How young is too young for AD/HD Meds?

Our son was prescribed ritalin for ADHD at age 4. He took it once and fainted. I never gave it to him again after that. He also has sensory issues and has seen an OT fairly regualrly over the last 2 years. Has your daughter had any evaluations? Seen a pediatric neurologist? Developmental pediatrician?

Many parents note significant success at controlling ADHD through diet modification, and particularly removing refined carbs and sugars I think. I haven't had to look into it so I couldn't tell you more, but I'm sure you can find more info on it. After significant pressure from drug manufacturers, [url="http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhprograms/PsychotropicMedicationUtilizationParametersFosterChildren.pdf"]this[/url] is what my state passed as the guidelines for giving foster children psychotropic medications (excerpts): [font=Times New Roman]Except in the case of an emergency, a child should receive a thorough health history, psychological testing, psychosocial assessment, mental status exam, and physical exam before the prescribing of psychotropic medication.[/font][font=Times New Roman][/font] [font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman]The role of nonpharmacological interventions should be considered before beginning a psychotropic medication, except in urgent situations such as suicidal ideation, psychosis, self injurious behavior, physical aggression that is acutely dangerous to others[/font][font=Times New Roman], [/font][font=Times New Roman]severe impulsivity endangering the child or others, marked disturbance of psychophysiological functioning (such as profound sleep disturbance), or marked anxiety, isolation, or withdrawal. [/font][font=Times New Roman]Given the unusual stress and change in environmental circumstances associated with being a foster child, counseling or psychotherapy should generally begin before or concurrent with prescription of a psychotropic medication.[/font][/font][font=Times New Roman][/font] [font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman]Criteria Indicating Need for Further Review of a Childs Clinical Status[/font][/font][/font][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman][/font][/font][/font] [font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman][/font][/font][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman]Psychotropic medications are prescribed for children of very young age, including children receiving the following medications with an age of:[/font][/font][/font][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman]ҕ Antidepressants: Less than four (4) years of age,

Our child has had evaluations, many of them. Everyone says the same thing ... behavioral management therapy and a Child Psychiatrist. Most days by the end of the day I am so exhausted from taking care of her. Am I to endure this until she's 4? She has horrible, extreme tantrums and behaviors. She was drug / alcohol exposed and cannot regulate her emotions. She's always in "fight or flight" mode. Her mood is up and down and all over the place. It's like walking on egg shells. So what am I to do?

How long have you had A? A lot of it sounds like what we went through with one of my sons when he was 2 1/2. He was just horrible at that age and actually made me question if I really wanted to be a mom. (you can look up my posts from Nov 2003 to Feb 2004 that was M's bad stage) He's now 4 1/2, and just amazing. He's not medicated, has a few issues, but is overall a great little guy.

I've seen that a lot, kids start meds at a young age and end up on 5-6 psychotropic plus the problems that go with the meds (consitipation, dry mouth, growth problems, being in a fuzzy-fog, and sometimes the twitches, etc....) You also have to remember that a high % of kids in foster care have been pre-birth exposure to crack/meth other drugs, this can cause them to be overly active all their life..... basically few child under 4 are put on med.....they usually start for the kids in 1st or 2nd..... you always got to wonder if everything has been done to help change their environments

Maybe I'm misreading your post, but inability to regulate emotions and and being in flight/fight mode are not going to be helped by medications for ADHD. Kids with flight/fight mode issues generally are more PTSD kids then ADHD. Regulating emotion can often be helped with attachment interventions. Even if the child appears to be attached to you, there are things within attachent therapy that could help with the regulation of emotions. Lots of holding and rocking when the child seems disregulated may be helpful(the motion of swinging or rocking itself can soothe some of the inner tention). The more you do now, the easier it will get later. Also, with my ADHD kids, anything with red dye, something in anykind of soda-even those without caffiene, and canned ravioli type products seemed to make them much worse. They also needed lots of physical activity and fresh air. Your child is younger then mine but if mine ran or biked before school, they had much less trouble concentrating.

:You also should take in consideration the age of the child. Children of this age even with normal life styles and structure are going to act out, it comes with age. My 3 yr old is hyper and acts out and such and I have had her evaluated not just because of that but also with other problems and the pyscoligist says that is normal behavior for her age. I have a son who has been on ADHD meds since he was 4 and he is now 8 it seems to help but we cut down on sugar,pop,ect. and have him in numerous sports to get extra energy out. We even decided that maybe he doesnt really need it but because of the figiting and movement during school we decided to keep it. I would talk to your doctor and see. Good luck

Several incidents I have had/witnessed with Ritalin or ADHD kids have made me a bit biased. My nephew was prescribed Ritalin when he was younger and ended up in the hospital. He now has permanent heart damage. Remember, Ritalin is basically speed for children. I was hounded by my son's kindergarten teacher for a year to get him on Ritalin. She swore up and down that he was ADHD. He was 4 years old and overactive. The pedatrician and the children's behavioural center both stressed to me that wild and hyperactive behaviour, as well as not being able to focus for periods of time in boys of this age was NORMAL. Today, at ten years old, he is in a gifted program at school and has "calmed down" without drugs. I've seen many of his friends who are put on medication for ADD/ADHD who only display normal "boy" behaviour.

