We have a 14 year old kid with ADHD. We currently are not on medication , we preferred to try with out it , but is getting worse. Lot of tardies at school,detentions,suspensions ,lower grades and behavior star to be an issue too , plus school is giving us a warning ,he had a 504 already. I know medication helps to focus but I want to know if it helps with behavior too. On the other hand wich medicine is better? I know depends on the kid but I want to know in general wich one is better and if helps with behavior, we are actually thinking about to take medication.Thank you for the info you can provide me.
Medicine adviced: We have a 14 year old... - CHADD's ADHD Pare...
Medicine adviced
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Mariafer
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Most of those things you mention about your son remind me of me around that age. As someone who went through hell during middle school and high school and had to learn to be slick and cheat in order to survive, I can honestly tell you......Give the medication a try. I have Inattentive ADHD, non hyperactive, and got diagnosed at 25. I would've loved for someone to have set me aside and told me why I was so different and why I was always upset, confused, irritated, and felt like I could not relate to anyone or do well in school as easily as others. The school system here in America is setup up for neurotypicals and not for people with ADHD, which is why the struggle is so common, and why lower grades, disruptive behavior, and unfortunately substance abuse come into play.
I would recommend a low dose of stimulant medication around 5 or 10mg, perhaps adderall, its worked great for myself and many others in studies and forums I have read). For the safety of your son, I would take that medication with some supplements to help fight off unwanted side effects, protect the brain/body, and help the medication work to it's full potential.
below are the supplements I recommend
1. CoQ10: to protect the heart, and keep heart rate and blood pressure from rising.
2. Flaxseed Oil: the omega oils (3,6,9) have many benefits for everyone, but greatly help people with ADHD and are helpful for the medication. Fish Oil can be substituted, just make sure to get an organic kind, because most common fish oil is of bad quality and has mercury.
3. Magnesium (chelated form): Magnesium is very beneficial to the body and is great for digestion and has been recommended from every forum I have read for people taking a stimulant medication.
4. Multivitamin with Antioxidants: Find a preferably organic multivitamin. Your son is going to need a good amount of antioxidants if he will be taking a stimulant medication.
5. N-Acetyl-Tyrosine: Have him take this about an hour before the medication wears off, otherwise he will feel the crash of the medication and will probably get either very moody, angry, or sad. Tyrosine helps incredibly with the come down since it helps your Dopamine and Norepinephrine neurotransmitters rise up. I take this supplement right when I wake up as well, great for motivation and concentration.
6. Melatonin: To help with getting a good nights sleep since stimulant use can make it very difficult.
7. Eventually after say 6 months of use, I would recommend L-TRYPTOPHAN as well, since the medication is going to increase Dopamine and Norepinhephrine temporarily, eventually Serotonin will decrease and that is going to cause some irritability, so supplementing with Serotonin is great with that. It's also great at pairing with melatonin for a really good night sleep.
Hope that helps, here is what I take, incase you are interested.
drive.google.com/file/d/1_c...
Thank you for your time in answer me . It really help me . I have appointment on the 13 with the neurologist sonI share all your comments with him.
O have a question in regard your suggestions.
1.the tyrosine you mentioned in point 7 is different than the tyrosine you mentioned in point 5?
2. Tyrosine you mentioned in point 7 is after 6 months of medicine right?
3. Wich multivitamines and antioxidants can you recomend me ?
4. My son is 15 and he has concerta 18mg but it is not working at all. We are going to higher the dose to 36mg .do you think 36 with the supplements is fine or lower dose with the supplements is fine?I know everyone is different and we need to try but I want to Hear points of view 😉
Thanks for your time
1-2. Just to clarify, the Tyrosine I mention throughout my post is meant to be the same one. N-Acetyl Tyrosine, that's the only kind I take and only kind I reccomend because it is more bioactive.
And for point 7, I meant to put L-Tryptophan for Serotonin help, not Tyrosine, sorry about that, I'll edit my post for correction. And yes it's after six months.
3. I highly recommend the supplement R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, it is one of the strongest antioxidant supplements out there, and helps the medication feel fresh and almost like new. Multivitamin wise I recommend a multivitamin from the grocery store trader joes that has antioxidants and is extended release.
4. It depends on how long he has been using the medication. If he started the medication recently (a month or so) and is not getting any results, then the dosage is too low or the medication might need to be switched. The supplements I mentioned are fine to take with 36mg. I'd reccomend waiting a few months before using Tyrosine and Tryptophan, the rest I mentioned you can start right away though.
Got it ! Thank you!
No prob, you're welcome. Also I forgot to mention that a good amount of people experience irritability and feeling down once the medication wears off. This happened to me about a month after I started taking my medication. If you sense the same from your son I would have him take Tyrosine 30min to an hour before his medication wears off. This can be done as soon as needed.
Hi! My 15 year old was just diagnosed with mild/moderate ADHD and severe dyslexia. He went undiagnosed for a long time because he is "gifted" intellectually and the ADHD was mild - till now! The rewiring that teen brains undergo is huge, equally as dramatic as the neurological changes they go through from ages 0 to 5 years, just not as obvious. It can definitely exacerbate the ADHD, so symptoms are frequently worse during these years. What you are seeing is normal. We have not wanted to medicate either, but his inability to force himself to do homework is becoming a huge problem grade-wise so we are finally considering it. Like you, we really dont want to do it. They have such extraordinary gifts, its hard to consider medicating just to fit into our 8 hours of sitting then more hours of homework school system. We have called our pediatrician (who is seriously amazing) to discuss it with her and go over all the options. I would love to hear what you guys decide, as it seems we are in similar situations! Best of luck to you!
