Mom Seeking Help with My Oldest Daughter to Deal with Her ADHA!

My oldest son went through the same thing and we found out his meds were wearing off shortly he came home from school.We switched him to a timed release medication and it helped.

I can only tell you what has helped in my 9 year old son. I went to a really smart doc. who advised me to do a food diary and record what he ate and his response to it (acting out, headache, stomach ache etc). It didn't take long to see that some of the foods he ate were responsible for his out-of-control behavior. His particular food intolerences turned out to be milk and a few others such as red gatorade and kool-aid. He is a different child with the removal of those foods. I am such a believer in changing children's diets after my experience. Anyway, I think it's worth looking into. Hope this helps. Goodluck.

As and Adult ADD survivor. I can tell you pro's and con's for diet, meds ect. I have 3 children 2 are ADD. I have 2 stepchildren One with learning difficulties as well he is a sight reader. once he reads he has it memorised, but doesn't comprehend it.
Diet is a big factor with ADD. I had one dr who really explained it well. ADD people, adults and children are smart. really smart but we have a large drawback. Our brains work at a faster speed. It races our thoughts. So fast that we can't always keep up with our thoughts. So we get bits and pieces of information from our brains. When and ADD or ADHD child is trying to talk it is best not to interrupt that thought because it becomes so frustrating. They loose what they were going to tell you. It cause anger and frustration and lashing out. Sometimes it is a lash at people and things around them and other towards themselves.
My first son was able to be helped totally with diet. But not my second. He is now 21. He was put on Ritalin. It made a completely different child of him. But the problem was that by the time he was out of school it was wearing down. He had trouble with home work and evening and night time chores.
He explained it to me that once school was over his brain shut down. I believe him. We worked through a lot of his problems with discussion. His worst age was 6 and then again at the start of puberty age 12. at age 12 his meds were adjusted again. One thing I made sure of was that no matter how bad the day was that at bedtime we read and had quiet time. He would pick a story and then I would pick one. It was our time. Time to know that no matter I loved him. WE would sing a quiet song together as well. and Talk about what went wrong with our days. So that he would sleep well knowing that the last day did not bleed into his next. Never let him go to bed upset or thinking that you are upset. It not only helped him to know that he was loved and that all was right with his world. It helped me to know that he loved me and that all was right with mine. We became closer and were able to help one another understand what was going on in our lives and our home. It made less struggle on the rest of the family as well. I let him decide some consequences for his actions, such as not doing homework. I took him to school and he told his teacher that he wasn't doing it at home, that his brain did not work(the look on her face was priceless) But his solution was that he would do his homework at school during his first recess . It was better for us all too. We were no longer fighting through our evenings and disrupting the whole house.
These are just ideas to help in dealing with ADD children. You have to find what works for each child.
I hope this helps some of you in some way.
K. W.

we have seen a difference with our girls by eliminating the sugar and the harsh cleaning chemicals. I have several friends that have kids with ADHD and they have said that one thing that has helped them is by getting the toxins out of their homes, switching over to safer cleaning products, as well as personal care products and laundry products and others that don’t have the harsh chemicals in them. I use these products personally, and we all have seen an improvement in our children. Melaleuca has many things that have helped kids with ADHD. You can check out their cleaning line at www.saferforyourhome.com If you want, you can get in touch with me and products could be of help to her. I know you will be impressed with the savings, because you can get them at wholesale. Just thought I would mention it because it might really help your daughter.
L.

About me: I am a mother of 5 and 2 of them are very high energy, we have never had them tested for ADHD, but I do see a difference with their diet and getting the harch cleaning products out of our house.

My son has ADHD since he was 6 too and it has been a struggle in my life and my husband, has been thur diffrent meds and now that he is 12 he is on daytrana patch 30 mg and for his mood swings disorder and has behavier order, has a counsler she has help our family in the last 3 yrs and to this day my sons grades a better his moods are better, behavier still still needs work what kids do't, the respect in adults we are working on he gose to church and is in Young Marines, he loves it. He has respect towards others and for himself. One thing about children with adhd you have to have set goals for them or they will walk all over you. Let me till you by experise. I too did not want to put my son on med at all, but we tryed everthing foods change, seen a specials in tx, and now in Mo, he has a diffculate time focals on one thing at a time and setting still, I dont give sweets to my son. he has to earn things on a point system too. I hope this will help you and your family take one day at a time even if you have to get help for yourself. God Bless

T.,
I don't know if I have any advice for you really. But you are not alone. I feel like I fight with my sons constantly. We are seeing a psychologist right now to help me stop yelling at them and to help them respect me more. Will it work? I don't know. We are on doc number 4. We are on meds too. I have come to accept I guess that the best I can hope for is that they are better out in the world than they are with me, and they are. But I understand you're tired and frustrated. I always feel bad when I think all they will remember from their childhood is me yelling at them all the time. My doc told me to look for and log anything my boys do that shows respect to me, no matter how little, and maybe if I can see the little things I won't get so mad at the bigger things. Best advice I have: don't be afraid to get help for yourself too. Good luck

I could have written your request myself. My daughter is now 12 and was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 8. OH have we struggled. We knew she had it prior to age 8 as well, but it took taking her to a psych for testing before family members believed us. We put our daughter on Concerta and it has worked wonders for her in school, however, the meds wear off after school and she changes..My daughter is VERY forgetful. You can tell her to do something and it only gets done one out of 20 times. Its so frustrating to talk to her, as she doesnt even look at us when we are talking to her so you dont know if she really heard you or not. My mother in law put it best when she described my daughter as "a noise that never stops or slows down". My best suggestion is routine. Kids with ADHD have to have a set routine EVERY day, the same thing at the same time. Once this is established, you can "add in" things until she is comfortable with that. We use "job charts" also. She can put her own mark on a completed task and feel a sense of accomplishment. Give LOTS of praise for a job well done. More praise and less reminding them that they messed up works best for my daughter. I could write a novel but start out small and keep in touch. We can trade ideas, Id love to help.

All kids have problems not listening and doing what they are supposed to do! It may have nothing at all to do with her diagnosis of ADHD. No amount of meds can make a child listen to you all the time or always do as they're told!

Have you tried setting her up on a point system for reinforcing good behavior? Sometimes we focus too much on the "bad behaviors" and don't try to increase the good ones. For example, if she does her homework on time, she gets a point. Set up points for each of the things you'd like to see her doing and then be sure to give her praise and points when she does it. You can even put stars on a calendar to count the points. At the end of the week, she can cash in her points and get a special treat or something from the dollar store, whatever you think would motivate her the most.

When I worked at a day care we had a child with ADHD and I heard Caffeine has an opposit reaction with children with ADHD so I tryed it by giving him a small 4oz cup of Mountain Dew and it seemed to help him alot.