my son will be 11 this week. We have been in this journey since age 6. He has been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. We have tried approximately 7 different stimulants short and long acting. The doctor is starting to wonder if stimulants may be contributing to his poor behavior at school. He’s very disruptive, noise making, disrespectful, calls teacher itiots and tells them to shut up and make me, and impulsive. He just seems angry. Looking for feedback!
currently he takes Metadate Cd ,Abilify, Lamictal, Prozac and clonidine
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hygienehollie
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i’m so sorry to hear you’re going through this. I don’t have any answers. I just know that I’ve been in your place and you’re doing everything you can to get the help your child needs. So be confident in that and keep chugging along. Mainly, I just wanted to let you know you’re not alone.
Since stimulant medications are out of your system within the day why not try a day or two at school or home without giving them to him? Let his teachers/support staff know the plan so they can have the proper support set up for him and help you monitor his behavior and that way you can rule out if it's the stimulants or something else going on like anxiety.My son recently went through a rough period at school where he was very dysregulated and defiant. It turned out his fluxoteine (prozac) was no longer working. We switched to Celexa and within a week he was back to his normal self.
Hello hygienehollie,I'm sorry you and your family are going thru this. The suggestion to try a few days off meds is a good one and an easy experiment to do. Definitely let the school know if you try it on school days.
The thought I had is getting your son into some sort of high cardio sport or moving meditation like Tai chi, both have been proven to help with outward ADHD symptoms and supporting better focus.
If it has always been at school there could be an underlying learning difference that he is covering for, dyslexia and other learning differences are quite common with ADHD kids. Maybe he gets mad because he isn't doing something as well as he is "supposed" to. It is tough to tease out because his executive function is lagging behind his age by about 30% and with that is the lack of ability to articulate what he is actually feeling. Sometimes pictures of things like volcanoes erupting, smashed up cars, scared animal, etc are something he can point to to try to express what he's really feeling.
I hope that helps. Stay curious, you are doing great to keep searching for answers and support.
Hang in there,
BLC89
full disclosure I am an ADHD Parent Coach, have raised two ADHD kids and been married to ADHD for nearly 30 years
this is a lot more complicated . He is highly aggressive. He punched a teacher today. He is separated from kids at recess and lunch for the last 8 weeks due to physical aggression. It’s so sad
I'm so so sorry you are all going thru that. The doctors don't have any suggestions? I'm not well versed in that type of aggression. This may sound random but is he well hydrated? Low sodium can really mess with your system. Some have been diagnosed with ADHD when it was low sodium and other cases some have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder or even hospitalized.
And I know if one kid who became scary aggressive when he had high fructose corn syrup. You could have a blood test for food allergies and intolerances, that too can really get your system out of whack.
The only other times I have seen it is in with kids with autism who don't have the words and can't control their emotions and then get physical.
I would really push the doctors to get their curiosity on and help you figure this out, they need to help him so he can be safe.
Hang in there,
BLC89
I’d say he takes a few medications and they all can have such side effect of irritability, anger etc.
It’s always easier to navigate the side effects when a child is on a single medication.
I'm sorry you are going through this. That is a lot of meds that he is on just for adhd. I am a veteran and take lamictal for bipolar or is also used for seizures. I have been in Strattera 5 mg for adhd it made me sleepy, and vyvanse. It is okay. I have been on Abilify, Prozac. Didn't like either of them or the way they made me feel. I'm telling you this from an adult stand point. (Metadate Cd ,Abilify, Lamictal, Prozac and clonidine).
You can't quit taking any of these meds without tapering because it will cause a lot of problems, except the metadate cd.
Abilify should treat the autistic side (if he has that, I don't know? But it's usually for different types of depression as well as the prozac. clonidine is used to treat adhd as well as blood pressure.
He is on quite a bit of meds that cause quite a bit of side effects. I would look into getting another Dr. If you can. That is just my opinion. I'm not a Dr. I can't imagine what his brain is going through.
I have a son that is 17 now, he was in 3rd grade that the Dr put him on focalin. He got older to the 6th grade and they increased his strength just a little and he lashed out. I always had him on the smallest dose. So the Dr tried Concerta and then vyvanse and it was the same outcome. The pediatrician said i will refer you to a psychiatrist, so they sent us to one and she put him on Strattera (non stimulate). Supposedly the smallest dose (she gave him 25mg). The smallest is 5 mg by the way. He was hallucinating and hearing things. I had him stop. We didn't go back to her.
He is on the 504 plan ( in the US) because it is a disability the school recognizes because they need extra time and redirection. So that helped. And they don't give him homework because when he gets home from school he is exhausted.
I hope this helps and I'm not trying to fix anything just trying to help. I really hope he gets better. Xo
I'm sorry you and your child are going through this. My first suggestion is that the prescribing doctor be a psychiatrist who understands these types of medicines better. If so, maybe consider getting a second opinion-which never hurt. My 8yr old is also on multiple meds for ADHD, anxiety, impulsive mood behaviors and we dealt with similar aggressions last year. We've changed, increased, decreased different meds over past few years. Currently Vyvanse for adhd, Abilify for mood/aggression...and few others.
My second suggestion if your child is willing, try individual and/or group therapy. My child does both but I really like the group therapy because it focuses on social emotional learning through activities such as games, etc... Try looking into a group first since it's less one on one and they usually group kids in a similar age group and it's more play than talking. His school may also have suggestions for outside help.
Lastly, hoping he has an IEP to supporthis difficulties. If not, then I would push for one. If so, maybe they need to review the behaviors and adjust his supports.
Hi - Here's our story, maybe it will provide something you can use. My son is almost 10. We have been in this journey since he was turning 5. We did not have a formal diagnosis right away because we weren't sure of what was going on. Originally, we started with play therapy which taught us as a family how to handle his behavior without burning ourselves out. Next we found a reputable organization that provided CBT and was able to give a formal diagnosis of ADHD (age 6 - first grade) while also prescribing methylphenidate. The drug certainly helped during school hours but after school once the drug processed through his system most behaviors returned. The behaviors included telling teachers they were stupid (some of them were), loud reactions, emotional disregulation, making noise, etc. Then the pandemic forced us into home-schooling so we stopped the medication. Yes, completely stopped. I simply doubled down on the tools learned in CBT and was vigilant in guiding my child towards the behaviors we did want. If i did not say before, the diagnosis here is ADHD, presenting as hyperactive. We can talk further about life trapped in the house with a hyperactive child - but for the most part the parenting tools learned in CBT were CRUCIAL. We made consequences transparent and applied them consistently. And yes, its HARD to do but can be done. I can give you a part two of other treatment we have undertaken but I swear we are no where near to where we were when he was 5. We do not give any stimulants and he does not need them. A few challenges remain but for the most part if you didn't know - you would not know there is a diagnosis.
Ouch, yes I understand how you feel about the physical restraint thing. I don't know where you are located but we went to the Child Mind Institute and it was an important step forward for all of us. You can try to go to their website at Childmind.org to see if they serve your location. If they don't maybe its worth it to contact them to see if they can give you a recommendation for another great CBT provider. After what we had been through, at first I doubted but we started to trust the process, be consistent, and began to see improvement over time. I don't know where you are with the medication issue but they generally have a program that combines CBT with medication.
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