Side Effects of ADD/ADHD Medication?? Holistic Option?

I am NOT a fan of ANY kinds of meds...at all! And after struggling for YEARS with my sons ADHD, we finally got him on meds and it made a world of difference! His life is completely different now and so much easier for him, us and his teachers.

He doesn't take anything for his anxiety and I only have him take his Adderall on school days. He simply can't focus and work without it. Since my kids were little we have a strict school week schedule and that has really helped everyone. Everyone knows what to expect so there's no struggles.

Don't be so afraid of meds, the benefits are way worth it. JMO. Good luck!

My daughter had anxiety years before she started taking her ADHD meds, and the meds (15 mg Aderall on school days only) haven't made made her more anxious at all. In fact she's happier, calmer and functioning better than ever.
We were able to get her anxiety under control through weekly therapy, she never needed medication for that.

Please go talk to a doctor about this, preferably a prescribing psychiatrist. Our son has ADHD-inattentive, which we are dealing with (at his doc's suggestion due to a few tics and No, I would not say we are currently 'managing' it) without meds currently. That said, my husband and I are discussing possibly moving to medication at some point now that some environmental stressors are gone. We home school now and I can see, daily, how hard he has to work to learn. It's been a heartbreak to see how much frustration and effort goes into this.

Please get information about drugs and how they help with anxiety and attention deficit disorder? My grandson was anxious aND depressed years before he took medicine. His meds do not him tired or slow his reflexs. The new medications are very different when antianxiety medications came out. The old ones did.

I've taken antianxiety meds for.years. they have never made me tired or slowed my reflexes. I'm a retired police officer. Other officers took them too. If.they had those affects, we would not have been able to take them.

Most ADHD medications are a stimulant. Amphetamine Salts, my granddaughter's med, has the opposite effect on people with ADD or ADHD. We can see a difference in her ability to function when she's taking it.

Medication is not needed for everyone. My grandchildren didn't take medications for years. As they got older, they needed more help.

I feel like you are not talking to professionals but listening to anecdotal evidence via the internet. People with ADHD have anxiety because without the proper therapy, medication and behavioral therapy, we mess up, a lot! You would rather think it is the medication causing the anxiety rather than the dread of when is the next time I fail a person I love and or care about?

You cannot plop a kid on the lowest dose of medication that could possibly work with nothing else and then claim the medication doesn't work and causes anxiety. I have lost count the number of times I have read this story online and it is 100% BS. They not only set the child up for failure by not employing duel therapies and making sure the child was at a therapeutic level of medication but by proxy said the failure was the child because medication works, right? They may not have said it but the failure rate of people with ADHD makes it in our nature to just see every failure that involves us as we failed. Why on earth would this cause a higher level of anxiety? Crazy that I would think it was the failure to find the right therapy, yes?

I have ADHD and I am successful in a career where I must self structure or I fail. My two older kids are both in careers where they must self structure, my older daughter's career she is responsible for structuring multiple teams and keep track of all of their progress all the time. There is no failure here because we all received medical and behavioral therapy. ADHD will always be part of us but it does not control us because we got the help we needed to be successful. My younger two are in high school and doing well.

In my opinion and a fair few professionals, the only thing that is not healthy is the route you suggest.

My son is less anxious on medication because he is no longer worried if he is paying attention to the right thing and he can accomplish things that were a source of tension between us....homework, remembering to do chores, bringing home things from school, etc etc

Stimulants actually calm a truly ADHD mind. They have the opposite effect on someone with ADHD. In fact my son's favorite place in the world is Starbucks....it is a super calming place to him...he gets a coffee and it brings him down not revs him up. In fact at home he has free reign of the Keurig.

So, you need to read a book or two on stimulants and the ADHD mind...

Sideeffects: Our son is calmer, more focused, less inclined to get irritated over stupid things. Trust me, we tried everything: changes in diet, increased sleep, meditation, yoga, melatonin. He was miserable...the drugs made all the difference.

Yes, it's common for there to be comorbid conditions with ADHD. Our son has anxiety and a list of other conditions along with his ADHD. The ADHD medication doesn't cause any of his comorbid conditions. It's just a common thing for people with one brain disorder to have others, too.

ADHD medications won't do anything for anxiety -- make it worse or better. I don't know where you heard anxiety medication isn't good for those with ADHD. Our son is on Zoloft and it does wonders for his anxiety. Anxiety is an entirely different condition than the ADHD and they are treated with different medications. Knock on wood, he's doing great right now on the medications recommended by the psychiatrist.

I would take your concerns to your psychiatrist. These professionals are extremely knowledgeable about brain disorders and the best treatment options, since that's all they focus on day-in/day-out. Most holistic options are scams, unfortunately.

You are debating a medication's side effects before you have even tried it. My SIL does not like western doctors and medication and her youngest son is ADHD. He is 11 years old now. His behavior is so bad it is a fiasco any time we all go out in public. It is not pleasant to be around him...and I love him and know his good side. He was kicked out of his private elementary school last year after being given many chances. He is now in an alternative school that let's the kids choose their own path, do what they want, and has no grades. He tells me he plays with his nerf guns (which he brings to school) and plays video games all day every day. I worry about him. I wish my SIL would just try ADHD medication...it might really help. My friend's husband who has ADHD says he got diagnosed as an adult and he wishes he had known sooner. He says he can finally concentrate at work and can stay on task and finish projects. He says the medication is amazingly helpful.

I don't know about ADHD, but have you considered therapy for your daughter's anxiety? Just to start anyhow. Seeing a therapist, etc. to evaluate her anxiety first may be helpful if you haven't already done so. My child was able to get his under control by learning how to manage it himself. At times it does get worse (situational) but even so, now years into it, he's much better at dealing with it. If you're not interested in medication, then that could be a different approach. Although if needs be, I would give medication a try if therapy doesn't help - my mom just went on anxiety medication (for another brain disorder) and it's changed her life - completely. Her anxiety was causing her real distress and it wasn't something therapy could help her with. It was a side effect of her other condition and breathing exercises helped but didn't fully deal with it. Meds have been extremely helpful.

Please don't take offense at this, but I think something you need to consider is how your family works. Do you have predictable daily schedules? If your household quiet and peaceful? Is there a love of love, hugs and kisses? Is the environment secure? Anxiety is increased by uncertainty. If the household is chaotic, if there is a lot of discord, etc., that is going to create more anxiety. I know it is hard to have a calm household when you feel that your family life is out of control, but drugs aren't going to "fix" anxiety if the environment provokes anxiety.

I think that health care now is focusing more drugs, drugs, drugs as a solution for emotional issues. I think there needs to also be a family focused approach to issues as well.

Please don't try and address ADHD with holistic options. ADHD requires more than just holistic options. See if you can find a psychiatrist who uses both, but in my opinion, you can't treat true ADHD symptoms with just natural options.

There are meds (non-stimulants) that address ADHD and anxiety. Talk to a doctor about them.

Some anxiety meds will have a sedative effect. Those are for more short term or as needed situations. Anti depressant meds are also used for anxiety but take longer to take effect and are for more long term use.

Stimulants such as caffeine can have a negative effect on anxiety but a positive effect on adhd. A friend of mine with adhd gets very relaxed and sleepy from drinking coffee.