Mental Breakdown in Progress!!! Hyperactivity in my 5 yr old boy...HELP!

Try taking him to a naturepathic physician. A friend of mine is a masage therapist and used to work in the office of a naturepath. She tells me great success stories from changes in diet. These are not easy to do or maintan, but if you are totally anti meds it is worth a shot. As far as the therapist goes, I would not give up with the opinion of one therapist. Get your doctor to write an rx for him to be evaluated by an occupational therapist. Sometimes some behavioral problems stem from sensory processing disorders. SPD's can behelped significantly through occupational therapy. Annd if all that fails find a good pediatrci neuropsychologist. By the sound sof things you may be dealing with more than just adhd. Nobody wants to put thier kids on meds... anyway nobody I know. But sometimes it is the best answer. Sometimes adhd kids will start acting out because they get so frustrated. As they get older they may "self-medicate" with illegal drugs or alcohol. If you do have to turn to meds, just remember to always, when trying any med, start with the lowest possible dosage, and slowly work up to what they need.

Feingold diet might be someplace to start. They are very clear about what they believe are reactions to certain naturally occurring chemicals in foods, as well as man made chemical additives. They give lists in their books of what behavioral issues they might be able to help. [url=http://www.feingold.org]ADHD DIET: Comprehensive Program for Dietary Management - the Feingold Diet[/url] This takes some willingness to stick to it, so be prepared.You might work on spending non-confrontational time with your son as well. Play together something that he enjoys. Tag? Checkers? Whatever. My sons get discouraged if the only interaction we have is solely about their poor behaviors. Step up the pleasant time you spend together. (Yeah, I know. It IS hard at times.) They need an arena where they can do something correctly and feel the accomplishment of that. Do chores WITH your son, don't tell him to go do them on his own. (Yes, another thing to commit to and do on top of everything else. Hey, we're working on this ourselves, so don't feel alone!) If a child does not succeed/behave well/do it the right way in ANYTHING that he is attempting to do they often become discouraged, depressed, and backwardsly motivated. (backwardsly: doing the opposite of what one should do. It's a perfectly reasonable word.) In this case, I mean that kids who aren't behaving well may continue to not behave well if they become convinced that they are unable to behave well.I homeschool, so don't have personal experience here, but the other mothers with kids who have various issues say that school misbehaviors should be dealt with at school. It is between the teacher and the child. The school usually has a system of consequences of some sort in place, so let them deal with the markers on the carpet, and the various things that go on there. That IS THEIR JOB. You do need to know what is going on, but adding punishments at home weighs you down; and likely weighs him down. Work out an understanding with the teacher so that you are on the same page. Do continue to limit exposure to tv of all kinds, and video games. My kids get worse when they have too much tv time of ANY kind. Our OT recommended one of those mini-trampolines with the handle on them so that the child can hang on and jog. Oh, there's another idea. Have you had him screened for sensory integration problems? You would need to consult with an occupational therapist who works with kids who have SI problems. There are some books that explain what this is. One is 'The Out of Sync Child Has Fun' by Carol Stock Kranowitz. This gives a brief explanation of sensory integration and what happens when there is a dysfunction of sensory integration, and lists things to do with kids who have the problem. BUT...I found that the activities are great for ALL kids, and especially those who need a bit of help in some way. (Like hyperactivity.)Hang in there. :)Had to come back to note that MrsRed and I must have been posting simultaneously! LOL And I didn't mention this, but 4 of my 5 children were prenatally exposed to drugs and/or alcohol. None of them have FAS, but 2 or 3 probably have FAE. I second the suggestion that a neuro-psych eval would be helpful, as they look at different things than psychiatrists.

Throw out the tv. Hyperactive kids cannot handle ANY tv, no matter what it is. He'll rebel at first but it will make a big difference. I use to take my hyper kids running before school and they rode bikes immediately after school. It had a calming effect. There is a biomedical diet and suppliments that can help. I know there is a yahoo group but can't find the address at the moment. If you pm tybeemarie or zebramom on this forum, they could tell you more. Parenting with love and logic helps. The consequences need to effect him more then his behavior effects you. good luck.

