Adhd - Grimes,IA

Hi my 8 yr old is ADHD and she started off on Vyvanse she was only 4 years old so the capsules worked but recently she refused to take it so with help from day therapy they taught her how to swallow her meds but her Vyvanse was too big so she was changed to concerta and it works great and for not sleep thing we dive her benidrill at night and it works I do not know about OT sorry oh on her eating she has her days but I still can not get her to eat veggies fruits and some meats.

OT

It depends on the OT.

Take me; I'm adhd-c (and while our sensory issues all differ, we most of us, have them). So here are some examples from my own life:

1) I'm a super taster ((which means I can not only tell you what sweetener is in bread, but if it's honey what KIND of honey -including blends-. Wine.... if I'm familiar with the vinter I can tell you which SLOPE, as well as the year, pressing, etc. ALL water tastes different. I can taste the pipes (different kinds of metals, plastics), what kind of filtering process is used, and what additives are in it. After decades I've finally come to a place where I honestly BELIEVE people when they say they can't tell these things. But to ME it's as obvious as whether it's tomato soup or strawberry syrup. RADICALLY different tastes, and even water texture is different).

2) As a kid I hated the following things:
- water
- oregano
- sage

Well... my mum used a seasoning that has trace amounts of sage in it for chicken, and oregano in it for beef. Which meant that I wouldn't eat anything with chicken or beef that SHE made. I couldn't tell you why I HATED them. But I did. AND ANYTHING COOKED IN OR WITH WATER (veggies, soups, etc.), anything with water added (juice, although grape juice covered up the noxious water taste fairly well, you could still taste it. Sort of like a smoker who sprays on perfume. You smell both the smoke and perfume.

It hurt my mums feelings TONS that I "didn't like" her cooking. Esp since I'd "eat anything" when we were travelling (intestine on a stick? Yum. Octopus balls? No problem.) I'd eat at friends, at school, at restaurants... but the TRICK was that I was ORDERING (after smelling), or just being polite (diplomatic dinners teach you to be a good improv actor... so my friend's parents either cooked GREAT food, or I pretended they did). My mum knew me well enough to know when I was faking, and knew me well enough to know that silence was just me not throwing a fit. And quite frankly, not eating meant getting slapped across the face, so we had to eat. I choked it down. But it STILL hurt her feelings that I'd barely pick at my food at home so many nights.

As soon as I started cooking (age 11) I started eating TONS at home. Why? Because I'd sniff things before adding them, and I read tons of recipes (like to learn how to properly cook fish). Her go-to spice mix just never touched food I cooked EVER. Honestly, me learning to cook created a LOT of problems, because she just couldn't believe me about not liking x, y, z... that that was "ridiculous" and "you can't even taste it". Well, if YOU can't taste it, don't add it!!! Because I can, and I HATE it. ((I'm sure you can guess how well that went over))

Another issue is texture. Dry meat? Nope. Only in case of emergency. Meat should be liquid and buttery, or bouncy and vibrant, or etc. This cheese, but not that cheese. BOXED & canned stuff ALL the time (because it was consistent, no surprises... if I liked it once, I'd like it the 220th time - until I randomly decided I'd never liked it to begin with ;)

So all of that is SOME of my quirky food stuff. Which no one would guess these days (because I don't cook food I don't like). My "go to" meals that I cook at home is a list of about 80 dishes that span 5 continents. If you didn't know me (or suffer my meltdowns when unsalted butter gets bought, instead of salted butter... or x grind instead of y grind... or this toilet paper instead of that toilet paper, whoops skipped over into a touch aspect, but you get my drift) you'd never guess how "picky" I am about my food. Or that I STILL can't stand anything with dried sage in it (love fresh sage, though).

A good OT can figure out this sort of thing YEARS before your child or you can figure them out. Why yellow cake by Betty Crocker is okay, but not Duncan Heins... or why cake in entirety is OUT (feels like having foam in your mouth), or, or, or, or.

For ONE thing... it can reeeeeeally stop 'hurt feelings'. It's not YOU we're rebelling against, NOR "your" cooking. But flavors or textures that are as awful as catsup on chocolate icecream, or bugs for lunch.

A GOOD OT can also figure things out like needing to feel "weight" at night OR no weight... tricks on how to self soothe (HUGE difference between disorders, btw... for example... jouncing your leg like you have a baby on you knee is reeeeeally relaxing/soothing for most adhd types.... but the same motion can overamp an autistic or bipolar kid and cause them to freak out; aka you don't teach an ADHD person to be still... you teach them how to move WITHOUT BEING ANNOYING.

But yeah... tons of stuff. If you have a good one.

We haven't, but do use a behavioral therapist in conjunction with medication. Medication combined with therapy has the best track record in treating ADHD, so you're on the right track.

Our son is also an extremely picky eater, to the point where it's like he has a phobia/anxiety about food. He will only eat two things for lunch or dinner and that's it. Very picky about snacks and drinks, too. Medication decreases his appetite initially but it's the same after a while. My big tip is to count on a bigger breakfast and dinner if appetite's a problem at the beginning because those will be the hours when the meds aren't active.

Medication has been really, really successful for our son. He's been on them about five years now. Currently doing great on Concerta. Did horrible with Adderall and Vyvanse. However, every child is different, so there's no way to predict.

Our son also had sleep issues before medication (couldn't calm his body enough to fall asleep), so it wasn't shocking we needed to find a solution once he started medication. Ended up going with melatonin and it solves the problem. He falls asleep naturally about an hour or so after he takes a 1 mg. tablet. Talk to the doctor about this option. We got the suggestion from our son's. A lot of kids with ADHD take melatonin.

