another ADHD med question

DD had dx of ADHD and it just did not sit right with me. The things that "pointed' to it were the same trauma behaviors that were her ptsd dx. I took her off strattera zyprexa and tenex (zoloft had given her a tic at some point, so they'd gone to zyprexa), and had a 4month med break to see if we could really see what the issue at hand is. It was ANXIETY. At home, I could help her regulate, just by engaing her, so she lost that "don't forget me" feeling. But during the school day she just rode the wavesof anxiety until she'd done nothing and had a crying fit. She's now on 5mg of celexa, and it is working wonders for us for the past week and 1/2. For R its not about attention, its about fretting that the teacher has not paid attention to her, and trying to force her to through passive agressive behavior. Does you dd have an attchment dx? If so, I have some literature you might find helpful in explaining her needs to the school.

My 5 year old has dxs of anxiety, ADHD, and impulse control disorder. She didn't do well at all on stimulants. We tried one for a week and it was awful. She had done really well with clonidine. Her teacher's thought it was a crazy idea to use a non-stimulant type medication, but even they have come around to saying it really helps. When I ask S. how her medication makes her feel she says, "happy."

Stimulants did not work for my son at that age either. What helped him was a mood stabilizer. As he got older, we added a stimulant into the mix and it has been working well since about 7 1/2 years old.

Just went to a training class about ADHD. We are going for an eval for our older two in June , so it is great to see these disscussions going on. There were MANY FP's in the class that had kids on various meds and the concensus was that each med affects each child differently. Bottom line, have a dr that you trust and then go with your mommy instincts. These are some serious meds with some serious side effects. If I were putting my child on multiple medications it would have to be a very serious problem and not something that the child could "live with". That may be the case for your child, but there also may be other things that could be done to help her concentration without meds. I would explore those thing first, then go forward with meds.

Straterra is not a stimulant med, unlike the typical meds prescribed for ADHD - ritalin, adderal, concerta, focalin, etc.It can take a while to find the right med for ADHD. We lucked out with only our 2nd try - our child also has RAD so the first med try was awful.Too, if your child has a "mood disorder" then they should not be prescribed the typical stimulant meds for ADHD.

bluebonnet: we could have twins!! I see the anxiety at home; not sure if they see it in school. At school, everything is ADHD and ODD. Plus he doesn't do well with change or transition. He's on Adderall. If that doesn't work (the amount was increased), I'm going to see if the med can be changed. What is mood disorder?

I am glad you all have brought up mood disorders because I think my DD has some anxiety, RAD and maybe OCD(ish) issues. I am concerned about messing with the chemical ballances in her brain and sending her into some kind of mania or something. There is a strong family history to consider. I am not qualified to diagnose my own child, these are just my instincts. Anyone care to elaborate on the mood disorder thing???

My little one came to me on a boatload of medications. She is dx with PTSD, ADHD, IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder) and ODD. She came to me on Adderall XR, Adderall, Wellbutrin, Abilify and Clonidine. My goal has been to get her off as many as I could. Her new pediatrician took her off of one of the Adderalls. Next week, we will see her med doctor, and we are planning to take her off one med. I've been thinking of being brave and seeing if we can take her off both her Wellbutrin and her Abilify. I also want her to do without the Clonidine to sleep when she has some of the stimulants out of her system. I don't even know who this child is without all the meds. The questionnaire her teachers completed for school shows she does still have issues at school, so I guess they will need to be addressed.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.To clarify: The doc wanted to put her on a stimulant in addition to her current Strattera/Zoloft combo. In reading up on meds, I gather this is fairly common, but I think it's time to say enough. At least for now. We have appts. w/ two new psychiatrists next month, so we will get their opinions and go on from there.Chloroxis, that is a lot of meds! I guess my point is this med train is exausting, and maybe unnecessary. I understand that some meds do help some kids, but I am worn out!I think by mood disorders people mean depression, bipolar, etc. One doctor earlier this year brought up the question of whether A is bipolar, but we have been reading about childhood bipolar and it doesn't seem to match. But, like you say, I am not qualified to diagnose.

Update: Went to the first child psych yesterday, and after a two-hour visit her opinion was that A's untypical response to "traditional" ADHD meds points to Fetal Alcohol Effects or a mood disorder.We have considered this before, and her bio family has a significant history of both, so it really doesn't come as a shock.The psych would like us to take A off everything but the Zoloft. But on Zoloft alone A is crazy woman, very hyper. The psych said she would like to observe this reaction so she could better tell what's going on, as in, does the Zoloft induce something like mania?We want to take this psych's advice - she seems caring and knowledgable and has a good reputation - but I'm scared. Do we go off Strattera and endure crazy woman for nine days until the next appt.? We also have another appt. set up at the end of next month with another child psych. So we could wait and see what that person says. But, really, I don't think I can wait that long. We are starting to see some serious Strattera side effects - it keeps her up at night (last night she woke up 7 times and came to our room EACH time); she is eating next to nothing; her sensory issues are aggravated.Hope this isn't too garbled. Advice?

My almost 8 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD impulsive disorder at the age of 5. Due to some medical problems we opted not to use medication. He has been doing neurofeedback for about 2 years now and we have seen remarkable improvement. He is a straight A student but does have some new anxiety issues that we are now working on. I am not saying Medication is not a good thing, it just would not work for us and I am so glad that I found this alternative treatment option. It is very expensive but I would give up anything in order to do this. He can still be over stimulated in certain situations but in school he has done a complete 180. I am not sure where the anxiety is coming from now since it is new. I have had the pleasure of being his mom since birth so there are no early issues outside of being born drug addicted. Anyone have any ideas on what could just now be causing anxiety? Thanks for any thoughts.

No but could you expound on the neurofeedback? My 8 yo is having his meds increased and being administered in school in am and pm. Basically, he'll be medicated the whole time in school. I see anxiety at home and he was recently diagnosed with mood disorder and ODD. I read about Balance Brain but I'm not sure that would work for me.

Neurofeedback is really easy for them, the doctor we see started off by showing me via EEG how the beta, theta, alpha waves of the brain are off and how the diagnosis of ADHD is evident. For the therapy my son is hooked up to an EEG machine with leads placed on areas of the brain that the doctor wants to work on, he is then sat in front of a computer and puzzels or games or started. In order for him to get the next piece of the puzzel filled in or the "car" to move in the game he has to be in a place in his mind where he is meeting the "wave length" of beta, theta or alpha. It is a reward based system. The doctor has equated this with "brain power" so he then speaks to my son and says "you see how you can get into focus using brain power" you need to remember this feeling. etc, etc. He is amazing to see the progression. At first I thought yeah right this is a joke but I am telling you I have a totally different child and he has never been on medication. The thereapy here in New Orleans is 100.00 a week and it is not covered by Insurance, but again it is worth it. I know some parents have found doctors that will see their children every other week but my son's doctor insist on weekly appointments and so far I have been able to maintain that. There is some info on the web about it, but I am sure this physician would be happy to speak to you and try to guide you if you would want to contact him. He initially set up the program here in New Orleans back in the early 90's I think so it has been around for a while. If you have specific questions please let me know. Good Luck.