We have had the same situation with our son. He is 8 & was diagnosed in kindergarten. We took him off the meds at the beginning of this summer & haven't seen any significant changes in him as compared to on the meds & off. We are going to keep him off & see how things go with school & if it get's bad, we will visit other ideas.
There are some interesting articles on the web about Omega 3's, etc. & Pycnogenol that may hold promising results to the traditional meds.
Does anyone have the problem of meds that stop working? My son was diagnosed with ADHD in first grade. At first we resisted medication, but realized that our son was suffering through the school day without it. When we tried Adderall it working great for about 2 months, then it was like he was taking nothing at all. We increased the dosage and he didn't eat all day and had trouble falling asleep at night. We have since tried Medadate, which had a terrible coming down effect - he was moody and sullen from 3:00-5:00, Straterra which didn't seem to do anything and a combinatin of Adderall and Straterra worked well for a couple of weeks then stopped working. We are gong to try Focalin with the start of the new school year, but our neurologist seems puzzled that nothing seems to be working. Has this happened to anyone else out there? Well, it is true that there is a certain percentage of ADHD kids that don't respond to meds ( I think it is 20%). But before assuming that he is in that group, you should take him to a specialist like a neuropsychologist to have him tested for LDs, ADHD, ASD and more to find out how his brain is functioning. It could be he has something that mimics ADHD, or something in addition to ADHD.Thanks, we have seen a big behavior change now that he is off medication for the summer, he seems more carefree and happy but he is also much more disrespectful and impulsive. He doesn't listen and finds endless joy in annoying his younger siblings. When he's on medication he's better in these areas but the inability to focus on his schoolwork does not seem to improve for more than a few weeks. We had him tested for auditory processsing which came back negative and he seems to be on level with his classmates when he can focus, but that is not very often. Has anyone tried Focalin?Both of my sons have been diagnosed with ADHD. My 19 year old was on Ritalin all through grade school. It really helped for a while; in fact his teacher always knew if I had forgotten to give him his pill. But then around 6th grade it started affecting him differently. He got to where he cried more easily, and would just kind of go into a fog and act somewhat depressed. At that point I just quit giving him the medication and he seemed fine til he reached about age 15 or 16, at which point I think he could have used the medication again. Overall I feel the medication was necessary and helped him a great deal except for a period when he developed mild tics and some quack tried to tell me he had Tourette's.
My 8 year old takes Adderall. It's a little different with him - he's not near as hyper as my oldest but has more of a beligerent, defiant attitude when he's not taking it. We've discussed the possibility of Oppositional Defiant Disorder, but the doctor still prescribes the Adderall (I don't know - is Adderall usually prescribed for this problem?)
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IMHO, a neuropsych eval may be your best next step. Since ADD is a brain chemistry issue, it will be invaluable to know where the chemical deficits are, so that you can trial meds and combinations that focus on those areas. There is a percentage of ADDers that don't respond to any meds currently on the market, but they are coming out with new stuff all the time. Don't lose heart, it's the same scenario with meds for clinical depression and I had to go through 7 different meds, 2 of which were subsequently withdrawn from the market, before I found something that worked and didn't make me a zombie.
Also, you can check the med alternative section for thoughts on tweaking diet and supplements that could increase med effectiveness. Best of luck!