Is your child like mine? | ADHD Information

He is almost 8 and diagnosed with ADHD. He is very bright and so far has done well in school with little or no meds. (5mg ritalin in the am when I remembered..the teachers claimed they never saw a difference) The problem is he is still very immature and the other kids are not tolerant of his behaivors. He is completly not aggressive, not prone to crying and overall is a happy kid. But I see the problems coming...he is being shut out and friends are scarce. I have him enrolled in a social skills program this summer and have been giving the ritalin more frequently for social situations. We are looking into Straterra. We tried adderall and concerta before, but he was tearful and sullen on the first day with both. We never tried them again. Ritalin Xl was mentioned, but I'm afraid he will never eat! He also has very mild anxious habits, humming etc..mostly when he is alone. Anyone have similar story with guidance about meds? I have no one to talk to about this and can't get a ref to a psychiatrist until his ped appt in July. Thank you in advance!

It is very normal when starting all the meds for there to be some side effects - emotional, headaches, too talkative, a little sullen, etc.  For many kids, after four or five days, the worst side effects go away and you can really see whether the med is helping or not.  I would personally try Concerta again, the lowest dose first, and give it some time.  It can be a wonderful thing for the children to find a med that works well.  HTH  Lisa

Krobb, I also had a the best experience with a psychologist rather than the last psychiatrist we saw. He said (and I read this too on the CHADD website) that while he can offer help with the social issues, my son may not process the info without medication to help him focus. That is why we are looking into it again. He suggested that maybe my son was on too high a dose of concerta before and to try again with smallest, like imom suggested . He said that at least with that, if we don't like the effects, it will totally leave his system. I was thinking of Strattera if no success with concerta. I also have been trying a lot of the suggestions from other moms and various websites. I'm trying to keep requests and explanations simple, I ask him to look at me when I need to say something and give him way more compliments for positive behaivor. Today we did pretty good with that. He also opened up and expressed a fear of not wanting to try something new because he is afraid of "messing up". I hope we haven't been on his case so much in the past that we made him that self-conscious. (sp?) There is no end to the second guessing myself. But, I'm going to try to give both of us a break.

BriMom - sounds like our boys are twins sons of different mothers!  We tried Ritalin and Concerta but had to stop because he is so sensitive to the meds that he developed tics.   While the meds did help with attention, they never helped with the social issues anyway.  We are now trying on various things in an effort to help him.  His grades dropped from A's to B's this semester, but I can deal with that.  The social issues are the hardest part for him.

We did go to a psychciatrist, but are finding that the school psychologist shows more interest in actually working with him.  We are also going to try the Dore Centers this summer and see if that has any benefit.