From everything I've read, it's not possible to definitively diagnose a child with ADHD until age 5. I would question the ethics of any physician who would prescribe such drugs to a child so young.

Have you done those yet - started her in behavioral management therapy and gotten her into a Child Psychiatrist?

Watch what you feed this child- try eliminating wheat from his diet to two weeks and see if that helps. Many times an allergy to a food will cause behavioral problems, not the typical allergy symptoms. Doctors will rather prescribe drugs than do the hard thing and work with you to find the problem. Drugs don't solve anything, they only mask the problem.*Wheat*Milk*simple carbs (candy, flour products- pasta, bread, cereal, crackers)..these are some things you can take away from his diet for 2 weeks and see if you have any progress.DON"T start him on the drugs.

My bio daughter's teacher this year told me she thinks she might b ADHD.. BUT that we wouldnt' be able to get a diagnosis until she is 8. She said in a young child, behaviours that might look like ADHD are age appropriate - and her reason for suspecting my daughter is because now that she is 7 the behaviours seem to be ramping up rather than subsiding. She ALSO told me that she was suggesting this possibiliby ONLY so that I could work with future teachers to modify the environment because she doesn't believe in the medication. On the other end of the spectrum, my 15 year old Foster son is definitely diagnosed with ADHD and ODD - they had him on Ritalin when he was 10 and it turned him into a zombie. I guess it improved quality of life for his foster parents, but he basically lost a whole year - can't remember a darn thing except for being REALLY sad, and eventually had to be taken off of it because it made him ill. I've heard that there are BETTER classes of medication today - but I don't want to mess with them. He's also got generalized anxiety disorder, and I'd rather put up with his emotional/behavioural problems than do further damage to him. All that said - I'm not dealing with an out of control and exhaustin toddler, so I can imagine you are at the end of your rope. I hope someone can give you some appropriate help - therapy or whatever - that helps with her.

Ok, I am freaking out by several of the above posts. I understand that you are having issues, but these people are giving meds for kids a bad rap. The fact is my son from the age of 5 til now would probably been expelled from every school he entered (thus leading to depression for low self esteem), picked up & arrested with phsychotic rap sheet a mile long. My son was diagnosed with Severe ADHD at the age of 4, we held out as long as possible on the meds thing (who in their right mind really wants to put their kids no matter the age on meds?) We used Coffee which worked for a wile, when that didn't work we went to the local herb store and used herbs, at time Mountain Dew or Jolt Cola worked. When he was 5 non of that worked any longer, I couldn't take him in public, (the store, church, the park)no where was safe (by safe I mean he was litterally on "Turbo" at all times, he would try to hurt himself, running into traffic, jumping off furniture, ladders, out windows, fling the car door open while its moving, try to get out the window while the car was moving, he had no sense of danger. Everynight I would just cry he was awful, they almost refused for him to be in the school system. He was the perfect baby, toddler, til a month before his 4th bday. He is bio, there were no drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco. Anyway, Stimulants even caffenated soda & coffee, if your child needs them for hyper activity, you should see a difference (calming down, being able to sit still or focus) otherwise if they are just more hyper with these mild stimulants then chances are they don't need meds. I have read every book I could find, done all the research out there. I am not expert, but, dont give your child meds yet try other things. only if it is a have to thing should you consider it. pm me anytime. Kat

I am anti med but I also believe there is a time and place for everything. When my oldest came to me at age 6 1/2 he was on 4 different meds. One of them an anti psychotic. Once that was removed the aggression - mostly beating on me subsided dramatically. Once the ADHD meds were stopped the rest of the aggression pretty much stopped. He is RAD and has anxiety with PTSD. He is now on abilify and doing great. All the teachers really notice the difference in him. He is much calmer and easier to deal with. My new son to be at age 4 has been on 15 different medications over the last two years - at least 3-4 different anti psychotics. With every med change his behaviors change but never improve. He was diagnosed with ADHD at 2 and medicated because he was falling on the floor having tantrums. That is what his notes said. I always thought that was pretty normal behavior for a two year old. They have also said that he was autistic because he when he takes toys from other kids he hits them and doesn't like to share - again fairly normal behavior for kids that age. He was sent to occupational therapy at 1 because he couldn't get the spoon to his mouth - isn't this when he is supposed to be learning this? He may actually be ADHD but I am not sure how you can know when he is so heavily medicated all the time. BAsed on my experience with my oldest he is likely RAD in which case none of these meds will work. The foster mom says that none of them have worked yet but the doctors kept increasing or changing rather than giving him the opportunity to just be him and see how things are in his life. A child without meds for awhile was the foster parents choice but she didn't get to make those decisions. We are both glad that I can do that on 8/31 when he comes home. the moral to my story - they may be effective at the right time and place but trying other options first might be a better idea. I will be doing attachment therapy with him when he gets here. - losing birth family and two disrupted adoptions humm.... reason for attachment issues? just my experiences

I have to agree that 2 1/2 is way too young to suggest the behavior is ADHD related. There are too many other issues that could be going on and you'd be hard pressed to find a good doctor who would recommend ADD meds for a child that young. Have you concidered the child may have sensory issues as a result of the drug exposure. MANY of the symptoms are similar. Please read up on Sensory Integration Dysfunction or Disorder.