ADD Meds/Hypertension | ADHD Information

Has he tried doing high impact cardio/exercise morning and evenings? It'll help with the stress and get enough dopamine flowing.

Start off gently and build up, it can help to run or walk at lunch time if necessary.

Hi,My son,age 17,high school senior was recently diagnosed with hypertension. (He also has asthma, sinus issues and allergies, and is on meds for that.)Cardiologist and pediatrician say no more ADD meds. Even the "non-stimulant" types, ( Strattera, etc.) list in their fine print, not to take if you have hypertension. ( He also has some slight anxiety issues, and combining that with the hypertension, would be a double whammy with the ADD meds.)He had previously take Adderall for 4 years ( Ritalin before that for 4 years) always on school days only/no summers or weekends, which worked fine for him. Docs are still trying to determine cause of the hypertension. Tests, etc. ( No, he does not take any decongestant meds for his asthma/sinus)

In the meantime, he is not doing well at all in school this year ( although he wasn't actually making great grades in the past, even with the meds). This year though, without the meds, he is doing horribly. He has been taking EFA's/Omega Oils, which seems to help a little.

We are talking about a very bright kid, with extremely high ACT scores, who now is making terrible grades. Again, he is a senior in high school, some colleges he applied to, in spite of the high ACT's, are only looking at his current grades. Which means he won't be accepted at his first choice schools. This isn't my main concern though. I am worried that he may not even graduate this year ! He's going to get suspended for three days if he is tardy one more time (ADD issue), and he is actually failing two classes, with D's in the rest. It's that bad!!

Obviously not taking any ADD meds because of the hypertension has really hurt him this year. He attends a public ,suburban, upper middle class high school. His teachers aren't willing to help or even discuss the issue. Sigh. It's too late for an IEP ( He never had one in the past) The teachers and counselor all look at his high ACT's, and other standardized test scores, and assume he's just lazy, and not willing to live up to his potential. He is slowly losing all his confidence, and becoming frustrated with himself, and everyone else. He plans to go to college to study meteorology, but I don't think he's going to make it, unless he learns how to manage this ADD without meds while he is in high school.

I apologize for the length of this posting, I know I am rambling, but I am getting pretty desperate, I don't know what to do anymore to help him learn to help himself. He has to learn how to manage this, and I'm not sure how he can, since he can no longer take the ADD meds.

Does anyone have any advice ???? Thank you !!!!

I can only base it on my wife's feedback of: "you know? you're not a total psycho when you do your cardio every day. I think you should go back to training regularly". :)

Between that, meditation I find my medication requirements are less and far more effective, more so than alterations in my diet.

[QUOTE=cindo3]

As a matter of fact, he just joined a health club last week. I even bit the bullet and paid for six personal training sessions for him (just to get him going). SInce he is not playing any sports this year (was pretty active in sports till this year), he needs the exercise.

That's a good point about getting the dopamine flowing. Can't hurt. We still aren't sure if stress is causing the hypertension, or if the hypertension(due to some as yet undiagnosed medical condition) is causing stress.

Thanks for the advice !!

[/QUOTE]what is hyper-tension cindo? i know i should just google it ---

i feel for you and your son, i think i was a little the same and my mother probably exactly as frustrated and at her wits end with me too. i hate to tell you my life story because i don't think it will cheer you up at all (essentially a continuous series of failure pretty much up to the present day - and a still worried mother at the age of 34!)

i am sure there will be a way to sort it... i don't have any answers beyond taking ADderall which is such a life-saver for many of us but Annidagostini has found a book called 'Stopping ADHD' which she swears by --- it is a series of exercises and she previously was on meds, came off them and really does believe that these exercises are helping. so maybe check that out.

it is all so complicated --- i wonder whether you couldn't find a 'natural' alternative to ADderall that doesn't necessarily have the bad side effects. for example i pulled up a kinda funny site on 'cocaine' --- it's kinda light-hearted but accurate scientifically i believe and it mentioned that just chewing the coca leaves does not in general have bad side-effects - it is when it is purified and turned into cocaine.

anyway, that probably sounds completely radical and insane and I don't know whether one is allowed to just get the leaves anyway???? perhaps it is illegal. i am not sure how it works, although it sounds kinda funny to make a plant illegal but i suppose marijuana plants are - so why not the coca plant too?

but the point i wanted to make is that although i don't understand too much what hypertension is --- maybe the more natural version of coca leaves wouldn't affect it?

apart from that - as a boy maybe he won't be too into this - but yoga is good in general for health too. perhaps he could join a class?

good luck.

i hope he has more success in his future than i have had so far!

Thanks for the advice !!

My son is 15 and has been taking Concerta 54mg for 2 yrs and 3 mths. Last week at his annual physical his blood pressure was high. The doctor thinks that it may be due to the medication, but wants to monitor him first before making any changes. The school nurse started monitoring his BP this week, we are going to do this for 2 weeks. Already I have noticed that his BP was lower on the weekend when he didn't take his meds, and also during the evening when the meds have worn off.

Cindo, do your son's doctors think that the ADD meds caused his hypertension? You said that they didn't know the cause, do they suspect the ADD meds? And has his BP improved since he quit taking the meds?

I am afraid that if my son has to go off the meds he will also slip in school. There was a dramatic improvement when he started the meds, although he has also matured a great deal from 13 to 15, and I have wondered if he could quit taking the meds soon. It is just so frustrating in high school, because there is no margin for error if you want your child to get into college. Luckily, I did get him an IEP before entering high school, and he has a wonderful teacher who has worked with him for two years to keep him on track, he calls her his "mom at school."

It is not too late to get an IEP, talk to the guidance counselor and insist on getting him all of the help that he is entitled to. The one thing that I have learned is that you have to fight for this help, call them every day if you have to. Sooner or later they will have to listen and start helping.

Good luck, and please let me know if you find out the cause of the hypertension.

CHJONES....

You asked .......What is hypertension ? It's just a fancy word for "high blood pressure ........ when it's so high , consistently, that's it's in the danger zone...they refer to it as hypertension instead of just high blood pressure.......

About the school issues, I would immediately make an appointment with his counselor, or the principle, and explain what you just told us.

Document everything, with doctor's reports and such, then ask the doctors to write a letter requesting special consideration for him until this is bought into control.

Best wishes,

D

To all with children that are having trouble with Hypertension talk to your Doctor about giving blood pressure medication with thier ADD meds. The medicine will bring down the hypertension, my daughter is on Tenex and she is doing great now. It will be ok to give BP meds if there is no history of heart problems and will need to check BP for a while about 30 minutes after giving it. My daughter had her BP checked in the morning by the school nurse for 2 weeks and it has brought down her BP to level where she should be at for a child her age. At times ADD meds can bring up the blood pressure. By the way my daughter has ADHD and is Bipolar has been since the age of 5 she is now 9 years old.