Tuesday our 6 year old son(the one with blood clots and other health problems:)) was diagnosed with ADHD-something we looooong suspected anyways, no surprise here. I admit-I know next to nothing about ADHD-hubby knows even less. We just knew our son is different and has been since he was an infant. Next week we have an appointment with his pediatrician-she said a long one where we discuss treatment options. I am reluctant to put our son on meds(not entirely opposed however), however I'm not sure if he needs them. He is incredibly smart-very high IQ however his kindergarten teacher is concerned that as more time passes he may not be able to retain as much information since his brain is already in high gear. I need advice from those who medicate and those who don't and why, what to expect at his next appointment, what to do with his school(Iknow we will tell them but what will they do?), what to expect as a pre teen, teen, and adult etc. Also I am thinking a parenting class or counseling for my dh and I to glean better tools on how best to help our boy. I admit to losing my temper many times with him, I get soooo frustrated!
Also what king of diet works best?
*****Added-I do know from observing our son that the cleaner our house and especially his room is, the more focused he is. Also having a set routine definitely helps-oh and very little to no tv, he just gets too excited or worked up-especially cartoons or something funny.
Thanks in advance!
I don't know if his pediatrician will be treating him. I just assumed she would be, but she might have just wanted us to schedule an appointment so she can go over what to expect as well as a referral. We are also getting a referral to UC Davis for his other medical problems so we will probably get everything done and over with at once.
I saw a good interview with Dr. David Stein, he had some interesting things to say about doctors OVER diagnosing kids with ADHD... you can read more about his take on it via the net.. bottomline, he's more into educating rather than medicating, which he believes the medical establishment does... and all too frequently..
I've been dealing with our son's ADHD for seven years now, so here are my suggestions:
1. Take your questions away from general parenting sites. Not everyone here has experience with ADHD, but you'll find plenty of people with "opinions" about it. You'll get a lot of garbage advice, comments about it being overdiagnosed, etc. Instead, seek out ADHD boards. Good starting places are DailyStrength and ADDitude magazine.
2. Join CHADD right away and look into attending local chapter meetings or the national conference. Terrific group for those dealing with ADHD. It will help you filter through all of the science and non-science/scams/useless advice.
3. Subscribe to ADDitude magazine. It covers all aspects of life with ADHD. Super resource.
4. No kind of diet works best with ADHD. It's a brain disorder. I looked into this, hoping to avoid medication, but there just isn't any research showing diet makes one iota of difference. Still, always good to feed your child healthy foods.
5. If your pediatrician really understands ADHD, stick with her. However, it's generally best to have treatment managed by a psychiatrist. They specialize in conditions like ADHD and know all of the latest research and treatment options.
6. Don't fear medication. It isn't evil. Our son went from being kicked out of preschool and having one friend to fitting in at school and having friends. Concerta has been a godsend. At 10, our son made honor roll all year. That would be impossible without medication. It allows him to be his true self.
Just keep in mind, though, that it can take some trial and error to get medication right. Also, it doesn't last all day, so whatever ADHD symptoms you face will not go away entirely. You'll also want to meet with a behavioral therapist for advice on dealing with the hellish parts of the day.
7. As far as school, you'll want to ask the school for an evaluation for an IEP or 504 plan. An IEP will apply if your son has problems affecting his performance. A 504 plan will give special accommodations that help him excel in school. For instance, our son's 504 plan gives us an extra set of school books at home, so when he forgets his homework (as in, every day), we have what we need at home.
8. While you're at UC Davis, pick up information from the UC Davis MIND Institute. They're studying ADHD there and can offer some good resources.
Best of luck as you start this journey!
I was where you are 6 years ago. We decided to medicate our daughter, and I'm so glad we did! She actually makes it through school days without getting in trouble! Before meds she was always talking out of place, getting up whenever she wanted, and not paying attention in class. Once on meds we no longer had any of the above problems. She too is incredibly smart, and if she does not take her meds her grades drop. I think that is because she does not focus as well. Once she hit middle school, she made the choice to try no meds. Well, that back fired for her. She ended up getting kicked out of Pre-Algebra because she could not hold the grade. Now, she is taking her meds again and she is doing awesome in her regular math class. Now she is bored because it is way easy for her! It is night and day when she takes her meds.
As you have noticed, decluttering his environment helps, the meds may help to declutter his mind. Be sure to have an open mind with the meds, they are scary, but can be lifesavers!
Have you ever wondered why every other kid in America is diagnosed. From when they are infants, they have toys that, sing, speak, makes Moises all at once. Classroom walled are covered with stuff. Holy cow. How can anyone concentrate. You said it yourself, the less stuff around the better he is! If you chose for him to be on meds do it with a psychiatrist. Make sure he gets continuous counseling. You can't just hand a kid a pill to change his behavior. Sends a bad message. Kept my son in counseling until he was much older. We stopped meds after a couple of years, because he learned how to channel his energy.
I would not be putting a lot of energy into worrying about his teen years now. It may not be an issue then.
He is only six. I would try everything before resorting to meds especially because of his medical issues.
Our ped. treats our daughter for ADHD. My husband sees a psychiatrist for his ADHD. That being said, I trust our ped and his judgement. I thinks its up to you and what you're comfortable with, as well as if there are other issues, like OCD or depression. We chose to medicate our daughter. She went from a depressed child with low self esteem who was failing first grade (she always had great confidence and did fine in K, but tot went downhill in first) to a happy,confident child who was excelling-all in a month. For us, medication has been fantastic and has allowed her to shine!
Do not dismiss medicine.. if your son was diabetic would you not give him medicine. If he had an infection would you not give him medicine.??
