My son is 17 years old and has ADD. he is not doing well in school , doesn't care about school , and does not have very many friends. At home All he wants to do Is gaming and electronics , and he sometimes has troubles controlling his emotions and is mean with a negative Attitude . He does not get along well with his younger 14-year-old brother, and has no problems treating his parents with unkind words.
He has been seen several therapists throughout the years and have tried several non-stimulating medications that didn't help much .
His doctor now wants to start him on a stimulant Vyvanse. I am nervous to try that as it appears if there's problems or doesn't work well for him he may have withdrawals and go down a downward spiral to try to get off of the medication so I am nervous to try it.
Instead, I am wondering if I should try l-theanine plus caffeine and B vitamins instead.
Has anyone had luck with this route, and is l-Theanine safe to take long-term I am seeing mixed studies and reviews so I'm looking for help on this topic.
Also , has anyone found it not so difficult to get off of a low dose of Vyvanse?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want to do the right thing for my child
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So sorry for your continued struggles. Your son sounds like many teenagers who have a very hard time. Stimulant medication are not "habit" forming and can be very helpful for many with ADHD. Once taken, most know within a few hours if they benefits from the medication. If there is no change then dose and timing would need to be looked at. Our son many times did not even remember if he took his medication he just knew when he took it, he did not get into as much trouble.
A few other things to consider does your son have a 504 plan in school to help him with issues he may have like turning in assignments, seating and test taking. If you could ask for a study skills class in school this would allow him a class period to get help from a teacher and finish all of the required work he doesn't finish in class.
One last thing, it sounds like you found his "carrot" gaming/electronics now he just needs to use it in a positive way.
Could he use his love in a positive way for his future success?
Does he want to learn to code? If not having a conversation about how he can use this love in a positive way. Children need to find an exciting "outlet" to balance the struggles of everyday life. Maybe he could take an online computer class over summer, if he does x,y and z.
Big hugs for all your struggles, this is a hard time and I hope house find what works to help him.
We are always here to help and support you if you need us.
I do not have any experience with l-theanine plus caffeine and B vitamins, we have been success on medications from the doctor.
Psychiatrist recommended L-theanine with Suntheanine. If you're not sure about Vyvanse, you may want to look at broad spectrum micronutrients through Hardy Nutritionals or True Hope. The psychiatrist recommended them after my son did not respond well to medications. Really helped with his symptoms which included mood dysregulation. Wishing you the best. FYI, our family chose the Hardy Nutritionals Daily Essential Nutrients six years ago, and they work well for my son.
Cannot help with above but would ask GP to test B12 levels, folate and iorn- and read up deficiencies of B12, as injections of B12 May be more helpful with theanine. My son needed folate and theanine, and my daughter needed theanine, b2 and b12. Good luck on journey
you could try Hardys daily essential nutrients x12 per day, and Swanson full spectrum rhodiola rosea x1 and Carlson elite dha fish oil 5 ml per day. We’ve had some success with that for my son, and my husband who has Parkinson’s.
My son is younger (11YO) and displays similar behaviours. I have recently been diagnosed with ADHD, I can see a lot of the manifestations in my kids (no formal diagnosis yet). My son is noticably better behaved when I give him DHA supplement and a quality multivitamin (Prenatal from Seeking Health, one capsule a day, which is half an adult dose)plus magnesium. His behaviour gets noticablly worse when he eats foods with additives in it, like sweets full of chemicals. So I feed him homemade foods at home, unfortunately no way of preventing other kids sharing their sweets with him, it takes about 4 days to detox a chemical overdose after Halloween, for example. He is cranky for several days after eating a bag of poor quality treats.
that is hard. I’m sorry to hear. In my family’s experience stimulants have been a game changer. It’s not a one and done solution- I would echo what some others have said here that my child has observed that taking vs not taking has a different outcome. But I’m not sure that my son can build healthier habits without the use of stimulants- it helps to get his brain in gear.
I can also personally attest that vyvanse has changed my life. I also have ADHD and after using other stimulants like Adderall vyvanse has worked much more successfully for me . But everyone is different and it’s trial and error. Best of luck
Stimulants are by far the most effective medication for ADHD. It sounds like you are at the end of the line doing all the other options. Unfortunately the supplements don’t have much good research to back them up. The stimulants are not addictive. I would say, what do you have to lose? You only have so many years left in your house that you can to try them.
I want to be careful when I say this, and note that whatever works for your child is best, but I’ve been seeing quite a lot of recommendations for Hardy’s here lately in opposition of stimulants and I think we all need to be a bit cautious of that. I don’t think the research is there yet to say that using those is a solid alternative to stimulants.
Another commenter has already mentioned but stimulants are in and out of your system the same day you take them. They don’t build up in your system over time the way an anxiety med would, thus no withdrawal process over days or weeks. Though it is true that the end of the day can be tricky as it wears off.
Decades of research have proven that stimulants are safe when taken as prescribed. They are the first line of treatment for ADHD. Medication can help level the playing field for your child both socially and academically. That being said, they may or may not be the right fit for your child and in no way do you have to go that route. We use a combo of Adderall (similar to Vyvanse) and vitamins (Alive kids daily, magnesium, omegas, and just started a probiotic as well) for our son.
I would recommend checking out ADDITUDE online for loads of helpful info. They support all kinds of treatments (not just stimulants) and can help you be informed as you make the decision.
My daughter takes a stimulant for school and it is a game-changer, but she also takes a low dose (25mg) caffeine + L-Theanine supplement once a day when she's not taking the stimulant. I think it helps a lot with hyperactivity and impulsivity. We also use a multivitamin (Ritual teen) that has methylated folate and B12. Mary Ruth's also makes a nighttime gummy with L-Theanine (no melatonin), and Olly makes a sleep gummy with L-Theanine + melatonin. Hope that helps!
Will have to check out the Mary Ruth’s nighttime gummy, thanks for the rec. The Olly kids sleep gummies are great- I love that they only have half a milligram of melatonin.
Your son sounds very similar to my 12 yo. We did not have luck with stimulants-he got more irritable. We went down the non-stimulant route which I know you have too. I was just wondering if your son had tried Qelbree? It helped him control his anger and impulsivity. He focuses much better in school now. He was very sensitive to it-we had to cut him down to 100mg after our psychiatrist wanted him to move to 200mg. The manufacturer has a discount code so it costs about $20 a month in the US.
my 14 year old struggles with insomnia, so stimulants are not good for us. We are using Quelbree now and it helps with emotional dysregulation. You might try that as an option.
I got an email about an upcoming webinar that happens to be on the topic and thought I’d come back and add it here for anyone interested who might stumble upon it.
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