Meds or No??

There are several different ADHD meds available. Everyone's body chemistry is different, and it may take a couple of different meds before you find the right one for your son. If you haven't already tried Addorall it might be a good idea to try it. Several of the parents I've spoken to about this (we know our son might have ADHD) have said it wasn't easy trying the different options. But once they found the right one, the difference it may was amazing.

This isn't about making life easier for the people who work with your son. It's about making life easier for your son.

You can talk to your son's doctor about alternatives to meds. But more than likely the doctor will tell you that his brain simply works differently, and the meds are the best way we have of helping him to function in the world the way it is and helping him to be his best.

If you haven't already tried Addorall, what do you have to lose?

Try working with his diet. Make sure he doesn't get MSG ever, try taking dairy out of his diet for a couple of weeks, add it back in then take out gluten for a couple of weeks. Chart his behavior. This will give you a more clear example if his diet has any effect on his behavior.

Check out the Autisim diet -- it tends to help with all learning disabilities. Talk to a holistic practioner, an herbalist etc. There are lots of way to help a learning disabled child.

Yes. By all means try them. Your child has a learning disability AND adhd. That must be so frustrating for him. His inability to focus makes it even harder for him to learn new concepts. It is like trying to learn to swim with one hand tied behind your back.

As I always say here, try posing this question on an ADHD board. You're going to get a lot of useless advice, like dietary changes (go to CHADD's website for more information on this), from the general public. You want to connect with people who live and breathe ADHD every day and know the facts.

Our son has been on ADHD medication almost seven years now. We've seen the amazing, we've seen the bad side effects. It's worth it. Give it a try. Medication, combined with behavioral therapy, has the best track record with ADHD. I sat through an entire session on this, led by top researchers, at the last national CHADD conference. No medication at all had the worst results.

There are strategies for overcoming the lack of appetite. I have a son who also had an eating disorder and we got him to gain again, even with his ADHD med dulling his appetite. If we can overcome it in extreme circumstances, you can, too. Talk to the doctors, talk to others dealing with ADHD. There's a lot you can do, like giving a huge breakfast before the medications kick in and big meal and snacks at the end of the day when the meds have worn off.

Medication gives your child the best possible chance of a normal life. It's absolutely essential for our son, in the same way my glasses are for me to see. I agree with the others in that you need to make sure a psychiatrist is overseeing medication. A pediatrician isn't qualified.

I think, as both a mom with ADHD and two kids with ADD/ADHD, you should try it.

You might have to change the way you do meals. In our house, the kids eat breakfast with their meds, and eat dinner at about 7pm after the meds are completely worn off (so their appetites aren't suppressed). Some parents also prefer to not medicate during the weekend so the kids have good appetites all day long.

Give the meds 30 days. Then meet with his teacher and see how he's doing. I think it's absolutely worth a try to get him focusing. Think of all he's missing out on because he can't focus in class. He needs the help.

Best of luck!

I know a lot of people just swear by the meds, and others find side effects and personality changes like you did. I think it's very individual, and varies by the medication as well as by the child and the severity/specifics of the disorder.

Sometimes you find terrific doctors who are willing to look at a variety of approaches, and sometimes you find a doctor with a definite leaning toward a particular medication. Sometimes that's based on knowledge and experience, and sometimes (unfortunately) it's based on which drug company's rep visits the most and gives the most samples.

I also think there's tremendous value to looking at natural solutions and nutritional supplementation. I've seen incredible changes in kids and adults with focus issues, with or without hyperactivity, as also all kinds of kids on the autism spectrum and with sensory processing issues. There is a lot of research that has been done over the past 15 years with some food-based discoveries, and there have been many academics papers as well as support group validation and anecdotal info.

I agree that taking kids off processed foods can make a huge difference, as can eliminating dyes and GMO foods. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to do this unless you are an expert at reading labels (including the terms that cover up the additive's origin). The US requires very little in terms of labeling for GMOs though, so it's almost impossible to identify them. It's not enough to just serve fresh foods either.

I completely disagree with advice that says to go get this vitamin or that mineral. Once you start picking and choosing nutrients, you get into a level of science that most of us are not experience in. It absolutely flies in the face of nutrition and food science to start mixing & matching a few ingredients like calcium and B complex and magnesium. It's ineffective, expensive, and can be dangerous. I do not recommend it at all. Comprehensive supplementation is advised by all reputable food scientists and also the American Medical Association. The vast majority of children's vitamins even carry warning labels (like "keep out of reach of children) and also contain aspartame, sorbitol, dyes, and other questionable ingredients). It's a big business but it's based on profits and not kids' health. There is no science I'm aware of that supports it. Most doctors and nutritionists call this type of piecemeal approach either "expensive urine" because it's all eliminated, or "kitchen chemistry" because it's so haphazard. Think of all the "vitamin waters" that have different flavors based on what vitamins are included. WHAT? On what basis does that make any sense at all?

I think you have to make some choices based on your overriding philosophy, your willingness to get educated and give something else a good try (consistency is important no matter what route you choose), and your previous experience. But there's a lot of new information and you don't only have to go to medical conferences to get it.

Both my husband and my son have ADHD. We've been through a variety of meds over the years. Currently, my husband takes Vyvanse and my son has chosen to stop taking his meds. (He's 17 and as long as his grades are acceptable, we give him that choice.)

Our experience has been that with maturity and counseling, you can sometimes go without meds. However, your son is not at an age where he can be expected to have the maturity to focus without the meds.

The best medicine my son took was Daytrana. It's a patch, and when it's removed, the medicine is out of your system shortly thereafter. We found that if he took it off when school ended, he could eat a normal dinner and then we didn't have as much of an issue with loss of appetite. He didn't eat much lunch, but at least he had a good breakfast and a good dinner that way.

We did not have issues with our son being mean. If you are having those side effects, it's not the right medicine for him. You may have to try a few to get the right one.

Good luck. The right medicine was a Godsend for our family.

I would only trust a psychiatrist to prescribe meds for a kiddo with a mental health issue. They are "the" experts, pediatricians are not and may not have all the newest information that is relevant.

Our kiddo takes Ritalin and it's like a miracle drug. His case manager keeps nagging us to try a more time released med but we are so happy with the effects of the Ritalin we don't really want to try anything new.

The psychiatrist is okay with keeping him on this med. He doesn't eat a lot during the day due to the meds but by the time he gets out of school the meds are out of his system and he eats a great dinner and a good late snack. He gets enough calories and is normal to thin in size.

If he can't focus he can't learn.

I agree with changing his diet. Make sure he's getting food from scratch, not stuff out of a box or bag if you can do it. Make sure he's getting protein every couple of hours. This has helped my 7 year old tremendously. Make sure he's getting a B complex vitamin or buy Brewer's yeast or nutritional yeast (low cost alternative to a B complex vitamin) and mix it into his food. Pick up a child or adult liquid form of calcium, magnesium citrate, zinc, vitamin D.

Check out this doctor's books- Dr. Lendon Smith. He was a pediatrician ahead of his time. He has passed away but his books helped me tremendously. Here is a link to what he talks about in his books-

http://phosadd.com/support%20evidence/lsmith.htm