You  should talk to your ped dr about it first. Both you and your husband go together and talk about your childs issues they may suggest things other than meds to help.

My son  has ADHD and is 5 he has been on meds for about 6 months and it has helped. Worked wonders, umm no, helped him so he can actually sit in his seat at school and not walk around the class room for 6 hours and do what he is told, yes it has helped. But it takes work and more than just meds to help children with Add OR ADHD. But i know of many of cases of just adjusting schedules, exercise yoga, foods vitamns helping our kids.

I took the med, theropy route cuz thats what i thought my child needed. SOme meds dont' work on all kids and it takes a few trys sometimes to find the right medicane for the right child. So the kids you described may not be on the right dose or meds for them, or they may not need them

I am not saying to put your child on meds or not, totally not my intentions, i am just saying my story and i would if i would you talk to your childs dr. Not about putting on meds,  but other things you can try first before going there. Expceally if your Dh and you don't agree on what to do.  Maybeyou all can come together on an agreement to start with.

I dont' know if i would take you child out of school just yet. They need that social connection. Talk to your reg dr first then go from there. But this is JMO and i hope i have not offended u in any way I do know what u are going through. ADHD kids are so hard and takes so very much out of you by the end of the day i am exasted just from him.

If you would like to talk more PM me for more info or anything i can do for u

Good luck

My son took the drugs for ADD when he was 9, he is now 23 and has a heart condition, the cardiologist said that the drugs taken for ADD is the most likely culprit! Beware! There are long term side effects that you may not no about until years later..Look at the Kentucky football player 15 and dead, they said he also took medicine for ADD...Do your research before you drug your child...I trusted my son's doctor...He only took the meds. for 6 months, my dh actually wouldn't let me give it to him anymore, even though it did work..He didn't like the idea of giving our son pills for behavior, my son loved them, actually was mad when we stopped. Now he wants to know why we gave them to him in the first place

   God Bless Our Troops!

originally posted by conservativemom

My son took the drugs for ADD when he was 9, he is now 23 and has a heart condition, the cardiologist said that the drugs taken for ADD is the most likely culprit! Beware! There are long term side effects that you may not no about until years later..Look at the Kentucky football player 15 and dead, they said he also took medicine for ADD...Do your research before you drug your child...I trusted my son's doctor...He only took the meds. for 6 months, my dh actually wouldn't let me give it to him anymore, even though it did work..He didn't like the idea of giving our son pills for behavior, my son loved them, actually was mad when we stopped. Now he wants to know why we gave them to him in the first place

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   God Bless Our Troops!

 

Sorry I have seen so many kids benifit from medication and if not medicated they are more likley to engaged in risky behavior. If you worry about a heart condition have your child be tested for any heart condition before taken medication. If they do not have a condition these medication are safe. Many who have heart condition and do not know they do perhaps these medication can be harmful. The risky behavior from failing school and struggling with realationships are not worth the risk.

please, please, please look at all the options before looking at medication.  Seriously, people have no idea about the long term effects of these different medications.  There are lots of other options out there before medication

I knew a mother (her son had been in my class once) & she decided to try on her own to get him better without drugs.  She took all artificial colors, preservatives & chemicals out of his diet.  This meant no junk food, fast food, etc.  He could occasionally cheat & have a treat.  She said he was like night & day.  He was like a different child.   Just an idea.  I don't have any personal experience, I just remember the story she told me. 

That doesn't surprise me at all Jhpmom. I used to watch a little girl in church that would have violent reactions to red dye. I even had to make sure she didn't put a red marker in her mouth. It is amazing the reactions some kids have to food additives and even some natural foods. I know kids with ADHD should never have grapes.

As for the meds...bad news in the long run. They may help with sitting still in class but the retention for what they learn isn't very long. And the meds destroy perfecly healthy organs, not just those that are already problimatic. Check out this website www.feingold.org/pg-symptoms.html. When eating this way, my DD with ADHD has no signs of it and is very well behaved. Good luck!

I HAVE THE AUDACITY TO HOPE THAT OBAMA FAILS

My son is ADHD.  It is not an excuse for him to misbehave or to let up on parenting.  I am very involved and have tried so many differnt methids of parenting.  Oh, by the way I am an Early Childhood Specialist, been trained in ABA, worked with Emotionally Handicappped children and the whole spectrum with children with any kind of behavioal problem from add/adhd, LD, Autisum to conduct disorder and so on.  My point is I have had years of experience working with so many children, and I really do believe that meds can really help.  This is from a personal and profression experiences.

My son would be so upset with himself, when he didn't have a "goood day" and he would explain to me " my brain doesn't work like yopurs on sisters.  I know what the good choices are, but my brain doesn't listen.  My brain and my heart aren't connected."  this is word for word from my at the time just turned 5 year old.   After he started taking meds. ( we call them vitimains and he doesn't know about ADHD).  He told me that he "was making good choices and it wasn't so hard.'  He also told me that his"my brain and heart are connected and that they work together now"

I felt guilty giving into meds.  He is not on a stimulant!  He is much happier with himself, and he can go more places and experience life.  Before I had to stay home with him so much of the time, because he would get over stimulated and act out.

He is not perfect by any means.  We still have a lot of work to do, it called behavioral therapy.    We work on specific behaviors; like how to stop and think when he gets mad"  come uo with strategies and see what works.

Sorry to go on so much.

originally posted by debra5

Sorry I have seen so many kids benifit from medication and if not medicated they are more likley to engaged in risky behavior. If you worry about a heart condition have your child be tested for any heart condition before taken medication. If they do not have a condition these medication are safe. Many who have heart condition and do not know they do perhaps these medication can be harmful. The risky behavior from failing school and struggling with realationships are not worth the risk.

It was when he turned 19 that he started having problems and they were attributed to the medication,it is not uncommon either, research it. I'd rather run the risk of "risky behavior" which luckily we didn't have to deal with because we were firm disciplinarians. His school work on the other hand always suffered and we had continual notes sent home about his performance at school.

Trust me as a mother it is hard to explain to your grown child when they ask Why did you do this to me? Was it that important? I've been there and it's horrible!! Think about it, there are other options...

   God Bless Our Troops!

My almost 6 year old son has been diagnosed ADHD and ODD. We have had alot of problems with him, including threats to kill himself and me.  We had several very scary encounters with him which prompted seeing a psychatrist.  He put our son on Resparadol which helps connect the brain to actions.  The way it was described to me is that it basically whiffs a puff of air on his brain reminding him to think first.  I did not want to medicate, but I have to say his behavior has improved.  Every day is not perfect, but atleast we are able to get through to him and discuss disciplines where before he didn't care about anything.  I have been told that usually around the time he is 7-ish, the brain will catch up on its own and he won't need this medication anymore. 

Now, we did decide not to medicate the ADHD portion of his problem at this time; however, our psychiatrist recommended we try giving him DHA capsules which we purchased at GNC.  I can't testify on how well it works as we just started this portion of his regimen this week, but there is no harm in trying it and you may not have heard of that option.

You should do something nice for someone every single day...even it if it is simply to leave them alone.