Thank you is always a relief to hear people are on the same situation and understand . We try first with food and vayarin wich is a natural medicine but is not working plus therapies and tutoring ,but behavior is getting worse and grades and now low and he is in the limit of everything so that is why I am consider medication. On Monday Wu have a meeting at school so depends on if he can continue or not at school we make a decision .
We put our 7 yr old on a mood stabilizer along with a small dose of a stimulate twice a day. It is the BEST gift we could have ever given to him!
A mood stabilizer is a psychiatric pharmaceutical drug used to treat mood disorders characterized by intense and sustained mood shifts.
Because he didn't respond well to just a typical ADHD medication his psychiatrist doctor suspected he might have a mood disorder on top of ADHD and/or ODD. His is taking Trileptal and small dose of Ritalin twice a day. It took a few weeks to kick in and it ha's made an incredible difference for him. He is thoughtful about his actions and is really trying hard to have good behavior. He isn't perfect by any means, but I am not crying daily and the only emails I am getting from the school are about how great he is doing.
Please please consider giving your son medication. It will NOT hurt him and will make ALL of your lives much easier. Do your research on ADHD kids - they are more likely to drink, do drugs, crash cars, engage in risky behaviors, etc. Of course the medication will help with his other behaviors - this is all part of his poor impulse control. If he is already having those kinds of problems at school, then things are going to get worse. My son took Adderall for years, but switched to Vyvanse in high school. And remember the dose may end up being high, but you will titrate up gradually.
Thank you for your answer . We are considering right now because definitely is getting worse. I still have some questions and maybe you can tell me about your experience.
1. Does the medicine helps with the impulsive and behavior or just concentration and focus?
2. Do you stop medicine some day or is for life ?
3. Why small dosis don’t work and you need to end with High dosis ?
Thank you for your time
The unfortunate truth is that ADHD is for life.....symptoms may lessen for some people as they age, but never go away completely. I think that adults may just learn to manage their disorder because they are older. Once we put my son on meds (he was about 9), we never took him off. He was so much better at sports, scouts, social events, etc. I wanted him to know that he could manage this with his medication. It's like having a child with diabetes - you wouldn't deny him medication or stop it on the weekend, right? ADHD is a neurological disorder. I urge you to read up on it - try Russell Barkley's books. He has great explanations and lots of ideas. It's not the end of the world, but it is a real challenge for kids and everyone involved with them. The medication helps with focus,concentration, and impulsive behavior. It basically "slows" kids' brains down, so they can actually focus on one thing at a time. Read about the stimulants and don't be frightened. Stimulant drugs do not "last" in your body - they are gone in about 4-8 hours, depending on the medication. They do have some side effects, but those are also manageable and the pros outweigh the cons by a lot!! Dosing is truly an individual thing - it has to do with how fast your body metabolizes the drug. Some kids are faster than others. My son always seemed to end up on the highest dose, and he was not very big. He is now 23 and I can see maturity!! He's finally back to college full-time, lives on his own, and we can actually have a conversation! But I am telling you that teens with ADHD often do not graduate high school, end up with juvenile records, drink/drug, get traffic tickets, and other unpleasant things. Not that other teens don't do these things too, but ADHD kids do them a lot more frequently. Again - do your research and check out the statistics. You want your son to graduate from high school - his life will be much better and his choices much more varied if this happens. There are probably some ADHD teens who can manage their ADHD on their own, but I would guess not too many boys. You also need to consider this: you want to be able to decrease the amount of time you "manage" your son - as he gets older, he will start pushing back against your management. ADHD meds can help him become better able to deal with his disorder and will hopefully lessen your involvement with his life!
Thank you very much for your comments I really appreciate it and definitely I am doing all the research .
Hi . I have another question and since you have a kid that takes medicine during high school maybe you can help me with this one too. When they star medicine the actitude and behavior of course change and peers notice . How do they manage with peers this situation. Does the kids look at him as abnormal kid and star putting him aside?If the peers do not know about he is taking the medicine how the kids manage the change of mood of the kid from one day to another ? How was this social part? I am curious how peers react . Your son agree to tell peers about his condition ?
First of all, your son's behavior will not change that drastically. You may notice, but his self-absorbed friends will not! And all you will notice is that he is more organized, that he will do things with only one reminder, and that he may be less likely to argue with you about things. He may also have other friends who have ADHD - I'm sure my son did, but he did not openly share that he took meds for something.
Give the meds a shot.....I didn't want the medication for my son either. We went through all the options, psychologists, 504, special desks, extra help with classes, even drinking coffee (natural stimulant)....but when we started the medication it was amazing. He has caught up in reading and above average in math. He doesn't qualify for 504 help anymore because he is now at grade level or above with everything. Medication is not a "fix all" but it makes the rest of the work easier to manage, work on behavior, manners, education and his anxiety level is manageable for him when he is on his meds. My son is 9 and has been on medication for almost 2 years and we are still working on the type and dosage. All kids are different and things change as they grow as well. It is an ongoing tedious process, at least for us, but the success for my son has been worth it. He hates taking pills everyday but his stress level with homework and just everyday things has been reduced and he seems to be happier, and proud where he was sad and embarrassed about school work and just everyday chores.
It takes patience ........but it's worth it.
If you go the medication route, remember to be patient. It takes a while to figure out the right med and dose. We started my 8yo on guanfacine. As we increased the dose per the neurologist’s instructions, my son was was napping on the weekends. So we had to decrease the dose. After a few months, we didn’t really see much of a change. He was slightly less energetic. So we added a stimulant. His teacher has reported a significant improvement in class. However, I had our behaviorist visit the school and she said that he’s having regulation issues during transitions and significant stress at recess (they play football, there’s cheating long story). My son told us that the medication helps him focus at school, but it makes me angrier. We go back to the doc on 3/23. A lot of people say that medications are life changing. I don’t feel like we’ve gotten to that point yet.
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