Parents with ADHD Children - I am after some opinions on medicating please

blue_monkey_2

allIcouldwishfor wrote: »

Haha, it's that d-name isn't it?!

LOL, NO WAY! It would probably fit though!!

GT60

Hi Blue monkey
one off our son's (we have three more children) has adhd and he takes Metophilidate NOT THAT ritalin:eek:
A few years ago we went to a group for adhd kids and i allways thought that it was down to bad parenting and the child being naughty.

On the first night of the group we all had to say one trait of our child, good and bad points
There was just one list in the end and when it was read out i listen and said "That is describing samuel down to a T" (all the point's listed where in the bad box)
Now if any one say's what i use to think i put them right in no uncertain terms.
Because they are complete and utter mupperts, cretins and w>anchors who dont know what they are talking about.
The group we went to was run By adhd northwest
if i find anymore info i will post it on here tommorrow

fallen_angel_69

Hi Blue Monkey
Hope everything is ok with you and you are now settled in the house

With my eldest daughter we debated for months about giving her Ritalin We found out all the pro's and con's and in the end we decided the pro Ritalin outweighed the non medication route When dd1 started taking it we noticed a difference she went from someone who wouldn't concentrate at all to someone who could stay on task for quite a bit of time The school noticed a difference if we forgot to give it her in the morning As she grew she started to have a tablet at lunchtime as well and the school were very good in giving her this so i didn't have to go in and give it her When she ent to senior school camhs swapped her to the long lasting ritalin which is called concerta over her senior school years the dose was changed to suit her and she coped ok with senior school and left with gcse's not brilliant grades but enough to get her into college Dd1 never took ritalin at weekends or during school holidays and you could tell the difference between how she acted that she hadn't taken any The hospital said it could cause her to loose weight and different side effects but she never had any of these she ate me out of house and home and still does ..lol

With dd2 she has never taken anything for asd or adhd as it has never been an issue of being needed for help with at school Although she takes lyniel for wetting her pants still and before someone says that shouldn't be an issue she is 10 still wetting her pants and is off to senior school in Sept Dd2 has started taking melation at night to help her get some sleep This was a last resort option i tried all the things camhs had said milk sleep routine star charts blackout curtains everything We tried everything she was still bouncing around at gone 1am and was still up at 4.30 everyday without fail Now she goes to sleep around 9ish and is still up at 4.30-5am But it's still really early but at least she has had a good few hours sleep I have never needed an alarm clock I have a very reliable one in dd2 if she sleeps past 5am i know she must been really tired if she sleeps past 6am i know she isn't feeling very well

Putting my girls on medications was a difficult decision to make but i did what i felt was and is for the best The best for them not for everyone else if people didn't like that i did and said so i used to say ok if you think i'm such a bad mum and you can do any better you can have them for 48 hours and you tell me where i'm going wrong Or if people said have you tried such and such i would say i've done this that the other I've been on all the parenting courses that camhs and our local carer's center offer i've gone through all the non medication routes and nothing works I'm not saying that putting your child on medication is the answer to everything and is your only answer I think putting my children on medication was best for them and they benifited from it This is what count's in the end as to whether it will benefit your ds and what is best for him in the long term

celine2009

Thanks for the welcome.
I know what you mean about being able to pick out certain things to medicate for. Even with the assessment you might not find out exactly which things fall into ASD and which fall into ADHD.
The part of your message about your little boy hitting, then not understanding that he has hurt you would probably be ASD. I don't know how much understanding your son has in general, our son has quite limited understanding although he is getting better, but when we talk to him we have to be clear what we mean and state what would seem to be very obvious - such as if he hits we tell him he has hurt that person and they don't like being hurt. Eventually he will understand that he is doing something you don't like even if he can't understand that it hurts you.

I agree with you in not rushing into medicating your son, but think it shows you to be a great mum to be doing your research now before needing to make a decision.
I think lots of people assume that once you start medicating you don't need to do anything else and that is why they assume medicating children is a lazy way to parent. My son couldn't even concentrate long enough to understand a reward chart until he was medicated.
Also had meant to say, when we started medicating we were only going to do it on school days, but once on the medication we decided to medicate at the weekends too. My son seemed to be frustrated and more unhappy at the weekends and we decided he must be wondering what was different.