Best of luck! And be sure to read ADDitude magazine and join CHADD to stay up to date on the latest research about ADHD.

It sounds like your kiddo could have some Sensory Processing issues, which are quite common in kids with ADHD. If that's the case (and an OT can evaluate him for that), then an OT will be extremely helpful. They also work on focus for activities that require attention, but I don't have any experience with that part of it. Good luck!

My grandson had private occupational therapy and continues to have OT at school. It teaches him how to behave. It trains his muscles to work the way they should and it will help you deal with his food issues. I urge you to try it.

My grandson is on medication. This is his second one. I don't remember their names. However, whether or not one works for a child is dependent on that child's make up. What works for one often times won't work for another one.

Hi,
As far as the meds go, please be very careful with any dopamine blocking meds that they prescribe for your child. Most of the meds for ADHD or ADD are not dopamine blockers, HOWEVER, the doctors may tell you that the adhd meds can cause some mood swings or even aggresive behaviors as side effects, so to kind of head that off, they sometimes prescribe the other mood stabalizers along with the adhd meds. The meds to be SUPER careful of are things like Risperidal (risperidone is the generic), Abilify, and Seroquil. They can cause a medical disorder called tardive dyskenesia. It is HELL! My son ended up with it, and it is horrible. It gives the patient uncontrollable muscle movements that can be in the face and mouth (including the tongue), shoulders, neck, torso, legs, arms, eyelids, or even the whole body. My son had it in his whole body. The only way to STOP the symptoms is to actually have him on a dose of the same medicine that caused the issue, but it is a maitnence level of the medicine. (just enough to stop the symptoms) He still has a few of them, but not anywhere near as bad as it was. It stinks! Worst part was he never had any mood swings or aggression, it was all just IN CASE his adhd meds made him have them. UGH! I have been told, and I now know from looking all of this up after all of our problems, that the safest one of the dopamine blockers for a child/ teen id risperidone, (has the least chances of causing the syndrome) and the safest dose is 1 mg daily or under. Any more than that will NOT help them more anyway. They can take less if needed. Just thought I would share., I try to tell as many people as I can so they can avoid the horrible experiences we have had to endure. It really is terrible. :(
As far as the sleeping thing, my son is on trazadone, but it really doesn't help him much. (He has other neurological issues not just adhd though, so it may work for your child) Honestly, I would try melatonin first. You can buy it at the pharmacy (if your child can swallow a pill) and it is safe to give them up to 3mg per night. GNC sells a cherry flavor of a kids chewable melatonin that is only 1 mg, and it works so much better than any other prescribed medication that I have ever gotten for my child. (melatonin is what the body has naturally to help you get to sleep, so it's not a drug) I would start with that, and see how it works. I use it like I said for my son, but every 6 months or so we have to stop for a month because he tends to "get used to it" and it doesn't work as well. After that we start back up and it works like a charm. Plus, it doesn't make him sleep so soundly that he CAN'T wake up to use the bathroom, etc.
As far as the OT goes, we have used OT but not for the ADHD. My son has sensory issues as well, and then the tardive dyskenesia after the overdose of all of the dopamine blockers. It did help him with his sensory issues. I know one thing that WILL help your child short term with the adhd if you don't have meds or they have worn off for the day. Soda. Any soda with caffeene. Caffeene is a stimulant, and so is their medication. The stimulant actually slows the brain down for a kid with adhd, so it helps them to focus, act less hyper, etc. (the sugar never was a problem either since that acts as a stimulant too) We used it for a while when we had to take our son off of his adhd meds for the summer. (just at the times we needed him to focus) It doesn't take much. I bought the little tiny soda cans they had out and he would drink about a third. It would last him a few hours. The worst thing we could do was "run him" when he got keyed up, because it just got him so wired that his eyes would literally jumpp around in his head and he couldn't STOP moving. (like over winding a toy) People never understood that. They always wanted to take him outside to let him RUn off his energy. It always made things far worse. It was much better to have him sit and do something he liked to do that was a quiet and low energy excersize like read or video games. Good luck! I can feel for you!!! :)

My friend is an occupational therapist. He doesn't go into specifics, but he has had a lot of success with ADHD kids.

Unforutnately I do not live in Iowa, but I DO work with 2 excellent PEDIATRIC OT's. Find one, find one, find one!!! It will not "hurt" anything and may be the best thing you've ever done. You need one trained in SENSORY INTEGRATION and preferably one trained in THERAPEUTICD LISTENING. Our OT's often see kids every other week if the family is able to follow through (thus decreasing cost) and once a good base is established, they decrease to once a month or less (if needed) to update the litening program (to complicated to explain, but simple to follow through with). We have had kids at our clinic DECREASE meds b/c of the success with OT (and the schools think meds have been increased b/c the child is attending/focusing so much better, etc) We have seen kids improve eating AND sleep. It is VERY cool to see the progress (and I am NOT an OT, I am a PT and notice the difference in the kids when they come to the department)--cool stuff! TRY IT! I haven't read your other responses, but I hope they are encouraging as well. I cannot say enough about the 2 Peds OT's I work with and then work they do to help the families. And at 9 years old, your son will be able to understand what the OT is recommending and why (to a large extent) TRY TRY TRY, if at all possible, to start the OT BEFORE you start meds. I am not opposed to meds, and he may still need them, but if you/he can hold off a couple more months, that will give the OT a better feel of what is going on and what he needs, etc.