Well, we had our visit with the ped psychiatrist this morning. I came armed with the Connors Scales we did earlier this year, as well as a list of the behaviors and symptoms we were concerned with and what his teachers were saying.
She said that he is pretty classic ADHD - she said that she could have us do different scales, or do a bunch of different tests, but that she felt very comfortable with what the information I gave her told her, as well as what she observed while we were with her.
She recommended 5mg of Ritalin Extended release - she said it might be too low a dose, and that if there was no change in the first week we could up it to 1 1/2 pills - if still no change we could go up to 2 full pills.
I think we will start him on Saturday - he is in day care in the am and 4K in the pm and I can't give him meds and send him away for 8 hours!!
Wish us luck. In a way, I feel almost relieved to have an official diagnosis. We have tried just counseling and behavior modification for quite a while now, and while it helps somewhat when we are there to help him control him - we can't be with him 24/7. It is starting to affect his relationships at school as the kids are shying away from him due to aggressiveness/impulsiveness - and he is just such a fun, likeable guy, I hate to see that.
Good luck. they always start at a low dose. If down the road Ritalin does have an 8 hour med the lowest dose is 10 mg and it is called ritalin LA. I prefered the La so no second pill.We also useFocalin XR, but 10 mgs. Our doctor told us that it is a highly refined form of one kind of stimulant, and that other meds have two forms in their dosage, which some children do not do well on. We're very happy with the Focalin. It wears off slowly and we don't notice any crashing.
Actually, I misstated the med - it is Focalin XR 5 mg. I just pulled the scrip.
She told me that it is basically Ritalin, or uses the same med as ritalin or something like that.
Focalin XR is a methylphenidate med, however it is DEXMETHYLPHENIDATE. It IS one of the stronger meds in the methylphenidate family of stimulants, and like adderall is used at a smaller dosage. It is a shorter acting med than Concerta( 8hours versus 12) , and seems to cause less sleep isues.We just had a med check on Tuesday for strattera, and we are uping his dose. We always do this on a weekend. At the appointment DS was all over the place playing with everything. But, it was fine with me as school was over and he was being good and listening to me. This after 4 months of the stimulants and dealing with a very agitated more aggressive son. Good luck.. Good luck! I hope the meds work! {{{{{Hugs}}}}