day.

We first started off with Clonidine and Tenex (now marketed as Intuniv) which are blood pressure meds. They did zip for our son's ADHD, but are known for mild side effects. Then, we tried Ritalin. WOW! Day one, huge transformation. We got to see our real son. Same kid, full of energy and personality, but with normal behavior. It was amazing. (Concerta is long-acting Ritalin, BTW)

After our son had the tic issue, we tried Adderall and Vyvanse, which were nightmare meds for our son. Severe aggression and rages as they wore off. Definitely not a good match for him. We went back to the lower dosage of Concerta and all has been great since.

I know how scary it is to start meds, but keep in mind that with stimulants, they're out of your child's system by the end of the day. So, if you hate a med for any reason on day one, you can stop it immediately and try something else the next day. You're in control.

Everyone I know personally with a child with ADHD has been thrilled with the benefits of medication. It really can be life-changing. Just be prepared for some trial and error to find just the right medication.

As far as telling a child about ADHD, we told our son in kindergarten. We talked to him about whether he feels like he has extra energy and it's hard to focus on things sometimes. When he said yes, we explained he has a medical condition called ADHD and it's nothing scary. It just means he has more energy than some other kids and it's why he gets into trouble a lot. We then talked about how other kids have issues, too. Some kids don't see well and need glasses. Some kids have trouble walking and need a wheelchair. Then we mentioned we're helping him with his ADHD by special medicines that will make it easier to focus in class. We then talked about how he feels when after taking the medication and his response was "much better." (ETA: There's a great book called "Cory Stories" that talks to kids your son's age about what it's like to have ADHD. Really well done. Also talks about medication.)

I wish you the best of luck as you start this journey!

I don't even know that there's any other options besides a pill. I can tell you that having ADHD has been a huge huge thing for me personally and I've tried basically every med out there and I can tell you that Vyvanse is going to probably be your best option.. it's way more mild than ritalin, adderall and metadate I've been pregnant so I've been off my meds for a long while but the Vyvanse was way (and its hard to explain so I may not be doing it right) smoother if that makes sense, I didn't feel completely different when I took it vs the others that were very stimulating.. and the Vyvanse didn't effect my appetite and personality hardly at all (except to say it slowed my mind down and allowed me to process things more efficiently).. If you do go with the pill I'd recommend the Vyvanse, and while it may have not been on the market long all the meds work the same pretty much so it's not like one med in that class is going to have drastically different side effects (but your doc should have explained that when he gave you the options). Good luck.

Tell him that he is currently stuck in a situation that does not appreciate his gifts as an ADHD person. The medication will help him function in that environment until he can move to an environment in which his gifts are considered advantages, not problems.

Take a look at this children's book: "Wings" by Christopher Myers. It's a lovely allegory about ADHD. Medication is essentially a special shirt to hide your wings until you're in an environment where your ability to fly is appreciated and not condemned.

ADHD people make terrific ER docs and rescue personnel. Anything that requires quick thinking and fast responses is an ideal environment for ADHD. Standard school classroom......not so much!

ADHD people are not broken, dysfunctional, or chemically imbalanced. We are a normal part of human diversity. I am proud to be ADHD. I thrive in environments where "normal" people need either stimulants to keep up or sedatives to keep from having a nervous breakdown. This doesn't make them dysfunctional or broken, just misplaced.

But if I was stuck in an office environment? Yup, I'd need drugs to function!

Keep looking for *some* environments where your son can function without medication, perhaps during the summer. Learning to ride the gifts of ADHD is something like learning to ride a spirited horse: it takes a lot of practice! Make sure he gets that practice.

Good luck!

My older two were on Ritalin as children, it worked but they hated it enough that they kept themselves structured enough to not to take it after 5th grade. They both took Adderall in college and loved it. I took Adderall in college and loved it.

I really think it would benefit you to teach your child to take pills. Just makes life easier. Still if it is impossible they make an Adderall patch now.

Oh their complaint about Ritalin was it took away their personalities. As my daughter put it I am just not funny on Ritalin.

dexedrine works well, as does adderall xr. you can open the spansules & put them in applesauce or anything like that.
dexedrine has been out since the 70's, and it's one of the ingredients in adderall.
concerta didn't work well for my nephew... neither did daytrana (it comes in a patch form too).

I have a good friend that works with kids on the spectrum from pre school age on up. She reccommends this spectrum line to them. I also know a peditrician that uses it. Check it out. I included the link so you can read up on it and if you have questions I'm sure my friend would be more than happy to answer them for you.
:)
http://bit.ly/oC5s7p

Hi, I just want to say I totally and completely understand what you are going through. My son was just diagnosed a few months ago with ADHD and we tried ritalin and stratara. The Ritalin didn't do anything for my son and the stratara helped to keep him focuses but did not help with him being hyperactive. He is on adderall now and does really well on it. At the dr. the oother day, I told him that the adderall was working but no doing enough so he added intuniv to take with the adderall and it has helped so much. I can actually take my child places and not have worry about him running off. He can also sit down and stay seated At the dinner table now. Please know that jet because your child will be on meds. Does not mean that he will be perfect, because no child is. Good luck and God Bless you and your family!