Adhd Meds - Traverse City,MI

Hi!
First off, don't worry, things will work out. When my son was 6 he was placed on ADHD medication. He is 7 now. It has been quite the journey!
> First off, trust your gut. I knew that my son was "a little different" from age 2 when he was in a gym class and couldn't stay on task like the rest of the kids. My son, also a total sweetie, never did these things out of rebellion, it was just like he NEEDED to move, NEEDED to explore and just had the hardest time being still.
> I totally agree, find a therapist that you can TRUST. My son's doctor who has special needs kids himself, says he only trusts two in my area - which surprised me - they are not all equal, and never be forced/coerced into anything you don't want to do.
> Question the therapist will want to know: Is your son showing these behaviors just at school or at home too or other environments. The therapist will have a very lengthy questionnaire that you and his teacher will have to fill out. And your son will need an evaluation exam which is also very time consuming for him -- ours was something like 2 hours just him and the therapist.
> Medicine was such a tough decision, and I darn near cried giving him his first dose. But my son eats healthy, he gets exercise, he is in a loving home with little to no chaos. The doctor explained it to me as "if your son needed glasses you wouldn't think twice about it" in our case, my son needed the meds to help him not be so distractable and to follow tasks, and in essence to function.
> A word on medicine: you most likely will have some trial and error in what works for him. We were put on adderall XR first, the lowest dose. Which by the way, I liked how my pediatrician started at the lowest and worked up, many others I have heard start high right off the bat and I don't think that is right. He warned us that most kids end up around 30mg, my son started at 12mg. The first night he was quite moody and cried over the slightest thing - very odd. As he got use to the med, the crying stopped, but he was moody and actually I have to say a tad zombie-like when he wasn't just in a bad mood. So we switched. I had heard concerta got good reviews, so I taught him how to swallow a pill and we switched to concerta. The anger moodiness is gone. Though I will say around 5pm he comes off of it and you can tell by him just being quiet and a bit moody, but it only lasts for about an hour. But the improvements were astounding -- IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM. It was so weird! Suddenly he was getting up in the morning and getting dressed ON HIS OWN without us prompting him "go get dressed" - never before. When I told him to put his shoes on, he would do it and not get distracted by something on the way. His grades shot WAY UP. Went from all 4s to all 1s and 2s. Most of all, he was so much happier. He was always a social butterfly, but now his friendships were going a lot better. So while I still DETEST that he has to take medication, we are doing well. I am told that over time the effectiveness starts to fade and it is necessary to boost the dosage to get the same effect. I am told we will notice in his school work/teachers reports when that happens (it hasn't happened yet).
> So do what is best for your son, trust your instincts, whether that is meds or no meds -- you know what is best. My son actually turned out to be both ADHD and Dyslexic and I feel that we are finally on the right path for him.
Good luck!!

I have a health and wellness business. Recommendations I make to clients are: Has he been through allergy testing? What is his diet like? Is he getting protein at each meal? If you are using store bought products to clean your home (ie Mr. Clean, Lysol, Windex) have you observed his behavior when using those products? Is he sleeping well at night?

I'm not diagnosing your son, but these are things to be aware of. I think in today's society, children are diagnosed with ADHD/ADD and it has been incorrectly diagnosed.

Last and most importantly, you know your son better than anyone. Go with your gut feeling as to whatever you do. Don't let people pressure into the "quick fix".

My 7 year old has issues. I would call him more over-focused than hyper but the end results are similar. He's not on medicine, he's homeschooled so when he tends to drift off subject he gets up and does jumping jacks or switches subjects for a while. Plus he always has a little something to keep his hands on, a hot wheelz, Lego mini fig..something he can fiddle around with while listening to lesson. It honestly helps. But, what makes the biggest difference in his behavior is fish oil. Over the summer we ran out and didn't have a trip to Costco planned so we skipped it for 2 weeks. And then I began to wonder who the heck this kid was and where was my lovely little boy. When we finally put it together that it was the fish oil we made a bee line to Costco and got some. His behavior was better the next day and in about a week he was back to his wonderful self. I would have never thought it would make *that* big of a difference but it really did. If he was in public school and he needed to be medicated, I would try everything else first but if the change wasn't enough, I would -with reservations- try the medication. Good luck!

Trust your gut! I knew from about age 3 my sweet, loving little boy was just a little too hyper. His dad disagreed, both his preschool teachers struggled to keep him busy during the day, then finally I got him into a behavioral therapy program. He is now in K-garten and on adhd meds. It was a struggle getting his dad to agree, but with the strong encouragement from his wonderful teacher he is a new kid. He was always smart, but this medicine helps him sit still and focus. Due to his age we were unable to get our insurance to cover concerta or adderol which were his Drs first recommendations, but is doing well on ritalin. He started on 5mg which is really low and some pharmacies don't carry and is now on 10mg twice daily. You can really tell when its wearing off in the evening, but its worth it for him to focus at school. When we started it it took him a solid week to get used to it. He was a little more emotional and whiny, but it is well worth it. Just like a previous response said, if your child needed glasses or other tool to help them with something they couldn't control wouldn't you want to help them?
Do your research so you are comfortable and remember this all takes timeso be patient :)
Good luck!

my daughter is 9 and in the 3rd grade. she struggled in kindergarten and even thru now. her reading is low. along with a few others but just a point or two which isn't that big of a deal. she had extra help these last few years. she seen the school therapist and she said possible reading disorder or add. filled out the paperwork from the doctor and her teacher filled out the same paper. doc looked at paper work and said she does have some adhd signs. so wrote her up for meds. if its gonna help her in school i am fine with that. if she chooses to not take them on the weekends or summer i am fine with that also. i just want her to do her best in school and if this helps great! my husband doesn't want her to take meds why not really sure yet but as i told him if its gonna help her be better at school its only gonna benefit her in the long run, maybe in 2 yrs she won't need it. but for now yes. you have to follow your heart as to know what to do. listen it it. talk to his teacher. your school therapist, your doctor. my daughter is very sweet,loving and lots more and i just want to help her be the best she can be!!!

Sounds like what I went through with my daughter at that age. She had a miserable Kindergarten year with a less than enthusiastic teacher. In First Grade, she had an amazing teacher who was genuinely interested in helping her succeed. We went through an evaluation with the school, they then recommended I see her ped. The first thing her pediatrician did was pull out a script pad. As far as I was concerned, this was my last option. I had her evaluated by a child psychologist who specializes in ADHD. She did test positive and he was able to clearly show me what he based his diagnosis on. In our situation, he did recommend medication. She's been on the lowest dose of Concerta for two years now. It's just enough to help cut the chaos and allow her beautiful personality to clearly shine through. She's not a zombie and it doesn't alter who she is, it just helps her slow down a bit. She's 8 now and chooses to take her medication year round because she feels like she has more control of herself than when she's not on it.

See a good child psychologist. That's my first recommendation. Don't just rely on the school and the pediatrician. Keep your options open and do what you feel most comfortable with and what's best for your child. If you do opt for medication, know that not every child reacts as well to certain medications and you may need to try out a few before you get the right one. My nephew also takes Concerta. It impacts him much differently than my daughter and has tried a couple of others to see if they're better.

Also, I really, really struggled with the stigma of ADHD and medication. I would have done my child a disservice by not investigating our options and being open to them. Medication is not for everyone. In our case, it was a complete change in quality of her life and I know how lucky we are to have had a positive experience with the first one we tried.

Good luck!