Need direction and still a bit shell shocked and stressed

[Team_428]

My son is 8, full term opioid baby, with ADHD, who’s spiraled out of control since late September. An ard (iep) was underway the entire time and completed by April. He has systematically tried to collapse the entire family based on vindictive behavior through lies and manipulation. All attempts to stop him didn’t work. School involvement, communication, reward systems, doctors (2 in last two months) and nothing made a difference. Doctors seem overwhelmed but he has a diagnosis of adhd with odd/ conduct disorder now. Doctor failed to refer to psychology from February-March stating issues finding one so doctor changed. New doctor prescribed meds so there is hope. Just me asking her not to say things regarding medication in front of my son irritated her and she did it anyway so my son faked symptoms 1 minute after taking meds. He forges behavior slips so well with colored pens and only a teacher, the following day says “Your son made this...we did not”. I find letters made out to me crumpled up in back of lego boxes (from principal of school to get him into behavioral evaluations). He removed all reward systems at home by stealing everything he did not earn from candy to toys. I talked to school and got nowhere on reducing candy and still find candy wrappers in stash spots. My son has ruined all relationships with friends so when he is good he has no playmates to enjoy life with.

It go’s on and on and on.

No answers as to why. No psych evaluation.

3rd day on medicine and it feels great to finally get to know my son! He just confessed to fake brushing his teeth for 4 yrs (we knew lol and yes he was told to brush em again). We just laughed so hard. He has never confessed to anything!

Does medication take effect day one? Or does it take a week to accumulate?

Seems to wear off by 6 so how do you cope until bedtime when angry moments happen?

Thanks

[Onthemove1971]

Welcome to the group..There are a number of different medications that help reduce all of the symptoms you are taking about, there are stimulants ( Ritalin, Adderall, etc) and non-stimulants ( Guanfacine, etc). Stimulants help with impulsivity and non- stimulation help with mood and focus.

In addition, there are different types of doses ( extended release, 24 hour and short acting). Many times children need a "booster" dose of the same medication to carry them through the afternoon and into the evening. Yes, most stimulants start acting quickly and do not have an accumulation in their system. When the behaviors come back the medication is out of their system.

If the medication is the right type he will then reduce many of the negative behavior in addition thearpy is recommended to help him learn techniques to prevent the negative behaviors.

It is wonderful that you are already seeing great results. It is also great to balance activities he likes to do with school, many children with ADHD do not like school becuase it is challanging and they lack the skills like organization and executive functioning skills.

Again, welcome to the group. Glad you found us.

[Team_428 in reply to Onthemove1971]

Yes, great group and thanks for your reply. Medication review is coming by end of week so monitoring, taking notes. When the meds wear off he gets upset about lack of father son time even though it has been 4 hours on weekdays to all day on weekend. Trying to talk to him about having realistic wants.

Clean out his room from all broken things to reset, make sure it’s not old items pre-Wednesday. Keep waking up at noises after midnight checking on him thinking he’s up to no good. Reset will happen on all slowly I guess.

Clonidine for sleep, he’s complaining of nightmares?

[anirush]

Your child is so young although my grandson started having issues at age 3. Grandson has been on so many meds, neuropsych evaluations, psychiatrist appts., tonsillectomy for sleep disorder. Much violence, broken walls, toys etc. Now at almost 15, and on 3 different medications and lots of counseling he is starting to gain control. Took him shopping Saturday and he saw something that I was not going to buy. There was lots of please, please, please but he finally said ok. In the past there would have been tantrums, hitting me.

It takes time, patience, trial and error to get to a good place. And then sometimes a growth spurt will throw you back to square one. Hang in there and good luck.