Did ADHD Meds Help Your Child?

All of my kids were are are on meds and I don't think they would be successful without them. I started taking them when I went back to college and I know I couldn't have done it without the meds.

My son has Inattentive type, and none of the associated behavior issues that can come along with ADHD. He only needs the medication for school or the occasional situation that requires his focus.

His problem is that the little distractions of a classroom - whispers, the sound of pencils, a light flashing - were enough that he simply Could Not accomplish things. His grades tanked, even though he was trying so hard and was learning coping skills. It just wasn't cutting it. He places value on his school work and it really upset him to have such a hard time. He started medication (it usually takes time to hit the right one/dose) and he his grades went back up. That was in 2nd grade. He is an honor roll student in 7th grade today.

Did they help my boys? Without a doubt.

ADHD is a brain problem. A problem that doesn't just go away with behavior modification and hope. It's a brain communication problem, more specifically. And it can be treated.

If your child were having seizures, you're treat those seizures with medication. A seizure disorder is similar to ADHD in that it cannot by modified or hoped away. You need medication to treat it.

I tried EVERYTHING before meds. But when it got to the point where they were simply unable to concentrate and retain what they learned at school, I knew I had to act. I was diagnosed at age 8 and was behind in school for years simply because I couldn't pay attention. I didn't want that for my boys.

I started with non-stimulant meds. No dice for my eldest, but perfect for my younger boy.

For my eldest, we've tried a few different types of stimulants. We have stayed with Vyvanse because it works the best for him. I even took him from Vyvanse to Adderall XR (because it has a cheaper copay) and quickly learned that it wasn't right for him. He's 11 and was able to tell me if the meds weren't helping.

Today he gets A's and B's in school. He is such a sweet and wonderful boy. He always has been, but before finding the right med, getting him to do anything was like, "Hey mom, did you know I can put my foot behind my head? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be doing math. Look at that SQUIRREL! BIKE! LOOK AT THAT DOG!"

Talk to the doctor about medication. Tell them your fears and concerns. I've basically run the show as far as meds for my boys. I told him flat out, I wanted as little intervention as possible. Non-stimulants if they work. Lowest doses possible. Research and be an advocate for your child's health. Talk to your doc frankly and let them know that you don't care what the latest craze is, or what his suppliers are trying to sell him on, you want what is going to be best for your child.

Be prepared: The first med, second med, third med...might not be right for him. If you see that he's depressed, twitchy, too tired, too hyper, lost his spark...then it's not the right med for him (if it's a non-stimulant, give it the requisite number of weeks before you take him off). Talk to his doc about the next option. Check out the reviews on drugs.com for ADHD meds and how they work for kids like him (male, 10 years old, level of ADHD). Don't give up.

Best of luck to you!
♥
C. Lee

ETA: I had to add: Yesterday my 11 year old rewired some snap circuits to another toy he has ("Power House" green energy toy), so he could figure out how many milliamps were being collected by the solar panel and used by the house. Without his meds, he wouldn't have been able to sit still long enough to complete the project. Kids with ADD/ADHD are usually really smart. They just need to be able to focus that intelligence.

Without meds my daughter is very hard to live with.
she's 10 and has ADHD-C.
It's an adventure finding the right meds and it may take a few times. but they have been a God send for our family.

ADHD is a biological function in the brain. Medication is often the ONLY way to correct a medical condition. Make sure you use a psychiatrist that is very familiar with kids and the current meds that work well so when you do start the search for a med that makes his brain work right it won't be so hard.

We are on Sooner Care which is a state medical card. They will not pay for any medication for kids with ADHD until they have done a good try with Ritalin. It has been around the longest and a lot of kids do well on it. PLUS it is the least expensive. So they want to make sure it is tried first before trying more expensive ones that may not work as well as Ritalin does.

We have been very pleased with Ritalin and Depakote. We see a huge difference if he doesn't get his medication for some reason or another.

We, too, did blood testing and have gone gluten free, dairy free, and egg free, and started a bunch of nutritional supplements -- it has been a big improvement. There is such a thing as a "gluten fog" and a lot of imbalances in the system that can be improved through nutrition. I would not go to meds without first exploring alternative approaches.