Undoubtedly Patrick Holford is your man. Contact him on [URL="http://www.patrickholford.com"]Lose Weight-Gain Energy-Beat Stress[/URL] (which appears as lose weight gain energy, but is the website of an amazingly successful nutritionist (international in scope). You are asked to give your details to register FREE for his email updates and then you can access and ask questions in Q&A. Try ADHD. Please do contact him and read his info about ADHD - he has had MASSIVE impressive results with children on this. He will take you through it. Your children will need blood tests to see what they are reacting to food and drink wise, then a personal vitamin plan, and then a change of eating habits. Believe me, I have SEEN the results and they are impressive. i trust this man completely. I've just been to see him myself and got some advice and expect to get complete relief from M.E. soon, so let me know how you get on. Relief is in sight! QuestionMy 10-year-old son has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and prescribed the drug Ritalin. Is there an alternative? AnswerOne in 10 boys are now diagnosed with ADHD, so this is a widespread condition. You are very wise to seek an alternative to drugs; one study showed that treating ADHD nutritionally was 18 times more effective than using Ritalin. There are four key considerations. First, ensure he has the right vitamin and mineral intake by giving him a multivitamin supplement. Secondly, keep his blood sugar levels balanced by eliminating sweet foods and drinks (it’s surprising how many foods have added sugar), making sure he has three good meals a day providing enough good protein (such as yoghurt, fish or chicken) at each meal. Thirdly, as allergies to certain foods (most commonly wheat, dairy products or eggs) can trigger ADHD, cut these out of his diet for one week and see whether it makes a difference, and cut out food additives (especially E102, tartrazine and E165, monosodium glutamate) altogether. Last, but certainly not least, give him a daily fish oil supplement. A supplement that contains 1,000mg of the omega-3 fat EPA – which with most brands means he will need to take three capsules a day – has been shown to help children with ADHD, based on research by Dr Alex Richardson at Oxford University. Since fish oils can be contaminated with PCBs, I only recommend those that have been tested and come out PCB-free.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL !!!!Your suggestions are absolutely appreciated so much more than words can say and WOW...some of the things that I read pertain to my son like textbook. I will definitely give everything I can a shot, I will do whatever to make my son's life as well as my own and that of our family as peaceful as possible. So many times I've heard him call himself stupid and say he can't do something...I constantly re affirm him and tell him he can and that he's smart as any other little boy or girl in his class. I love him and I hate feeling angry and backed into a corner...I want to tackle this head on and do whatever it takes....thanks again!!!!! I'll keep you posted :D

In addition to the diet, I'd continue to look into finding a pediatric OT. Our doc was able to write a Rx to get us into one. Get recommendations on who the best PEDIATRIC OTs are in town. One of the great benefits is that our OT knew of a pediatric life skills group put on by the local college by grad students in OT. This helps my son develop other ways of coping with things that come up during the day. And I actually hear him talk himself through stuff sometimes (he's just teasing me I can walk away). If your son is a kid like mine he needs to have a plan before he gets into a situation or it spirals out of control too fast.We found a couple big gaps in my son's development that directly impact his ability to perform in school (matching and core body strength) and that's what they are working on in the one on one OT.

Get the Sensory Sensitive Child book and find a Pediatric Neuro Psych. It takes a while to get into a dr. and it takes a while to get a good OT generally. So try and get on some lists if you can. SID is often misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD and working with an OT can do wonders for you. We've had our big boy in OT and Speech (for auditory processing issues as part of his SID) for 4 months now and the difference is absolutely remarkable! He wears a weighted vest to school (also kindergarten) that makes him feel grounded and calm during the school day. The teacher feels he is doing wonderfully and he has become so confident about his abilities. Feel free to pm me if you have questions! Christina

My oldest son was diagnosedwith ADHD at 5 years old (he is now 14). After doing behavior modification and very consistent structures/limitations/etc, and evaluations by both a pediatric neurologist and psychiatrist, we placed him on Ritalin. We kept everything else in place and continued doing behvaior modification jointly with school. This helped trmemndously because he realized that both school and home were on the same page about what behaviors were ok and what were not. We did try med vacations but they were very unsuccessful--we could always seee a major difference. His impulsivity and aggression also caused problems with social relationships. At the age of 14, we began experimenting with weaning him off the medication. High school was starting and he really didn not want to continue taking the meds. He is now almost completely off the medication. Our ped (and we) credit it to the fact that the medication gave him the ability to be taught (and hence learn) social skills. My 2 nd son had no issues. Third son, who is now 3, has just been referred (with our blessing) to the county's intermediate unit. This unit provides special education services to the county. He is way too young to even be considered for meds, dietary changes did not work for him and we are at our wits end. He is very impulsive and very active. They will evaluate and then may be able to porvide him with his own "person" (called a wrap a round here) to assist him. One of the best books I have vere read on living with an ADHD child is called the "ADHD Handbook". It provides lots of options and discussion.

I just got information from the pediatric psychaiatris we have just started ds8 with. there has been research connecting low iron levels with adhd. This will not sho up on a regular blood test done for a physical. The child will not necessarily be anemic, but will may have lower than normal iron levels. When the iron levels are brogught up to the normal range (either through diet or supplements) the adhd symptoms either go away entirely or decrease significantly. As the mother of three, and probably four (youngest is only 4, so too young for dx) adhd kids, I am very interested in this. We have taken ds8 in for blood draw and are waiting to get the results. So, before going on any prescriptions, you may want to ask your pediatrician to run a blood test to check iron levels.