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Post by Mannie on Feb 11, 2015 10:06:14 GMT
My 6 year old son has recently been diagnosed with ADHD but his father and I decided not to medicate him, we were offered no alternative, it was either medication or nothing. He definitely has the hyperactive type of ADHD bless him, which can be hilarious at times when he is in full character of a random superhero but terrifying when he is running along the pavement and nearly falls into traffic. He has always been pretty active, his Dad had to screw his cot in to the floor when he was a baby as when he stood up he would build up momentum and rock it backwards and forwards. At 18 months he would get on the chairs under the dining table and lift it up with his legs.
I more than likely have ADD, I was always being taken out of class to do catch up sessions and always had primary school teachers on my back about daydreaming and looking out of the window. I remember doing this a lot. My brother was diagnosed with ADHD when he was about 11 and was medicated with Ritalin. My Dad more than likely suffered from it as well as another sister.
My son has been behind on his school work. he had a very low reading age a few months back but has managed to go up 4 stages in the last 4 months which is pretty impressive. He can actually read now. He is still finding the concept of maths difficult to get his head around although he much prefers it to Literacy which he seems to loathe with a passion even though he has got much better at it lately too. I keep on asking myself are we holding him back? how much more could his grades improve if we aloud him to take medication?
I suppose I am worried I about medicating him as I remember the fights my Mum would have with my brother about medication, he would scream the house down in the mornings before school that he didn't want to take it, he would complain that it made him "feel normal" and he hated that feeling, she would trick him and put it in his breakfast and he would come home from school knowing that he wasn't feeling right and go ballistic. He hated being medicated. I just don't want my son to feel like that.
I suppose what I am really asking is how bad is the medication? Does it really make you feel repressed?depressed? low? I ask my brother now and he said that given the chance he would medicate his daughter who has aspergers and is being assessed for ADHD but when I ask him about how much he hated it he says he cant really remember. I also worry about the sleeping, he has always slept 10-11 hours straight at night and had a great appetite. I am worried if I give him the medication, this would change.
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Post by JJ on Feb 13, 2015 14:54:18 GMT
Hi
I really sympathise with what you're going through, it's never an easy decision to give your young child medication.
When at the right dose, medication doesn't make you feel repressed or depressed. All it does help me with adhd symptoms, but I still feel entirely like me. I'm as sharp as normal, I think the same things, I'm just as creative. If the dose is a bit too high, which I experienced first of all when titrating up, and very occasionally now if I take my last dose a bit too soon, then it feels a bit dulling and I don't feel as much like me.
There's a balance between the positive effects of medication, but not going too high so as to affect how you feel in terms of too repressed / not like yourself. I think sometimes the prescriber doesn't appreciate that balance as much - so the teachers and parents notice an improvement in behaviour, but the child doesn't like it because it makes them feel not themselves. But all that means is that the dose needs to come down a touch. When it's at optimum, you feel exactly like yourself.
As far as depressed is concerned, taking stimulants can have a huge beneficial impact on both mood and mood regulation. That's the single most important benefit for me. I feel happier in general and I'm able to control my emotions much better. Many people report this as a benefit. I don't think I've ever read of anyone feeling depressed on stimulants. The other medication, atomoxetine, which isn't a stimulant, can make some people very depressed, in which case, they stopped it.
When I was titrating up, I realised a good dose for me was 20mg instant release methylphenidate. It was huge the difference it made. I could focus, concentrate, keep on task and so on - ie it was very clear it worked. So I then tried 25mg to see if that was even better. But that was too high - it made me feel not myself, repressed, dulled and very irritable. It was horrible.
Not everyone experiences sleep disturbances on medication. It doesn't affect mine and, in fact, sometimes I take a very small dose to calm my mind and help me sleep. It does, initially at least, affect your appetite. But if you've not eaten much, as soon as the medication wears off, it comes back and you get v hungry. It's important to appreciate that stimulants only work for the period they're active, they wear off after a few hours and you're back to adhd proper, so appetite and everything goes back to usual. However, after a while, the appetite suppressant thing wears off to an extent. I lost a bit of weight initially but now, 1 1/2 years down the line, I weigh a stone more than I did unfortunately.
