Post by jak on Oct 12, 2015 15:23:50 GMT
My 18 year old has just been diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive). He's been self medicating with cannabis for about 4 Years. He said it helped him sleep and feel normal. We obviously didn't know about him using cannabis until last year and were totally against him doing this. We had also at the time consoled ourselves that he was just experimenting. We didn't know it was becoming a daily habit. After a visit to our GP as our son became very depressed (I blamed the cannabis) the GP said that it wasn't unusual for a YP to self medicate this way. He suspected an underlying condition and said that these YP showed up in surgeries depressed and distressed and everyone suspecting it was through cannabis/ alcohol use. This surprised me. My son was then assessed privately as no help from NHS. He was given a diagnosis of ADHD last week. (Shouldn't it be ADD if no hyperactivity? ) During assessment I recognised some of the traits in myself and the Psychologist thinks it's come from me! I feel incredibly guilty and have mixed feelings about this. In some ways I'm pleased even at this late stage we know for my son and he isn't just lazy and a bit unmotivated.
In other ways however my son isn't convinced that medication like concerta will work. I'm not sure what happens with the depression part of his illness either. Currently he isn't in work and he's packed
College in. He panics about going back to any job and is anxious but resigned to this is how his life is. I'm not sure
how much to push him. He recently gave up his driving lessons too after! having a panic attack? He wasn't taking cannabis whilst deiving (for obvious reasons) but then he couldn't do it and felt overwhelmed. Any advice on the approach I take now would be much appreciated. He is a fantastic lad and I feel so sorry for him. He has been a joy to bring up even though I didn't recognise what was going on for him. He was just a quiet boy with quirky ways to me and a brilliant musician. What now?
In other ways however my son isn't convinced that medication like concerta will work. I'm not sure what happens with the depression part of his illness either. Currently he isn't in work and he's packed
College in. He panics about going back to any job and is anxious but resigned to this is how his life is. I'm not sure
how much to push him. He recently gave up his driving lessons too after! having a panic attack? He wasn't taking cannabis whilst deiving (for obvious reasons) but then he couldn't do it and felt overwhelmed. Any advice on the approach I take now would be much appreciated. He is a fantastic lad and I feel so sorry for him. He has been a joy to bring up even though I didn't recognise what was going on for him. He was just a quiet boy with quirky ways to me and a brilliant musician. What now?