I think you should try medicine. If you try it for 2 or 3 weeks and it has no effect or a negative effect... stop... but what if it helps him focus and behave and learn. My friend had a son with adhd.. she was very opposed to meds.. but once he was on the right drug.. he could listen and learn and do his school work.. but make suer he gets plenty of outdoor exercise... running jumping.. being a boy.
First can I ask why a pediatrician and not a psychiatrist? I would never have let my sons ped prescribe ADHD meds. Anyways my son takes off label drugs to treat his ADHD, for various reasons he can't take traditional stimulates. But we have seen a big differnce since starting meds. My nephew does take adderall and his mom has seen a huge difference in him. He listens better his grades have improved greatly.
A pediatrician is really NOT qualified to treat the mental issue that ADHD is. A psychiatrist is going to be much more up to date with new meds for kids, how they interact with a kids other meds that they get at that age like Tylenol and Motrin, and the psychiatrist will know what meds to try next if the first one doesn't work. They'll know from how they react what family of medication to go to next.
I think that a pediatrician is okay for treating childhood illnesses and other general illnesses but when it comes right down to it they are not experts in any field except baby's and very small children.
Our grandson is on state assistance so they make the doc use Ritalin first. It's been around the longest and it has the least side effects. It has been a life saver to us. If he misses his pill or half pill at noon it is like night and day.
As time goes by the case manager wants the psychiatrist to consider using a time released version of the med. After about 4 hours Ritalin is totally out of his system. It does not build up and have lasting effects.
He also takes Depakote for mood stabilization. It really makes a difference too. But I don't notice when he misses it. It is built up in his system and takes time to dissipate.
The way ADHD works with medication is sort of like this.
Have you ever driven a car and when you hit 35 it struggles, drives a little crazy? But if you hit 40 it smooths out and drives like a dream? The ADHD brain is like that.
The ADHD brain is shooting off like fireworks, the messages don't make it to their destination, it fires off kilter. When Ritalin or some other med is introduced to the system it speeds the brain activity up and suddenly the brain activity sync's up. It starts working right and smoother. He can focus, concentrate, sit down for a few minutes, etc....that's all it does.
When my son was diagnosed, here's what we learned. Not all kids know they have it. Not all of them can tell when their behavior is out of whack, so to speak. My son could, which helped. Some kids outgrow it, some kids don't. There are food choices you can make that may (or may not) help. One thing is to eliminate all red foods. There's something in the red dye or color that interacts and can make them more hyper. We eliminated everything red, including artificial and natural foods (ie., we only ate green or yellow apples...). I have heard that eliminating gluten works with some kids, but we didn't try that. Caffeine also works to help some kids. (It didn't with mine.) We did go with Ritalin, which was a godsend for him. We were told if it was going to help him, it would help immediately. It did. We did the time-release one too, which helped. He would kind of "boomarang" at night when it wore off and would rock in bed, etc., but it helped a ton with school and social interaction. Some of these medications can make kids suicidal (especially at puberty age), so be aware. We never took him to a psychiatrist or anything like that, but we did have an amazing doctor who specialized in ADHD kids. (His wife was a therapist and I did see her - she was great in helping me deal with certain aspects of it, like holding him accountable for his actions even when he was unmedicated and couldn't really control them, which was great because it did teach him that even our unintentional our actions have consequences.
Good luck with your journey! Ask lots of questions and be his best advocate.
I know several others support meds, I am personally against them especially for children. I have seen some scary things. I have also seen some really awesome alternative type approaches work. Obviously, none of us are YOU - his mom. None of us are his doctors, and do not know him.
But I do believe that there is a ton of profit for big companies in overdiagnosing and medicating. And that there are other options.
Just an opinion, there you go.
my husband is ADHD, never took meds (wasn't an option back then) and managed to graduate from medical school and runs a successful business. Of course his report card always read something like this, "Mike is not living up to his potential." We both suspect that our oldest has it too. We both expect to hear it from her Kindergaden teacher this fall. I will not medicate her if she does. She may be wired differently than others, but still bright. We will work with her learning style even if it means home school. I wouldn't medicate unless he has a particularly severe case.
This is a tough one! It is so hard to decide what is the best thing for your family. I am not a huge fan of giving developing children drugs without any solid research on long term effects (30-40 years). However, that being said if you have ruled out all other potential causes--vitamin deficiency, food sensitivity, high energy, etc-- it may be the best option for your son to achieve his potential. He's young still, and if he is not having behavior problems, I would research non-drug interventions first. Summer is coming up which would give you some time to trial other options without the pressure of school.
My son was 'diagnosed' with inattentive ADHD earlier this year, and had a poor reaction to meds. So, I got busy with research and talking with other moms. I found a food program that has remedied his symptoms and generally improved his school performance and mood. Did he really have ADHD or just something that looked like it? Don't know, but it doesn't matter. It looked like ADHD, and the Drs treated it that way. Until there are more objective diagnostic tests (some fMRIs are looking promising) other than observations, questionnaires and psycholigal exams, I choose to err on the side of caution and rule out all other causes first.
Good luck, and trust in yourself to make the right decision for your family! For what it's worth, I know plenty of children who have truly needed medication, and have done wonderfully. And had the supplements and change in diet not not worked for our son, we would have re-examined the medication route.
Find further information and educate yourself to guide and help your child. ADHD is not the same as being diabetic or having a disease, so you still can find many ways to help your kid. What makes you think he is ADHD? What were the "symptoms" described by the doctor to diagnose ADHD? Please do not forget he is just 6 years old, and ADHD medications are very strong with lots of side effects which make doctors to prescribe more and more medications for those side effects and the kid goes to a journey of trial and error, to "fix" the behavioral problems that may not be real problems but the behavior of a small kid. Please get more information and be the advocate of your child. What is good for some it is not good for others, and what the majority of people do is not always for the rest.
Diane T. H. shared a very good experience.
