ME AND MY SON | ADHD Information

BEING A PARENT WITH A CHILD THAT HAS A.D.H.D IS NOT EASY,WHAT I MEAN IS LIFE GETS TO BE A LITTLE STRESSFULL,EVERYDAY IS A CHALLENGE.ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO WE TOOK OUR SON OFF MEDS AND NOW HE IS IN 9TH GRADE AND IS STRAGALING TO MAKE THE GRADES.WHEN MY SON WAS ON MEDS HE WOULD SOMETIMES LOOK SPACED OUT AND WOULD NOT EAT,SO WE TOOK HE OFF THE MEDS,BUT LATELY IT SEEMS LIKE THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE,I REALIZE THTA WHEN HE WAS ON THE MEDS HE GOT GOOD GRADES,BUT I CANT SEEM TO GET PASS THE SPACED OUY LOOK HE WOULD HAVE.I NEED OTHER PEOPLES IN PUT ON DEALING WITH CHILDREN THAT HAVE A.D.H.D AND WHO BETTER TO GET INFORMAITON FROM THEN OTHER PARENTS.

If my son looked spacey on a med he was taking i would call the doc. My son has been on lots of different ADHD meds, and he is doing very well on Focalin, he has been taking it since Nov. It is a trail and error process. I would talk with the doc he has. We had to take my son to a phsy to get him straightned out. Also if your son doesnt have an IEP in school i would look into it, If i were you.

Good luck to you. Once the proper treatment and accomadations are in place it will get better.

My son has only tried the med he uses, but it does not make him spacey. If you don't like the side effects of meds, there are many others you can try. It could be that his dosage was too high. You didn't mention if you son's doctor is a pediatrician or a pschiatrist, etc. I recommend if you are thinking about giving meds another try you take your son to a child pschiatrist. Each patient seems to have different meds that work for them. Sometimes meds don't work or have too many negative side effects.

There are many adhd kids who take meds and are not spacey. Just like some allergy meds make me feel spacey or drowsy, so I use another kind. My son feels much better about himself on meds. He feels confident about what he can accomplish. This gives him a more positive attitude.

There is also an alternatives board on the website with many good/interesting methods if you don't want to go the med route.

Best Wishes!
daisyrai, can you tell us more about the biofeedback? Interesting! We took our son off meds. because of all the side effects that he was experiencing. This was about 1 1/2 yrs. ago. I am STILL pleased with that decision. On meds. he was not our son. He now tells us that yes, he was able to focus better but he felt "weird" and confused most of the time. He seemed like that to us, too and we were worried.
What we chose to do instead of medicate was to get him a tutor and teach him new learning strategies. We also began to use a "reward" system that really worked with him. He is not hyper so that was not an issue we had to deal with. He is mainly inattentive. We worked with the teacher to help him focus and to help him feel good about himself--not the failure he had begun to see himself as.
With the teachers help he has done very well in 3rd grade. Here are a few of the things we implemented for him. He does not qualify for an IEP or a 504 so this was just what the teacher and us have worked out.
--he sits in the front of the room nearest to her desk
--he does not loose his recess to complete his work unless he wants to. He can bring it home to finish.
--he is offered a quiet workplace if he is distracted by the noise in the classroom (like the library or the hallway)
--because handwriting is an issue, she is allowing us the choice of typing out his book reports as he dictates. He then copies it in his own handwriting.
--she offered to modify his 25 word spelling list to 15 but he chose not to and we have found startegies to help him remember them.
--she gives him A LOT of pos. feedback and "pumps him up". He responds to that amazingly.
--she makes sure he sits next to a child who is a good influence as far as work habits go.

These are a few of them and I cannot tell you how well it has worked. He hated the meds. so I think he tries hard to do these other things. We also have been giving him 1 tsp. or so of Omega 3 every day for the last 5 months. We also steer clear of the red and yellow dyes which we have found affect him very neg.
Meds. were not the answer for us. But we have found other ways to help him.
Ask your son if he thinks he'd like to try med.s again. He may have more insight into his problem now that he's in Gr. 9. Also going from gr. 8 to 9, is a big adjustment for some kids. They have to work independently. Teachers don't support them individually as much. He also may have better tolerance to the medications. My son at 15, has been on meds since gr. 2, and knows he needs them. He rarely forgets to take them in the morning because of it. He tells me when he runs out. Despite being on them, he has never been motivated in school. It may or may not help him with his grades, it depends on him. A trial of meds. is always a possibility as well. They shouldn't look spacey on meds but they are definitely more quiet and reasonable. If they can focus better, thats all you want. Good Luck with everything.

If your child is experiencing a zombie like effect, that could be because the dose is too high or its the wrong med for him. This could produce symptoms of being overly focused. If your considering putting your child back on meds, you definitely should consult with your childs doctor as such a side effect can be remedied and making your decions based on accurate information will help you make a more informed decision. Good luck

Side Effects

In general, side effects of stimulants can include a decreased appetite, headaches, stomachaches, trouble getting to sleep, jitteriness, and social withdrawal, and can usually be managed by adjusting the dosage or when the medication is given. Other side effects may occur in children on too high a dosage or those that are overly sensitive to stimulants and might cause them to be 'overfocused on the medication or appear dull or overly restricted.' Some parents are resistant to using a stimulant because they don't want their child to be a 'zombie,' but it is important to remember that these are unwanted side effects and can usually be treated by lowering the dosage of medication or changing to a different medication

I wouldn't keep my child on meds if he spaced on them either. WHen was his last evaluation? A lot of stuff that was hidden as a young kid tends to come out during the teen years and professionals can see things more clearly. Has he ever seen a Psychiatrist (with the MD) or a NeuroPsych? If not, I highly recommend it. It could be that his ADHD dx. is wrong or co-morbid and it should be clearer now that he's older. Since stims space him out, it could be that he needs a different type of med because it's actually an ADHD mimicker. On a last night, are you sure there is no substance abuse involved?[QUOTE=lovebug]

[/QUOTE] My son was diagnosed with ADHD about two years ago, he is almost eight now. He has been on a steady increasing dose of Concerta for these past two years. We have recently begun Biofeedback and have already gone down 18mg. Which is a true blessing, still everyday presents a new struggle ESPECIALLY mornings!!! I am confident however that the Biofeedback is helping.

Biofeedback was invented by N.A.S.A as a way to help their astronauts stop having seizures in space. It has since been adopted by naturopathic doctors to treat learning disabilities. It has had great success on children with ADHD. Essentially an electrode is placed on my sons hair and he plays a pac man like video game with his mind, no joystick. The operator of the machine, sees his brainwaves on his screen and somehow is able to adjust the game to help my son regulate himself. Has anyone read `Healing ADHD' By Daniel Amen ? He talks more in depth about biofeedback. Also it is a great book. The greatest thing about biofeedback is that once the brain is retrained, so to speak, the information is not forgotten. Like I said before we have already gone down 18mgs. and we are only a month and a half into treatments. I have been told it typically takes about 30 to 40 sessions to complete treatment