D&DD

BM in our experience the hardest years *so far* were from 3-6 then things did start to improve for us...or maybe we just got used to our 'different' life I dunno...

I have/had much the same feelings as you,having 2 other kids.I felt they were always missing out/being battered/going without a 'normal' childhood

But you know,even though there are days when it just gets too much sometimes, whoever the older boys come into contact with are blown away by the compassion and common sense they have so I now look on our situation as a positive thing,that DS3 has shaped all our lives and made us better people because of his difficulties

What I'm trying to say is you will get there,to a happier more settled place and wether you need meds to help you along the way or not,you'll know whats right for your family.

lilly81

Hi Blue Monkey,

My son is 6 and a half, hyperactive but hasn't been diagnosed with anything yet. He has just spent the last 2 days at home because he was suspended :mad:
Now that your son has been diagnosed, the school can not suspend him and must support him. There is a group called parent partnership that help liase with the school to make sure your son gets all the help he's entitled to.
Have you tried a change of diet? this might help to calm him down. I have a list called the FAD diet given to me by a specialist that was doing studies on food allergies. The diet lists all artificial colours an additives.
PM me if you want a copy

Lilly X

Peanuckle

Hi BM

My two eldest sons are on the Autistic spectrum and have a diagnosis of ADHD as well. Only one is medicated though. We were offered medication for both of them but A (he's now 16) had very little problems learning in school and with behaviour management and supervision in class he could cope without causing a disruption. We did try him on medication for 2 weeks, the first week was a half dose and had no disernable effect but within 2 hours of increasing it to the full dose he reverted to sitting in a corner rocking. Obviously we stopped the tablets straight away and he's had no meds since.

J(now 15) is a different kettle of fish, he was dignosed late, his doctors insisted he was coping behaviour from A and therefore had no problems. Luckily we managed to get a second opinion and he was dignosed at 10 years old. When he moved up to senior school he was about 4 years behind his peers in most tests and struggled to cope with basic skills like reading and maths. He started medication 6 months after he started seniors and went on in leaps and bounds, he's now caught up and taking his standard grade exams with his peers after Easter :eek:. Medication for him was, quite literally, a life saver. He was so frustrated by not being able to concentrate or retain information that he became very depressed and was considered suicidal by the consultant at one point.

I would suggest listening to your doctors and trying medication if it would improve your son's life, it might not even suit him after all the heartache of making a decision.

And it does get easier, promise but I'm not looking forward to the Easter holidays either. The change is routine is always a nightmare but this time I have to nag both boys and their sister to revise for exams. :rolleyes:

shazrobo

lilly81 wrote: »

Hi Blue Monkey,

My son is 6 and a half, hyperactive but hasn't been diagnosed with anything yet. He has just spent the last 2 days at home because he was suspended :mad:
Now that your son has been diagnosed, the school can not suspend him and must support him. There is a group called parent partnership that help liase with the school to make sure your son gets all the help he's entitled to.
Have you tried a change of diet? this might help to calm him down. I have a list called the FAD diet given to me by a specialist that was doing studies on food allergies. The diet lists all artificial colours an additives.
PM me if you want a copy

Lilly X

sorry but schools can exclude kids even tho they have adhd, both my sons have been excluded at some times in the past, even permanently excluded from one school, which was a blessing in the end, as they were transferred to special schools.
and to the poster who previously said adhd kids were thick, one of mine is studying a level pychics, and he is only 13

lilly81

Hi Shazrobo,

As of the 3rd November 2008 it is illegal to exclude a child if the exclusion relates to a disbility your child has.
I only know this because it is in the exclusion letter my son got given.
Lilly

shazrobo

lilly81 wrote: »

Hi Shazrobo,

As of the 3rd November 2008 it is illegal to exclude a child if the exclusion relates to a disbility your child has.
I only know this because it is in the exclusion letter my son got given.
Lilly

hi lilly, i did not know they had changed it, please accept my apologies for saying that u were wrong

shaz x