ADHD Medicine for My Son

Hi C.,

Please don't be afraid to try medicines. It has made a world of difference for my son. The longer you let him go untreated the more damage to his self-esteem as others react negatively to him. Also, sugar can make symptoms much worse (though it
sounds like you're aware of the diet part.) Best wishes,
P. B.

try everything before the meds...I personally feel doctors are quick to prescribe drugs...it sounds like you have tried a lot...but keep looking! how about seeing a naturopath who could look at some homeopathic remedies?
I am sure it isn't easy for you...keep working at it! You are doing a great job!
Also try getting harsh chemicals out of your home like bleach/lysol and other such cleaners and getting your son on quality bioavailable vitamins. There are great options out there available to you!

hi C. - just wanted to let you know that i never read your post as saying you were spanking your child - it was actually one of the mom's advice to you...and i agree with you - i will NEVER spank my child - no matter how upset i get!!!!

as for your son - i am sorry to hear of your frustrations. i don't know your son - but i would think 3 is a very young age to start meds. 3 your old boys are full of energy and need to run and jump and play A LOT!!! i am a mom to a 3 year old boy myself - and also a teacher - so i feel like i can genuinely tell you that most boys at this age have no attention span, need to be 'run' just like puppies and are not as apt to sit and attend to things the way girls do at this age.

will your son sit and listen to you read a story? will he play and stay attentive to something that he truly wants to do - not something that he is supposed to do? if so - i wouldn't worry. you have your hands full with a 1 year old and an 8 month old - perhaps your son just wants some attention. he is still young himself and might be having a hard time dealing with 2 younger siblings.

as for helping him without meds - diet change takes A LOT of timem, patience and diligence. if you are eliminating certain things from his diet - you have to completely eliminate it - and that's hard as so many items have hidden ingredients such as wheat, soy, dairy, etc. also - it takes a while to truly get some of these things out of your system before you can see a difference. i am talking a couple weeks - with NO mess ups or you have to start all over again. that being said - it can make a huge difference and is good for your whole family - not just your son.

i work for a great company that was started by a single mom who had a son who had adhd but could not be medicated. she had to deal with it through diet - so she started making her own food. please feel free to contact me for information, recipes, or a product sample. you can check out my website www.jenwarr.mywildtree.com for more info and let me know if you want me to send you any more helpful info.

take care and good luck!!
J.
____@____.com

Have you tried eliminating certain foods from his diet. There are websites that deal with diet/adhd that could prove helpful.
I am also convinced that good solid discipline needs to be in order. Yes, spanking. Not abuse.

My brother-in-law put his son on a diet due to Bipolar with ADHD. Tim has to stay away from almost all sugar and keep a Wheat-Free Gluten Free Diet PLUS Dye Red 40 has shown that it can cause Hyper-Activity. My son is ADHD and I try to watch his sugar intake. He is on a medication because he also has Anxiety Disorder and OCD which when those get bad then he becomes extremely hyper. It's so hard, but all you can do is do your best. With the other kids I am sure it's hard to keep him under control sometimes!

Hi C.,
How was your son diagnosed with ADHD? Was it by a child psychiatrist? If so, he or she can definitely help you out with medication options - there are really so many out there, all with different possible results, side effects, etc. If it was by his primary doctor, you should consider having him see a child psychiatrist to have him reevaluated. Counseling may also be an alternative.
Good luck,
:-) P.

You do not need to spank your kids. He is only 3 so I'm not sure you really need to start him on medicine yet (he isn't even in school yet). Also, keep him off soda, candy, icecream, junk food, candy, caffeine, etc. Then try taking him off of wheat (gluten) food to see if he improves with a new diet. At three years old, kids can be quite a handful. You may benefit from parenting classes to gain some discipline ideas, and calming/concentrating techniques. Everyone could probably gain something from a parenting class or two. Also, try watching a few Nanny 911 episodes. Good luck and keep us updated! You don't need to spank children! Kids must respect you. What you say rules. When my father told me something, I wouldn't hesitate, not for a second, and he never laid a hand on us, it was about respect.

