PLEASE HELP

[kinnearbianca]

Hi All,

My son is turning 8 years old in August and he has ADHD. We are struggling with his behavior in school during the day and more so now that we are unable to go anywhere and cannot leave him with anyone in the family because he is uncontrollable. Doctors have advised us before at putting him on medication to help and we didn't want to but my husband and I think maybe it would help him especially because now other kids don't want to be around him and are treating him differently.

Does any one have advice on which medication we should try?? We were looking at Concerta or Adderall??

[Onthemove1971]

kinnearnianca- Welcome to the group! There are many parents and messages in the group just like yours. Having a child with ADHD is a hard thing to understand and adjust to. Please don't think it is your job to figure out the best medication. This is a condition for the doctors go treat, trust that they know what they are doing.

In my opinion the sooner you start the medication the sooner your son can start to calm down and control his behavior.

I would recommend a behavior Specialist either with the school or a home. Also do you have an IEP (Individual Educational Plan) or a 504 plan in school to help support your child? if not put in writing that you need one and give the letter to the Special Education Department so you can get him support. You need help for your son. There are people that can guide you through this process.

One last thing children with ADHD don't wake up everyone wanting to act bad, they have a neurological condition and need help controlling themselves, when they are younger they don't have the ability to know how. School demands so much from them and has so many kids in their classes and teachers have so many kids in their classes, we as parents need to be their strongest advocates to help them become successful.

I am a strong advocate for the right dose and type of medication for children, this doesn't always happen right away.

Best of luck, it is a journey try to stay positive and love him.

We are here to help you when you need it.

Take care.

[CourtDS]

My daughter is 6, she just finished Kindergarten. She was diagnosed December, 2017. Prior to diagnosis, she was being disruptive in class as far as not being able to sit still, fidgeting a lot, making disruptive noises, things like that. On the playground she was getting into trouble for being impulsive and aggressive. She ended up with 3 lunch detentions, meaning she was not allowed to go to recess and had to sit in the office. Then, after her 4th incident she was given in school suspension....in KINDERGARTEN! I understood that her behavior was unacceptable and there needed to be a consequence, however, she needed the activity of running and playing each day during recess to release her hyper energy and taking that away from her made it harder for her in class the rest of the day. Once I received the diagnosis from a pediatric psychologist, I felt like I ran to the pediatrician to get her medicated. She was put on 10mg of Adderall (now she’s on 15mg). Her medicine started her 1st day back at school from winter break. Thankfully she had a wonderful teacher who watched her closely for me all day. We were very lucky in that the medicine and the dose level was perfect for her on our first try. The only reason we upped it to 15mg was to help stay in her system a bit longer to help us during the evening. Her 2nd half of the school year was AWESOME! She improved in class, she started reading, her hand writing is exceptional, she interacted better with the kids during recess and most importantly, a little boy that tended to taunt her, she was able to slow down enough to ignore him. She realized he wasn’t worth her getting into trouble. Towards the end of this school year, I had teachers stop me in the hall to ask if I was her mom and then tell me what a delight she is in school and how much they enjoy interacting with her. Now, when it’s out of her system, we have our rough times, but for me the comfort in medicating her comes from knowing how well she’s doing in school both academically and socially. Both her teacher and her principal have shared our story with other families that are torn about being diagnosed and/or trying medication. Best of luck to you.

Ps. Side effects are she on occasion gets headaches and her appetite has decreased causing her to lose some weight. I’ve found that if I constantly have food around and I’m offering her snacks then she’s ingesting enough food daily. Also, making sure she’s eating often also helps keep her less moody in the evenings. The psychologist suggested several high protein snack breaks daily during school to help her serotonin levels.

[storey7383]

My son is 8 yrs old and was diagnosed in April 2016. He has always been "that kid". The one who couldn't be still, argued with everything, melted down in school over things that would happen no matter how minuscule. He was barely 5 when he started kindergarten and in hindsight, the combo of his undiagnosed adhd and immaturity created an unachievable goal for him. We decided to hold him back a year and repeat kindergarten. Then in first grade, diagnosed and on m

Methyphenidate, he just was not achieving anything at school except "sad days". The dose was not right and was being adjusted but it was not the right medicine for him. It just didn't last nor gave him the control he so desperately needed.

At the suggestion of the principal, we changed schools. In hindsight, I should of done it sooner because that school was not helping him. Looking back, they are what made things worse. He was a behavior to them not a child. I was so upset because he loved going to school and I didn't want to break his little heart.

We moved schools 2 months into first grade. I met with the vice principal and the behavior specialist (in case). Where I live, they don't put the child in special classes if they have no learning disabilities, which my son doesn't but I wanted her to know in case she gets called in.

He got the most wonderful, sweetest teacher I could ever ask for!! She constantly was messaging me how he was doing. Told me about the good and bad days and what she thinks can help. She ended up teaching his 2nd grade class also and I was so grateful. Changing him to a school that wanted to help him succeed was the best thing we could have done. Even the vice principal is the kind of person that will lay on the floor with them when they have a meltdown. She told me a little later her son has adhd and he graduated with honors.

His medicine changed about a month after he started his new school from methylphenidate to Dyanavel (liquid amphetamine) because the short acting methylphenidate just was not the right one for him. Once he got on the new medication, it changed our lives. His doctor said it was a different class of medicine than the methylphenidate.

I take him to the doctor every 2 months and we discuss how he's doing. We haven't changed his dose. Sometimes I even just give him half on the weekends just to keep it in his system which his dr said was okay.

We give him melatonin at night because some days he has trouble coming down, which helps. He sleeps well but it's just getting him to calm down in the evenings is tougher.

Ultimately, the right combination of the doctor recommended medications, a plan to combat behavior and meltdowns and teaching him how to cope when he gets upset and definitively the right school is what helped make our son more successful.

And people just don't get it if they aren't raising a child with adhd. The diagnosis has been made into a "made up" problem and makes it so hard for us moms and dads to talk about it.

[Cjkchamp]

Every child is different. We went through three med changes. The methylphenidates have the least amount of side effects is what I have been told. We started out on Quillivant which seemed to be ok but not in the long run. We tried Adderall which made him become very aggressive. Now he is on Focalin and Guanfacine, both extended release, in the morning and he is doing much better. He is also taking doses of fish oil, D3, iron, magnesium, zinc, and B-12.

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Cjkchamp]

Thanks for these details, many of us have been there. I have not tried any supplements, curious what you think the: fish oil, D3, iron, magnesium, zinc, and B-12 add to him?

[Cjkchamp in reply to Onthemove1971]

The fish oil was recommended to us a little over a year ago as there have been studies that show it helps kids with adhd. I didn’t see some frantic response to it, but don’t feel it hurts as it helps with brain development. Recently, my son was seen by the supervising child psychiatrist who practices integrative medicine. She had him undergo blood testing which revealed he was low in all of the areas he is now taking supplements for. She said sometimes lacking these causes kids to have behavior issues. Whether it is the supplements or medications I don’t really know. He was able to make I through the summer with only two incidents at daycare. Last year I was called on almost a daily basis. We start school Monday so we will see what happens!