Advice needed - does my child have ADHD?

slobbery

Hi Snaggles
You have my sympathy. Apologies for the long post.
I have been through this with my son who is now 11. Right from a toddler he always had problems with temper, concentration, boredom etc.
His mood swings were legendary. He would bang his head against the wall, scratch and bite himself and generally completely lose control at the drop of a hat. Taking him out was a complete nightmare, he would run around in shops, climb on everything, pull things off the shelf and generally embarass me to the point of tears. Eating in a restaurant was a definite no-go!
We (and our family/friends) knew he was not "normal". It had a huge impact on our lives.
To cut a long story short at age 7 he was diagnosed with diabetes.
This was a complete nightmare as trying to get him to blood test and inject was a constant trial and frequently exhausting.
Due to problems with getting him to manage his diabetes, when he was 10 we spoke to the Child Physcologist attached to the clinic he attends and asked for help.
He underwent several sessions of tests and was then diagnosed with ADHD - which of course we already knew. He was immediately offered Ritalin which we refused.
School were constantly on our backs over his behaviour but refused to refer him for statementing etc as he "wasn't that bad".
However, even once the school had copies of the diagnosis, and although they had a care plan in place for him, they still refused him any help for his ADHD and constantly sent him home, blaming his diabetes and unstable blood sugar for the problems with his behaviour.
In May this year after much agonising we took the major step of taking him out of school and teaching him at home - the only other alternative (as we live in the sticks) was a 40 minute commute each day to a special school.
In the last few months, his behaviour has improved no end. A diet of organic/fresh food with no artificial colours and minimum of additives seems to be working well. Having lots of attention from us and not getting bored seems to have helped a lot - at school he was always in trouble for not listening, fidgeting etc. He is now helping around the house, learning to cook and is generally much happier. I can take him shopping and we now eat in restaurants too! The pressure of trying to hold himself in and conform has been removed. He no longer has to sit still for long periods of time and try to concentrate. Our "lessons" can be 2 minutes long or an hour long depending on how he is feeling.
I posted this not to advocate home education, but to make you aware that getting a diagnosis won't necessarily help unless you have a really good school. I feel we were totally let down by our education authority and the whole school system. Sorry to be so negative and hope all goes well for you.

blessings3

Slobbery congratulations on Finding your solution! Home schooling is very often the best for some types of ADHD . Our school system is a lottery - I was fortunate to have a great SENCO and also a very erh persistant personality.

I do think that the rise in diagnosis of ADHD is down to the very ''Girlification'' of education that many ''normal'' boys find hard to cope with let alone a boy with even mild adhd

BARGAINHUNTER!

Does anyone know if it is correct that Eye-Q is available on prescription? I give this to my children, the oldest of which has behaverol problems and this costs me a fortune, money that i cannot really aford. I have tried to phone my doctors surgery but they have an answerphone on, and I really don't want to go to the bother and hassle of making an appointment to see my GP if the answer will be 'no'.

black-saturn

Whats Eye-Q?

blessings3

BARGAINHUNTER! wrote:

Does anyone know if it is correct that Eye-Q is available on prescription? I give this to my children, the oldest of which has behaverol problems and this costs me a fortune, money that i cannot really aford. I have tried to phone my doctors surgery but they have an answerphone on, and I really don't want to go to the bother and hassle of making an appointment to see my GP if the answer will be 'no'.

Not even going to go here

fsdss

blessings - apologies to you for ranting off last night, i found your original post aggressive and i responded into this arguement in a like manner.

anyway i have been to work today and taken the basic contents of this thread along for debate over our office meeting and the response were as i had posted earlier.

it has given food for thought and i have decided to monitor and evaluate all our " child has adhd" referrals to see

1. how many achieve diagnosis,
2. how long it takes
3. if complimentary therapies help
4. if the child has any other organic reasons for suspecting adhd

if i can get funded for research then all the better but i wont hold my breath.

you can tell me to look at documented research and books but unfortunately like most subjects i can find just as many contradicting evidence too.


i'll collaborate any data gained from my own referrals - ed psych / and community paediatrician for my area, and write a thesis on it for my masters .

blessings3

black-saturn wrote:

Whats Eye-Q?

Its a spesific make of Omega 3 oils that is regarded as one of the best blends to maximise uptake. Its the brand that has been used in alot of the school trials

If your daugter has been diagnosed you can probably get it on perscription

It comes in a citrus flaour good for adding to drinks and shaken to an emulsion - My son takes very high doses with no problems this way

black-saturn

It's probably the same as what they are already taking then which is from Boots. I don't get it on prescription.

Snaggles

Well, I have a doctors appointment on Thursday so will have more of an update then, but I am actually feeling relieved that I have made the decision to do something. 'Ben' had another outburst in the playground today as we were going into school - it started over something and nothing (someone pushed in front of him in the queue), but ended with him hitting and yelling at me in front of all his friends, the other Mums and the teacher :eek: .

But on the other hand, he's been sweet, loving and affectionate since he got home from school. I know he can't be like that all the time, I wouldn't expect any child to be perfect, but I just can't reconcile the lovely little boy I spent the afternoon with, and the angry, out of control child I saw this morning.

blessings3

Peresonally I think eyque/equivelent should be given out FOC to anyone with a child a bit like a nutritional child benefit - I get it on perscription fo Harry as he takes a large does 2x a day and I pay for my two littleones.