ETA: according to our doctor, 80% of cases that are diagnosed as add/adhd actually are not. Often, they are the result of allergies.

My daughter is now 13 and was diagnosed ADD when she was about 7ish. Since she is very mellow, we decided NOT to medicate her but instead to have a strict routine, which has worked well for all of us. Oh, and she was diagnosed over the summer as Asperger's with ADD and we still don't do meds for her, but are not opposed to it and may try it sometime to see if it helps her focus better.

My 10 yo son was diagnosed ADHD last year. It took a FULL year to get him on the right meds. The first meds made him chew his nails to where they bled, the others just didn't seem to have an affect. Finally, we have him on Strattera and it mostly works while he's in school, its basically worn off by the time he's home, but we are ok with that. It has worked WONDERS for him on helping him focus during class. We haven't had any issues with him this year at all and he's getting straight B's and a D in math (not surprising, its his hardest to get). So we are happy that hes on them, when he wasn't, EVERYONE suffered. Good luck!

My daughter was 9 when she was diagnosed w ADD. She always had a hard time focusing but I didn't want the "label" of ADD and didn't want her on meds. When she was diagnosed we tried bio feedback, neuro feedback, yoga, and other therapies trying to keep her off meds, and they didn't work, and she was being teased in school. SHe was becoming depressed and her self-esteem was nil. At 10-12, we finally did put her on meds, with mixed success, and ended up taking her off everything because she lost so much weight that her body went into an anorexic state, where they think it delayed her cycle, and was becoming a life threatning situation. Going into 8th grade we took her off of everything and luckily she had a supportive group of teachers that worked with her to get her assignments done.
We ended up taking her to a hemotologist who tested her blood and recommended she take certain supplements and go gluten-and dairy free. That was worked wonders for her! Especially with Dairy, she has found that dairy clouds her brain a lot, and it makes her hyper. Very bizarre!!
It's been a rough go of it for us but now, for the last year and a half, we have had a amazing daughter that is a 4.0 student!

Good luck to you and your family, and I hope you quickly find the solution that works for your child.

I think in general, kids are over medicated and misdiagnosed. For those that are diagnosed correctly and right medications found, it can be a godsend.

My son was off the walls as a child and was diagnosed w/ ADHD...he had the characteristics but really was just a wild child. We tried medication...teacher and daycare provider told me how great he was doing....they didn't know he was off the medication because he couldn't sleep and would just cry all night while on it. Seemed that they saw what they wanted to see. My niece, once the right medication was found, was a completely different child (for the better).

One thing that I see with kids who are diagnosed (either correctly or not), the adults around them seem to encourage using the diagnoses as an excuse to act up. My niece, if she forgot her pill the world knew because they made a huge to-do about it and my nephew would antagonize her. Then they'd all say "see what happens when she doesn't take her meds". She came with me one day after forgetting it (and they all offered to let her not come if I didn't want to deal with it)...I said "she's coming with me and she'll be fine". When I caught my nephew antagonizing her, I stopped it and let him know that if it continued he'd be in more trouble then her and I let her know that she should let me know if it continued and I didn't see it. I had no problems.

I have also seen people want to use medication to avoid actually displining their child. It's not a good situation.

If your son is properly diagnosed with ADHD (or anything else for that matter) and medication is needed, I urge you to get informed about the medication options and seek the right one at the right dosage. Realize that sometimes it takes a few tries to find that right one (or in some cases the right combination) and as time goes on, changes may need to be made. I also urge you to treat it as a "need to know" situation so the world doesn't see him through shaded lenses.

The right medication has made things a lot better for my son. Not perfect, but better. We did have to go through trying some that made things worse on the way there. Yes, that part was nerve wracking.

My 14 year old has been medicated since the diagnosis came down that he had ADHD and anxiety.

