other dx?

[Sabrousal]

Does anyone out there have a child with other dx besides adhd, my 12 year old ....misses social clues, and has very few friends. He has been numerous problems in school, for anger outburst but he is also gifted so i just wondering am i missing a dx?

[Natasha_W]

My 11 yr old ADHA daughter has always struggled with friends. She can make a friend so easy but also looses them almost faster than she makes them. My heart breaks for her because I would love more than anything for her to have just one good friend that actually wants to be her friend and come over to hang out with her. She is also impulsive and will act out before thinking about it first. Up until just recently we’ve felt all alone and that we were the only parents going through this. All the other kids seem to never have the same issues she does. I have been so desperate and wanting to find families that understand what we’re going through and did judge us or think we’re crazy. I am happy to have found this app and learn there are other kids and parents in the same shoes we’re in. I don’t have any answers or tricks but I do understand what you’re going through. If you just need someone I can be a friend that will listen and understand.

[janaq in reply to Natasha_W]

I feel your pain. Sounds like my daughter

[Jennifer01 in reply to janaq]

Sounds like my son

[TBuckhanna in reply to Natasha_W]

My daughter is the same way. She makes friends very easy but never keep them. She is very impulsive. My husband and i use to fight over her a lot. He thought she was just acting out towards him because he is her stepdad and not dad.

[81JB]

Asperger?

[Sabrousal in reply to 81JB]

I was wondering about that, the more I read the more confused I am with other overlapping diagnosis.

[81JB]

My son is the same. So ive looked into it before. Alot of the similarities between the two so hard to tell

[Jorliss]

I think it is all part of the ADHD spectrum. How can one gather social cues when their mind is running in ten different directions at a million miles an hour?

Hence, impulsitivity. Not thinking it through before just saying and or doing. Sounds like you typical ADHD child.

[christelferrer]

I agree with the other comments. My son is very social but can destroy friendships very fast with an unpredictable outburst. He often says he has no friends and obviously suffers from it. My son is 7 and has been diagnosed with a combo ADHD/Anxiety/ODD. The ODD is the problem, they get angry, impulsive, aggressive faster than other kids. They also miss social clues and don't know when to stop.

We put our son on Guanfacine and it helps with the ODD, he is less quick to overreact and has started to to make new friends, It is encouraging. We also follows individual cognitive behavioral therapy which helps tons.

[Kthames76 in reply to christelferrer]

My son is 6 and has been on vyvanase for ADHD and he has impulse control and anger outburst issues. I am at my wits end most of the time trying to discipline and or find ways to lessen his agitation. He has been on this medication for about six months and it's the first and only medication and I'm thinking i want to see if we could switch to something else but very leery. I was wondering if the meds even helped but once he was without them for 2 days and couldn't keep his hands off his sister and the dog and it was definitely a rough couple days. What is your experience with guafanacin?

[christelferrer in reply to Kthames76]

I can relate. We have tried 4 different meds in 6 months. The only good results I got was with Guanfacine. It is a non stimulant medications that was prescribed originally for blood pressure but doctors found that it had very good results on adhd/ odd. It works very well for us. Before, my son was aggressive and extremely nervous. Now he can stop and think, understands consequences and is able to stop before going too far.

We also do cognitive behavioral therapy and family therapy, my point being that no medication alone will show full result But the only medication that made a change in impulsivity and aggressivity has been Guanfacine. You have to go through a long process or trials/fails and keeping records of side effects / progress to know what works and what does not.

Hope this helps. Take care and hand in there.

[Kthames76 in reply to christelferrer]

Thank you so much for all that information! He has an appointment coming up and I'm going to ask about that medication. He has been seeing a counselor also for about a year that works with the psychiatrist plus sibling therapy and he can't seem to put what he learns in therapy to situations because he can't control his anger or frustration and it seems when he starts with those emotions it's like a spiral down and I haven't figured out how to navigate through it in a way that helps him. I find myself feeling so defeated because every day is a challenge,morning and night. When he is back to himself, which is loving and sweet, he doesn't know why he acted like that and wishes he could stop, its heartbreaking.

[Sabrousal in reply to christelferrer]

This is actually what me son is on. Aggressive behaviors have decreased but thinking things thru....so I would impulse control maybe a little.

[22789]

What you described falls under the ADHD umbrella. Perhaps co-morbid anxiety is a factor. ImpactADHD Parent Community is a Facebook page. Its founders have strong ties to CHADD and present at the annual conference. They have presented through ADDitude as well.

[Jorliss in reply to 22789]

Anxiety is a huge factor for me. I get riddled with it if I don’t know how long the car drive is, where we are going and what we are doing. My boyfriend always lets me know in order to reduce my anxiety.