anyone decide to medicate for ADHD?

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Hi

I don't post very often.
My son is 7 and in grade two.
Long story short he has ADHD and we have been told by our Psychologys that we may want to consider medicating him for his ADHD.
We have set up an information only meeting with a Psychiatrist for mid November.

I am wondering what every ones experience has been for those who did decide to medicate.
What medications did you decided on and what the side effects are.
Did the medication change who your child was and bring out the best in him/her or the opposit?

My son has so much potential but he just can't focus long enough to do his work at school.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

The most common medications used for ADHD are stimulants. They include Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Vyvanse, etc... Most common side effects are loss of appetite/weight loss and trouble sleeping.


Properly adjusted medication does not change a person's personality or turn them into a "zombie".


That's great that you recognize his potential. Some kids need medication to achieve their full potential.


If a child is struggling and other approaches have not been successful, it's not fair to not try medication.

Our neurologist described these meds as very low risk. They pass through the body quickly and dont require any step down if you decide to discontinue.

My son can't tolerate them, nor do they help. That said, trying them was ok.

Our son now seventeen was diagnosed ADD inattention maybe seven years ago and was prescribed and used Ritalin for some years. I decided to try him with that after this was strongly recommended at an ADD conference I attended by an impressive Sydney child psychiatrist. Our son has subsequently been rediagnosed ASD but appears to have symptoms of both conditions and we re-started him on Ritalin after perhaps a year's hiatus recently. (Not sure why my wife who had the primary care of him stopped this).

My overall impression of Ritalin is that it has helped our son. I also am not aware of any particular negative side effects, both in taking the drug or in his growth (he is nearly as tall as me) etc.

I asked him about it yesterday. He said Ritalin does not make a great deal of difference but stops him from being distractible. So we will continue with the trial, at the least until he is re-assessed by another psychiatrist sometime over the next month.

Hi my daughter 15yrs old dx ADD has been taking Ritalin for near 2 yrs, no side effects and it has helped her reach her potential.

She had very good results in her recent state exams. No adverse side effects and she wants to take them, she has the choice finds that they really help.

thank you for all the replies.

Do you think 7 years of age is old enough for my son to tell us if he likes taking them or not?
I would love it if he was able to tell if they made any difference or not.

I think that if he is verbal, he will be able to tell you if he likes the meds or not. If he dislikes them, he will probably protest taking them.

ADHD meds (usually a stimulant) can be very helpful for high functioners. However, stimulants often produce negative effects in low functioners, classic autism, and kids with high anxiety levels. My older son with classic autism, who is being treated for anxiety, had a poor reaction to the stimulants tried--Ritalin and Aderal. They made his anxiety attacks more frequent and much longer and decreased the effectiveness of his antianxiety meds.

I also felt that he became overmedicated when on both the antianxiety med and stimulants.

Anxiety is a side effect of stimulants.

Some kids successfully use antianxiety meds and stimulants at the same time.

I think you will know if they are appropriate for your child. That may sound stupid, but I believe that it's pretty concrete. We know that they don't work for our son. Actually, there are benefits, but they aren't outweighed by the negatives, and it's obvious. We have tried many different meds and he is just super sensitive, and high anxiety - so they are a no.

However, after each failed attempt, we just didn't give him more, and all side effects went away within a couple of hours. Really no big deal and worth having the knowledge.

I am a stickler about trying any medication while I will be with my son for the duration of the half-life. What that means is that if a new med has a half life of 10 hours, I need to be sure that I am the one watching him for that 10 hours. Ability has a 72 hour half life, so we tried that on a long weekend Friday before sending him to school Tuesday. ( ability isn't an ADD med, just an example of my observation procedure).

This isn't perfect because sometimes it takes several doses of something to see if someone will have an adverse reaction. I still feel that it's importand for me to watch the initial impact.