Questions about ADHA | ADHD Information

My daughter is 2 and 1/2. Now nobody freak out. She was born in 2004 at 32 weeks gestation. She has developed late and recieves OT/SP weekly. She was diagnosed with SPD ( sensory processing disorder) at 18 months. She completly hates so many things I dont want to mention. And loves others to a obsession. She is extremly angry and loses her temper quite often. She will hurt herself at times( I belive it is a act to try to calm herself down) by biting and pinching her self it is weird but she laughs when she does it. I am finally at my wits end and not sure what to do. Anyhow, she has recently seen a neurologist who wanted to put her on celexa and I refused and now wants me to try Tenex ( but remember she is 2 1/2) I am torn. All the research i do for tenex is for ADHD or high blood pressure. And my mom who is a nurse says that kids who are diagnosed with SPD are more than likely going to have the Diagnosed changed as they get older to ADHD. Has anyone heard of this???? Please help.It's not uncommon for a dx at that age.  I knew my ds (now age 9) was adhd when he was born.  A recent study says that children born before 34 weeks are 70% more likely to have adhd than children born at full term.  In my opinion, behavior modification works best if the proper medication at the proper dosage is administered.  She is young and your concern is very valid, but on the flip side, think about it like this:  Behavior patters are developed before the age of about 5.  If you are able to properly medicate with a neurologist overseeing and have a safe and strict behavior modification plan for her, she will not battle the other issues that "possible" could come about if you wait to medicate.  I am by NO means trying to tell you what to do, I medicated our son at about 3.  And it was the best decision I ever made.  And the hardest decision I ever made.  I wish I would have done it when the doc suggested it earlier when he was about 2.  I would have gotten more sleep.  Get a second opinion to ease your mind.  About the blood pressure, the dosage will probably be a low dose and might not affect her bp at all, but the doc will monitor it closely for you.  It's a hard one to decide.  The good thing about this decision is, you don't have to make it right now.  You have time to think, research and get second opinions or even a third if you feel the need.  Ask around about the age factor.  And you might take into consideration the fact that children that are medicated have a much less chance of being substance abusers when they are older, they will not have the need to self medicate.  Some do, but not many.  I hope this helps. 

What symptoms are you most concerned with? Tenex is used off-label for many disorders for its effects on norepinephrine (tics, some ADHD symptoms, anxiety, post traumatic stress, defiance, etc). Here is some information on Tenex (guanfacine):

http://www.askdrjones.com/search/tenex

http://www.massgeneral.org/schoolpsychiatry/info_autism.asp# treated_medicines

Do you have access to a child development center associated with a university or childrens hospital. These places have teams of doctors to consult for diagnosis and treatment options. I am sure that the neurologist understands your reluctance to treat a 2 1/2 year old without a second opinion.

My 10 year old daughter is on guanfacine and concerta for ADHD and is doing great. Others are having success with (with and without side effects).

Welcome to this board, you will find help and support where ever this journey leads you and your daughter.

I would try and take her to a speech therapist.  But, IMO i would do that after her meds are at the right dosage.  That might make a big difference.  My ds never did the self pain, but I know that if the meds are given properly and they work, she will have less anxiety and that might be lessened and/or corrected with some guidance from behavior modification.  I feel for you.  I wish I had some great, profound advice that would fix this for you.  But all I can say is you are in the right place, keep posting and give as much information as you can.  The more info you give us, the better info we can give you! 

 

Welcome!!!!

btw - good info vickie, thanks for the links!

Thank you ogram so much. I am glad that I am not the only one out there with concerns. And I did not realize that preemies were more likely than others. And I do see your point about catching it before it gets worse so that habits dont form. The dose that she wants to give her 3/4 of a pill Night (1 week) Night and Am ( 2 week) and then Am afternoon and Night from then on.

Vicky the major area that I am concerned with is her self inflecting pain on herself. And she does not yet really talk she says words but has a really hard time putting two or more words together. The only 2 word phrases that she will say together are nomore ( sounds like nomo)And she will say my with several things ( my juice my shoes etc.) and Knock Knock. She does tend to anger easily and is constently beating on her sister(alomost 6).That is basically all my concerns. I will say this though she screams and screams since she was about 5-6 months old and it has not stopped yet. We noticed at that age something was wrong. Her Ped was consulted (We did Dev assessments). It was not until we moved were we refered to a neuroligst.( we moved from MA to TN in June). Question As I have read on the board I noticed People talking about A NeuroPsych. ( What is this ) I assume a Dr But how do I find one. Or who would you recommend for a second opinion??

Thank Both of you so much.

Becky

 

I appears the Tenex was suggested for the anger issues (easy to anger and beating on her sister). The Tenex has helped my daughter greatly in the anger and impulsivity areas, she can now self reflect and express her anger appropriately (it took extra coaching on how to express her anger though). Also, my daughter used to harm herself when mad and that has stopped; but I do not know if it would help the self harm in your daughter's case. It is used in very low doses for behavior issues. It is so much harder for you with the very young age of your child.

Here is an explanation of neuropsychiatry.

http://www.adhdnews.com/testforum/test21161.htm

We went a different route through the diagnostic process because we were looking for learning disorders, so I have no personal experience to share in this area, but try a search.

Vicky We have also thought that she might have a Learning disabilty since she really cant talk yet and has been behind in other areas. What did you do?? Did you see a specialist?? I am not so sure that her anger is because she is mad all the time or if it is the only way that she know to express herself.(since her communication in so lacking) Does that make since.

We went to an educational psychologist for various IQ and congnitive tests when she was almost 9. I have dyslexia and she was having trouble reading so we suspected dyslexia. Because my daughter scored high in some areas and normal in others (a large range between subtests of the IQ test), this indicated a possible learning disorder. Because the psychologist had a lot of difficulty keeping her on task (highly distractable), it started the suspision of ADHD. She went through a period of anxiety, rages and depression with failure in the 4th grade and when we got her treatment working (behavior plan and meds) things got much better.

I really do not know how you diagnose a 2 1/2 year old for these things. I do wish we had recognized the problems earlier and gotten earlier treatment (to avoid a destructive year last year).