You may need to try out a couple of different meds and/or strengths of meds to get the right one and dosage. But it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it. It made SUCH a huge difference in my son's life. He went from being untestable because he couldn't focus long enough for the teachers to know if he was actually learning anything or not and at the bottom of the class to the top of the class. The meds didn't change my son's personality, they didn't turn him into a zombie or any of those other old horror stories from the early days of ADD/ADHD treatments. The meds simply made it so he could focus.

We did have an issue with concerta, but we just switched back to Ritalin and we were good.

I would no more deny my son meds for ADHD than I would deny my son meds for diabetes.

My son is worlds different and we have tried stimulant (they suppressed his appetite too much) and non-stimulant (better for the skinny kid) meds. As a psychologist, I agree it is an often over diagnosed condition, but still a legitimate and "real" problem that needs to be treated to avoid depression, anxiety, and a number of other struggles later in life. I suggest finding someone who can do some testing (psychologist who will do a battery of tests and interview) in order to make sure that it is ADHD and not something else.

In repose to the food/allergies/no sugar stuff; the reality is that sugar does make make children hyper, situations do. Allergies are real and do cause issues for behavior, but the cluster of ADHD symptoms cannot be explained away by GI distress. Finally, you can alter diet, and that may change some neuro chemistry, but ADHD that is significant enough to warrant a diagnosis and treatment with meds will no respond to diet alternations alone.

There are pros and cons. If you have tried to mitigate it other ways and are not finding success, then I would medicate. My husband, after 39 years of ADD, is finally on medication for it. This is the man who was adamantly opposed to any kind of medication. He says he wished that he had this much sooner because it would have made a difference in his life.
Bottom line for me is... if it is interfering with their life and their ability to develop appropriate social skills, then it's time to medicate.

we just started meds, about 2 weeks ago with our kindergartener. i can tell you that his teacher is SUPER happy lol. we only do it during school, not at night or on weekends. he is the same as ever at home. during school, he still gets into some trouble for talking out of turn, correcting people (he is also super smart and doesn't understand why no one wants to hear the RIGHT answer, when he knows it)

we started with the lowest dose possible. it doesn't make him a zombie - it actually doesn't even 100% take care of the fidgetiness and antsy-ness - but it does help a LOT. he is learning to control the rest himself, which is awesome. i always said, if it was something he COULD control- he would. and now he can. again, he's not 100% better, but he's getting there. i am very happy with the way things have gone for us.

*each child is different. if your son has made it this far, it's not the same situation as ours- as soon as our son started kindergarten it was obvious he would not get through school without some intervention on our part. your best bet is to research, research, research. LEARN about it so that it doesn't scare the bejeezus out of you. knowledge is power! good luck and i hope you find something that helps him.

We have tried a lot of ADHD meds, and the one we have had the best luck with is Concerta. The time release mechanism, IMHO, is the best in the class. Self esteem and social issues are a huge reason we medicate. When he is not medicaed in school, he is so out of control the children have started to shun him. He's earned quite a bad reputation that will take quite a bit of time to reverse. As the teachers explained to us, it's not that the kids don't like him, it's that they are afraid they are going to get into trouble if they play with him. If that isn't a huge blow to a 10 y.o.'s self esteem (being shunned), then I don't know what is. Good luck!

p.s. We did a very extensive elimination diet 3 years ago with DS. We did find 2 trigger foods with him, but nothing that made his focus and impulse control better/worse. Just the hyperactive part. I usually refer to him as just ADD, for as long as he has no dairy or RD 40, he isn't hyper.

meds can be helpful for ADHD treatment- however the BEST treatment 100% of the time is "multimodal treatment" that is a combination of treatment options all working together ex: behavioral therapy, meds, and support. Next thing is to take a CHADD class. Look on www.chadd.com for a local group. They're a non-profit organization that focus on education for parents with children who have adhd as well as adults with adhd. Good luck! :)

Updated

meds can be helpful for ADHD treatment- however the BEST treatment 100% of the time is "multimodal treatment" that is a combination of treatment options all working together ex: behavioral therapy, meds, and support. Next thing is to take a CHADD class. Look on www.chadd.com for a local group. They're a non-profit organization that focus on education for parents with children who have adhd as well as adults with adhd. Good luck! :)