Mothers with children with ADHD please help!

[Dopal]

My son Austin is 5 and is being tested for ADHD this month. He was having major issues is school and we started taking him to thearapy to find the problem. He was diagnosed with an adjustment disorder (he has had quite a few major changes in the last few years) and now they think he also has ADHD. I never thought he had it until they asked me the very specific behavior questions. Anyway, my question is about the meds. I am very worried about putting him on meds. I would prefer to try other options first but it seems like everyone else around me would prefer to dump pills down his throat (sorry about the wording, I am just frustrated) I guess I am just looking for what your experiences have been. Are you trying the other options? Is your child on meds? How have they affected your child (good and bad please)? My thing is that Austin's "behavoirs" if thats what you want to call him don't bother me. I mean I didn't even know they were anything other than him being a 5 year old boy. But I don't want to make school any harder for him than it has to be... Any help/advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[AnAopps]

Well, I don't have experience with having a child having ADHD, but my brother was diagnosed at an early age with it. I can remember him being so frustrated with concentrating on homeowrk and such that he would break down crying. He was put on meds, and used to beg my mom to give him more after school, cause he just didn't believe he could do anything without it. He was probably about 10-12 when that started happening.

My mom realized there was a problem at that point, and got his doses lowered, and work really hard with him on teaching himself how to concentrate, and focus without meds. It was a tough road.

Now my brother is graduating college, TODAY with a civil engineering degree from FIT. (im SO proud! I wish I was there :sad) He still has ADHD, the adult for, but functions without meds. He learned his way around it, without to much meds needed.

Ok so now that I rambled, the point is, meds can be good at an early age but that doesn't mean that he will need to have them for the length of his schooling. Talk to him alot about it, although at 5 that might be hard for him to understand, but still continue talking to him. He will learn to understand when he has problems, and how to address them on his own, as he gets older.

You have already said you can deal with this at home just fine, so keep that up and work with him through the frustrating times.

Im not sure I helped at all sorry.

[Luvmysoldi3r]

My son is on the lowest dosage as possible we taught him coping techniques first and then the low dose of medication. It seems to be working.

My roommates son takes 40 mg of ritalin a day with a 10 mg time released as a boost. He is horrid without it. I refuse to keep him if he don't have it. But she never tried to teach him coping techniques so he can't control it when he don't have medication. He will meltdown start crying and his soothing technique is masterbation (even in public)

I just think that ever kid is on a need to need basis.

Good luck and I hope it all works out.

[=Mrs.AiNokeA=]

I don't have any children but my mom went through the same thing. Everyone wanted her to put my brother on medication and she did for a little bit but then stopped. She tried other things instead. I know she talked to him about it and explained to him what it was. We basically let him know when he was acting out or whatever and he pretty much fixed it on his own.

He didn't do great in school but that was mainly because he was bored. He is now 17 and he hated school so he quit and got his GED and scored really really high on it. He did crappy in school but did awesome on his GED test. If you want to try other things I highly suggest doing that instead of making him take medications.

My uncle has ADHD and he is now addicted to his medication and he needs to take it because he can't function well without it. I know that isn't the case for everyone and some kids may need the medication but if you can find another way of helping him I personally suggest you do it.

[Hope.]

Originally Posted by =Mrs.AiNokeA= I don't have any children but my mom went through the same thing. Everyone wanted her to put my brother on medication and she did for a little bit but then stopped. She tried other things instead. I know she talked to him about it and explained to him what it was. We basically let him know when he was acting out or whatever and he pretty much fixed it on his own. He didn't do great in school but that was mainly because he was bored. He is now 17 and he hated school so he quit and got his GED and scored really really high on it. He did crappy in school but did awesome on his GED test. If you want to try other things I highly suggest doing that instead of making him take medications. My uncle has ADHD and he is now addicted to his medication and he needs to take it because he can't function well without it. I know that isn't the case for everyone and some kids may need the medication but if you can find another way of helping him I personally suggest you do it.

So true. A lot of times children with ADHD tend to be rather intelligent/gifted and they get bored easily in school. Their mind is moving so fast that it's hard to focus.


There are other options (diet, coping skills, etc,..) however after a time without improvement medicine might be helpful. It took me almost two years for I sought that route with my son. His grades got better and he started doing really well, he even asks for his meds now because he says, "I feel better, I have good days." It's the lowest dose possible so I still see all the active "silly" as he says, boy behaviors.

[Dopal]

Originally Posted by *.:Hope:.* So true. A lot of times children with ADHD tend to be rather intelligent/gifted and they get bored easily in school. Their mind is moving so fast that it's hard to focus. There are other options (diet, coping skills, etc,..) however after a time without improvement medicine might be helpful. It took me almost two years for I sought that route with my son. His grades got better and he started doing really well, he even asks for his meds now because he says, "I feel better, I have good days." It's the lowest dose possible so I still see all the active "silly" as he says, boy behaviors.

Thank you for being honest. Right now I have my son on a schedule and that seems to help a lot. Most of the time his "bad days" are when we mess up the schedule. We are also trying sports to get the excess energy out. He still goes to therapy too. It's not that I am totally against the meds, but I don't want to feel like they are being forced on me or him. I wish he was older so I could get his input on he he feels about everything

[tdp3]

you dont have to try meds first they have diets for adhd that arnt hard to follow i was diagnosed and never used the meds but i do have to be moving in order to concentrate

[*~Robyn~*]

You don't have to medicate first. There are certain things you can try to do with his diet, and there are certain exercises that can help children gain focus. Look up diets parents used for their ADD and ADHD kids. Also, look up information on Sensory Integration. There are a lot of activities that kids can do to help their brain get organized. Something as simple as swinging for 15 minutes before school starts can get them all "together". Chewing gum helps too. There is so much you can do.