My sister's son has been taking atomoxetine for a year or so. He was very hyperactive. He didn't get on with stimulants, but atomoxetine has worked a treat for him. It's turned his life around in so many ways and he's a much happier little boy, doing much better at school. His appetite has improved from how tibial pre meds and his sleep hasn't been affected - he sleeps well.
It's always a hard decision, but I think the best bit of advice I could give you is that there's no harm in giving it a go - you've nothing to lose and everything to gain - and the gains are very big. And with stimulants, a short acting one only lasts 4 hours, after that it's gone.
Good luck, I hope this helps, do come back and ask as much as you like xx
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Post by hyperozzie on Mar 19, 2015 4:03:08 GMT
Wow no children should surely be so adamantly be forced to be medicated against their will.
But why not give your son a go to see how he finds it?
It could help him dramatically. My advice is go easy with the dosage at first.
I REALLY wish my parents medicated me as a child.
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Post by twix on Mar 27, 2015 23:16:19 GMT
I feel better for mine. I would try it. I would be more worried that he will hurt himself without it than grades.
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Post by rhiannon on Mar 30, 2015 14:02:10 GMT
I agree it's worth doing it as I wish I'd had it as a child too! I think the most important thing is to educate your child about the effects of the medication because it is common for children to feel 'strange' and not like it. It's also important to show the child early on what they can do on the medication that they couldn't do off of it as a positive reinforcement of its effects.
Without it the psychological damage is irreversible, as an adult it's easier to deal with but my childhood was a disaster and I almost wouldn't have been here now due to impulsivity. There is definitely a point to encourage it simply to help keep your child safe out in the world!
Yes it does supers appetite but being aware of that issue is the way to overcome it, just ensure your child is eating at the appropriate times even if they don't feel hungry. I have learned to eat whilst not feeling hungry, it takes some effort but after a few weeks it becomes easier to essentially force feed yourself. As the parent you must take responsibility for making sure meals are made and eaten and it shouldn't be an issue. On the note of eating it would also be advisable to work with your child to educate them (and yourself if you aren't knowledgeable about it) about what are the right things to eat (lots of fresh fruit and veg, long acting carbs, healthy proteins, fats and sugars etc.) and the wrong things to eat (junk food, overly processed food, too much animal protein, unhealthy fats and sugars etc.).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2015 17:36:33 GMT
Hey,
I was not officially diagnosed when i was younger, but the teachers tried and parents resisted. I think maybe if i was on when i was younger i would not have lost my friends that i did manage to make. There is no diet or homeopathic cure and by saying ADHD does not exist or that it is just the way you are hurts. It is good at least you got the diagnosis and you accept it, but i do not think it is bad being ADHD. I hate team sports, but i can hyper focus on fitness etc.. embrace what they can do and do what ADHD allows them to be good at, but some situations ADHD makes life a lot harder and medication is needed/required, without it i would probably not sit with other people in the canteen and be able to attempt to hold a conversation or be able to drive to places, i overcompensate and hide away. Without it i have had depression, anxiety and have self-medicated to try and fit in. I think you should teach your child to lie about being ADHD as i find that people will use it against you and make flippent comments that hurt and also prejudge you.
You need glasses to see we sometimes need meds to fit in, by at least trying meds your not taking away an opportunity for them to see if they prefer it, sometimes I lower my dose and when people tell me ADHD does not exist people just use labels and then i don't take them people say "oh your full of energy" and "are you listening", "why is your desk messy" etc..
All the best!
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Post by JJ on Apr 7, 2015 0:14:10 GMT
Without it the psychological damage is irreversible as an adult it's easier to deal with but my childhood was a disaster and I almost wouldn't have been here now due to impulsivity. There is definitely a point to encourage it simply to help keep your child safe out in the world! I've not read evidence to support irreversible psychological damage being caused by recognising but not medicating a child with adhd. The decision to medicate your child, especially one as young as 6 is incredibly difficult, whether you support medication or not. I've personally experienced the benefits of adhd medication and I know the consensus scientific opinion supports its use in children. I also firmly believe I would have had better life outcomes had I been medicated as a child. Nevertheless, faced with that decision as a parent, I would still feel enormous anxiety, a burden of responsibility and fear. On balance, I would medicate my child, but I wouldn't do it without hesitation or without going over the pros and possible cons, however remote. It's an incredibly difficult thing as a parent to be faced with the decision to give your child drugs that affect his brain - and care should be taken to be sensitive to this and to make sure that blanket scary statements aren't made unless they can be supported and, even then, to be careful in how it's put across. I'm uncomfortable reading the above, especially as a statement of fact. I don't think I agree with this. I wouldn't want my child to see his achievements as being down to his medication, I would like him to own them for himself and not see his intrinsic self as flawed. There may be a time for a discussion about the benefits of medication and a comparison of with and without, but I think only at a time when he is able to understand that all it does is put him on a level playing field with his peers and redress his low neurotransmitter levels. That would necessarily be significantly older than 6.