C.,

I have always been one to try the alternative methods to healing a child. I could not stand the thought of my child being on drugs either. I spent years altering his diet and questioning my every move parenting him with specialist up my one side and down the other offering helpful hints on behavioral modification. I was ready to try any non pharmaceutical approach while my son could not help himself. You could see it. He would do something impulsively then look shocked and cry when I or his teacher corrected him. This is a chemical imbalance. Why or how it happens there is so much conjecture. Try helping him with the prescribed medication for a week or two. Say nothing to his teachers. Then ask them at the end of this trial period how your son has been. You may be surprised. Pharmaceutical intervention is neccassary for many reasons. If this allows your son enough time to slow down and think he could finish his work, make friends not offend them and most importantly feel in control not hopeless. I did just this in first grade. I had reports of him shouting out answers, getting out of his seat, and grabbing still. Very immature behavior and impulsive. He was not making friends rather driving them away and his teachers nuts. We tried a low dose of concerta I believe 17mgs. for a week. When a week went by on Friday his teacher called us and asked what kind of therapy or words did we use to solve their problem. He was like a new kid she tells me. A leader not a disruptive entity.

Protect his self esteem before he goes any further in life. Coaches, other parents, teachers and yes even I kept pleading with him to behave. How frustrated he was and angry that he tried and could not. So help him help himself by giving medication a try. You could save yourself years of trying to finding the magic psychologist or environment for him. I did the what if route too long. What if his class room size was smaller. What if he saw a behavioral specialist every week that coached him on behavour. These were temporary and frustrating to the little guy. He just felt like everywhere he went there was something wrong with him and he was in his own words "bad".

I regret not giving medication a try earlier. He is now a happy 7th grade boy that is a high honor student. He plays a sport every season and loves his life. His confidence is through the roof. We are not saying he is at all perfectly behaved but he is now just acting like a typical brother when he acts up not someone that needs us to guide his every move. Good luck.

Hi C..
I am not a mother, however I am a professional in the field of children with developmental delays, normally developing children, as well as everything in between. I have been working at a preschool that is an inclusive program and does therapy and integrates developmentally delayed children with normally developing children into a classroom setting. I also have experience across the board from working with children with down syndrome, to working with children (with small but sometimes seem really large diagnose') like ADHD. The advice that I am giving you is simply just my observation and what seemed to work for me. I have not done research in this area of study, but I have worked with this type of situation and these are some things that I tried.

A few years ago I worked with a child that had severe ADHD and his parents did not want to put him on medication. So I started looking into some different ways to deal with his challenging behaviors. One of the things that I felt worked the best was incorporating techniques used for kids with sensory integrations issues. (many children with autism often have sensory integration issues, however I am not implying not advocating that your son is in any way affected with autism, I feel that you should know this however since when you look up books and research on this a lot of it will be about incorporating these techniques in the lives of children with autism). So what I would do is apply deep pressure to certain joints (like pushing down on his shoulders with flat palms, and he would often tell me if he needed me to do it or if he didn't need it right then, etc), and teach him how to do it when he felt antsy or out of sync (like pushing the palms of your hands together or pushing down on the top of your head with both of your hands). I also kept a "fidget" with him almost at all times (a squishy ball that he can squeeze to help him focus). I am not saying that this will work like a miracle or that it will be easy, but It seemed to help the child that I worked with a lot. And his behaviors became more managable in the classroom and he was able to concentrate on social growth and normal development instead of simply trying to sit in his seat all the time. So what I did was go on amazon.com and I found a book that I think you should consider reading. I have not personally read this book but it had good reviews and I have read other books concerning sensory integrations (however the books I read were more autism based then the book I found for you). I would say that it is worth a shot, and if you try the diet change along with these techniques maybe you will find that the medication is not necessary. so the link to the book is:
http://www.amazon.com/Helping-Hyperactive-Kids-Integratio...

I hope this helps and good luck. Please let me know what you think of the programs and if they help!

http://www.michaelolaf.com/JCcontents.html

http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312teach.html

C., I was like you, I resisted the meds. Thought the teachers were just trying to get thru their day easier! Was I wrong! Finally in 3rd grade I started using Adderall for my son and I cried like a baby when I gave him his first dose (felt so guilting doping him up) but- his grades went thru the roof! no more fights, he was much better. He just graduated high school and is starting college in a few weeks (he WANTED to start early!) He does have some side effects, he takes a very lose dose but when it wears off he can be a bit moody, however, I have found that is because he does not eat much when using it and his blood sugar is low. I try to make sure he eats something about 2-3pm when his dose is wearing off. Good luck