DOES IT GET ANY BETTER?? | ADHD Information

Hello, I am new to boards and would appreciate any help. My son is 12 yrs old. Diagnosed at age 5yrs with ADHD. It has been horrible at times. Fits..threats of harming his self. Loudness in school. Clowning around. Not turning in homework. etc. etc. He has been on ALOT of meds he stopped gaining weight and growing and we took him off all meds. He ate great and grew. But he was in the principals office constantly and the teachers called/emailed all the time. He was thrown off bus etc. He has a hard time keeping friends because no one wants to deal with him. It breaks my heart. We are thinking of putting him back on Concerta even though with the new FDA findings we do not want to. CAN SOMEONE TELL ME DOES IT EVER GET ANY BETTER??? Is there any hope in this??? We are so worried about what his future holds for him. Thanks

Mars7700, I don't know how much help I can be, but i know tons of people with adhd, and I work with kids a lot, some of which are completely off the wall like your son sounds like. but it's a learning process, it's hard on everyone that has to interact with him, but he will have to learn how to control himself and i'm sure you have already learned many ways to help him.  You'll get through this though, I have straigh A friends that are ADHD, teachers that are ADHD, my friends dad who is ADHD owns his own company, all is not hopeless. Your son is still young, and it will take some time, but don't worry, both of you will continue to learn through the process and cope with whatever comes up.

I hope I've at least been a little bit encouraging.

Hope, I think, is the most important thing with ADHD. NEVER give up hope, Mars7700.

I'm seventeen and have had ADD all my life. I wasn't officially diagnosed until about 2001 or so and just began to retry different meds for it. I don't know much about Concerta except what I'v e read, which wasn't too good. But I'm taking Focalin Short Term 10mg. It's working great and we're still adjusting the dose. You may want to talk to your Dr. about trying it out. I don't suggest the Focalin XR though. It's suppose to be Extended Release so you only have to take once in the morning but, in my experience with it, it hit me all at once and wore off in about 4 hours.

I'm getting totally off subject (like I said, we're still adujusting my dose). Your kid is gonna be going to high school in a couple years, and, I'm saying this from experience, you definatly want to get him under control before that.

I don't know exactly how your kid is but you may want to check out having him go to a Learning Consultant for Children with ADHD. I go to one and she's great, helps me figure out ways to overcome my ADD. Also, you may want to work with the school to get your son a Individual Education Plan(IEP). This is a legal document that will help your son have an equal chance to succed like the rest of his peers.

I'll stop the suggestions for now, but lastly, talk to your kid. He may not understand what's going on with him. It's frustrating seeing your friends or classmates doing things without a sweat but you're sitting there completly lost.

Good luck! Let me know if you want to know anything more about a learning consultant or anything. My e-mail's Marley24365@yahoo.com