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Post by rhiannon on Apr 8, 2015 13:14:45 GMT
It was not intended as a fact but as the passing of personal experience. I have not yet met one person who hasn't been scarred by a misunderstood and underachieving youth. Even you say you firmly believe you would have had better life outcomes if you had been medicated as a child, that is permanent psychological damage.
Also I'm not suggesting that you discourage a child from doing anything or only encouraging them when medicated. I'm suggesting that teaching a child the benefits of medication that make the playing field equal is important and using positive reinforcement is a good strategy to do that.
At age 6 I would obviously give them a fairly basic understanding of what makes them different and what the medication does. I would not be happy having my child on medicine if they had no comprehension of it and just took the pills because you say so.
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Post by manson88 on Apr 8, 2015 14:46:49 GMT
I just wanted to say @ 6 years of age I knew then I had issues. Nobody new how to get through to me.
I can remember the English lesson going on and be sitting at the back of the room playing with a box of motors lol..
Maybe if there was the intervention then that there is now. I would maybe have more confident.. One to one education.
Now days a child with issues would get the help and not labelled lazy. Cause that's what it has done to me it's like a invisible badge.
Cause the fact that I have been labeled by a teacher in a classroom it's stayed with me by my peers...
For me it's like a scar there's no shaking it off..
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taetaeds
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Post by taetaeds on Jun 10, 2015 14:55:46 GMT
Hi there I understand the dilemma you are both facing as parents.
I think the major thing which comes with medication children is that when they get into their adolescent years they become quite rebellious to taking medication and feel that they don't need to take it. Up until this point they do not understand what it is like to be unmedicated as a responsible person and to know the struggles it brings. That is why there is a striking difference between diagnosed children and diagnosed adults who were diagnosed when they were adults. Those adults truly understand the struggles the disorder brings.
What you need to do it educate your child on the seriousness of the disorder and what it can be like if you remain unmedicated your whole life. I know you will be able to get this sort of information online. What I would do is medicate my child, but only because I truly struggled and remained undiagnosed until adult life. If I was diagnosed as a child and told to take medication, I would probably have a different opinion, but it is all how the parents educate the child and to let the child have control.
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Post by hermanli on Jun 23, 2015 14:20:35 GMT
I would never medicate a young child.
A child with ADHD even with hyperkinetic traits has every ability to excel academically and vocationally with the right nurture, guidance and environment.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2015 17:11:55 GMT
Start them young and stop the neural pathways from being CONCRETED IN in such a perverse way.
Learned behaviours from youth are what creates damaged adults and unpicking that damage is a hell of a lot more difficult than limiting the damage in the first place.
What's best....repairing the car or not crashing it in the first place?
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Post by hermanli on Jun 23, 2015 18:07:57 GMT
Those pathways can be concreted in by building them around carefully supported and guided productive engagements. It doesn't have to be pharmalogical.
I would save the meds till university age.
A lot happens throughout childhood and adolescence. So many Biological, emotional and psychological changes. You have no idea how things maybe unmedicated unless you allow nature to take its course and try them out, adolescence can be a frustrating hormone laced time as it is, Im not sure its a good idea to throw stimulants into the cocktail. You also have no idea how it may skew the positive elements of growing up, it may alter the "good" experiences!
I think parents guiding children through education, opportunities, giving kids an outlet for energy and creativity and helping with a healthy lifestyle with diet and physical activities can give all anyone could hope for.
But Im not against the option of medication being out there, it maybe an option for some. But I see it as a reckless and lazy one in most of the scenarios I can imagine. Unamangeable Hyper kinetic behaviour combined with intellectual disability, may be a scenario where Id see it as appropriate. But I would refer to research and evidence for this too.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2015 15:09:28 GMT
The evidence is that pharmacological intervention is the most productive.
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