stealing and complusive disorder | ADHD Information

YEEEEES My 6 yr old has been stealing soooo much lately and lying, staring me in the face, swearing black and blue he didnt take it, when its soooo obvious to me because he's the only one up (gets up before the sun to steal food he's not allowed) or the food was put up so high that it would be impossible for the smaller children to reach. I tell him ALL THE TIME if he asks me, I will give it to him, but that does nothing. It doesnt matter how much we reason with him to stop, it doesnt. His father and I won a night at a holiday resort a couple weeks back, his babysitter is a close friend of the family + she had extra helpers, already knowing full well that my son is a handfull. He managed to sneek soooo much food from the kitchen by them, that by the time we got home the next morning, our cupboards and fridge were practically empty!
I find stamps, stickers and crayolas all around the house (he's not allowed them without me being with him or it ends up all over the walls) he swears I got them for him, his poor teacher, honestly, must be going broke because of his stealing from her all the time, its got to be everyday, because there's so much stuff, but come time to take them back they're broken and not worth the argument. His behaviour has really stressed me out to the point of me feeling suicidal, it just feels easier to do that then to go to bed every night crying because I dont know how to handle my son (dont think I will, but it has been on my mind a lot lately) I love my family too much, been off my anti depressants for a few months, so its been very hard, his grandparents live in another country and want him to move there with them, I dont want him to, I want to work this out as a family- but I know from reading all these posts in this forum that in time things can get better... right?
tarnea38776.344212963Is stealing and lying a rather common thing with children who have ADHD and complusive behavior? I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. I need major help PLEASE.

Well my daughterwast DX with ADHD a year and half ago along with complusive behaviors. She is 8 years old and a very bright little girl.  She couldn't hear until she was 2 and half years old and for that, wow does, she ever do wonderful in school.  However she does have a hard time making friends since we did move and because of her ADHD. I am at my wits end because of all this. I need help massivly. I don't know what to do anymore.
To top it off, my daughter and I are orginally from the United States, (moved to Canada 2 and half years ago, because I got remarried. My daughter's father shortly after was sent to the middle east to fight the war, and has just returned)

The stealing has been an on and off thing, we thought we had it under control, but apparently not. We have to lock the pantry at night and put a little alarm on the freezer so she doesn't sneak sweets. Which I don't understand, because she doesn't eat durning the day at all, due to the meds she is on. Anyways, she steals from friends and teachers at school without them noticing them and then in return uses them item right in front of them. "It's like Oh my GOD" .... Any advise PLEASE

She is seeing a psycholosist. We think the hoarding of food is more  because she doesn't want anybody else to have it. She is afraid if she doesn't eat it right then and there then she wont get any. She will sneak it into her room. And when I say sneak, I literally mean sneak a whole half gallon of ice cream and eat it ALL.  Her doctor doesn't think anything of this. We have also put an alarm on her door too. So when she gets up in the middle of the night we can hear her. The other night I caught her reaching for the pantry key though. You know I have this same problem with my ADHD son age 7.  He hides and hoards food in his room and steals things all the time.  For example we found my daughter's gameboy under his pillow since we had taken away his privieges for his.  He stole my sister's gameboy before he had one and does not respect that things are not his.  We can not leave money anywhere because he will steal it.  In our old house we had the locking pantry door too.  I can not do room alarms because if I do he will urinate and defecate on his floor in his room rather than wake someone up with the alarm.  Although he gets in huge trouble for doing this.  I don't know what to tell you or how to fix it.  In my personal experience the food thing is not hunger related at all.  Atleast that is the case with my son.  I wish you luck and just wanted you to know that you are not in this boat alone.

I think you need to get a re-evaluation by a board-certified child psychiatrist to figure out what's really going on with your daughter.  Hoarding can be a symptom of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, an anxiety disorder that needs different treatment from ADHD.

 

Yeah she was DX with obessive compulsive disorder, along with ADHD.

How is she being treated for the OCD?  It is not treated in the same way as ADHD.

 

The problem wasn't ever that big of an issue until now. Her sessions with the psychiatrist are alone at this point in time. I am just going to have to give him a call, because her behavior has gotten way out of hand. ordinary38775.8700347222

The pink ink you're using is very hard to read.  I agree -- you need to talk to the pdoc and explain how worrisome her behavior has gotten.  She needs treatment for her OCD.

 

Other than that we are in the works of having a FULL evaluation done by a complete diferent team of doctors. Hopefully they will be able to find out something else ontop of what we already know. ordinary38775.8739583333

It sounds like you are on the right track.  Good luck.

Thanks a bunch!!!

Stealing and lying are a lot of disorders and sometimes preteens and teens just do it, disorders or not, because they're hanging with bad kids (I've raised three to adulthood so far and have seen a lot). If she has never been to a Psychiatrist, though, I'd take her to one to make sure it's really ADHD and not something else. It's kind of like covering all the bases. She won't get better if she is dxd. with ADHD and on stimulants when it is really something else. Psycologists tend to dx. ADHD for all kids mainly because they aren't educated well in all the other disorders. We struck out completely with Psycologists. Two of my three grown kids went thru a lying, stealing stage. One used drugs. She probably has undiagnosed ADHD and definitely has LD's, but she straightened out. One of my sons lied and stole mostly from us (how special I felt) and he has possible bipolar and OCD. He's 28 now and doing great on meds, never been in real trouble, engaged, etc. The key is getting the correct diagnosis. I wish you luck. Here are a few links you can look at.

www.bpchildresearch.org

www.conductdisorders.com  (This is a good link to talk to other parents with lying/stealing kids)

 

Tarnea- I understand you completly that is how I feel 100%. The only thing diffent is that I've had deprssion since I was about 3 years old. So me having depression doesn't help my child's problems any more or less. Lord give me the strength. Older Mom- Thanks for the links and the bio feed back on your family. It gives me a bit of hope for my little girl. She isn't that bad, just going through a phase, I hope.