My son Alex.. Please help!!! | ADHD Information

Hi, everyone. I have concerns about my son I'm hoping someone could help me.. Heres our story... My son was diagnosed with ADHD in November of 2006, he is 8 years old. He was put on Adderral XR 10mg and it did wonders for him. He was like a totally different child. His teacher could not believe it was the same child. His C's and B's went to straight A's.. His marks for behavior were wonderful which he has never ever received. His behavior was always an area of concern since preschool. Finally the sweet little boy I always knew he was was there... That lasted Dec, Jan, Feb, March. In April little changes started happening like throwing pencils across the classroom, not paying attention, easily distracted, not focusing. His teacher and I decided that it was necissary to up his medication to 15mg instead of the 10mg. He started the higher dosage on May 2, since then I've seen no improvments, he's actually got alot worse. He won't listen to me at all, everythings an argument and I mean everything!! He talks back constantly and insists he's not normal so why should he act normal. We just started seeing a pyhcologist so I hope he can help. Then this Saturday topped it all he asked to go down the street to his younger brothers friends house, I told him not right now and he went into a rage. I never seen anything like it in my entire life, not from a child or an adult. He was screamig, yelling, kicking things telling me he hated me running away from me. I was very calm during this, I think I was in complete shock.. then on Sunday he couldn't find his sunglasses and got into another rage, not as bad as the day before but ridicules behavior because you can't find something. Does this kind of rage occur with ADHD or could it be something else like Bipolar? Has anybody had an issue like this? Please Help ThanksThe rages could mean a lot of different things.

Talk to your doc and speak with the psychologist.

Watch out for that "pity pot" he's on with "I'm not normal so I don't have to act normal." That's going to be a long-term problem if you don't nip it in the bud.

It isn't up to the teacher to advise you to "up" his medication--that's a decision a medical professional needs to make. It could be that he needs a different medication altogether. What did the doctor say about this?

Sorry you're having a rough go at the moment. You're on the way though and there's lots of fall backs and progress yet to go...

Who diagnosed your son with ADHD? Did they run a full scale assessment that showed anything else? If not, a full assessment is the place to start.

I think if he was bipolar, you would not have had months of good results with the stimulant, you most likely would have had problems from the start, but I am not a doctor, so I could very well be wrong. It could just be a side effect of the stimulant. My doc says that aggression/quick anger outbursts is a possibility with all of them. You may have to change to a different stimulant, or add a med to counteract the side effects. Is he still focusing well on the adderall? Or has that gone downhill as well?

My son started out on Concerta, which worked pretty well (except for major appetite issues) for almost 9 months, then his focus began to slip as well as his aggression/frustration/anger was rising. Everything that went wrong warranted a huge outburst.

My ped switched him to Ritalin LA and added tenex (guanfacine) which has been a great combo for my son. There is a long thread on tenex in the meds forum: http://www.adhdnews.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24770& PN=2

I bumped it to the top for you. If the adderall is still effective but the rages and aggression are a problem, then this med may be what is needed to take those away. If the med is not still effective for school/focus, you may want to look into switching. It is often the case that changes need to be made throughout a child's growing years to keep up with the ADHD symptoms.

thats the problem. I don't know how to convince him he's normal. I don't understand why he thinks he 's not normal..... My pediatrician diagnosed him with ADHD. If you knew him trust me he could be the poster child, every symptom of ADHD he has it. We seen the pyshcogist 1 time and he said he definatly see's the ADHD signs. My pediatrican agreed on uping the meds, he said thats pretty typical to have to do that. Also my son's teacher did not tell me to up the meds she said she would do everything she could to get him through the rest of the school year on the lower dose medication. That was my decision because I was seeing him go back to his old ways. But like I said the new meds arent working. I guess I'll have to see what the pycologist recommends.. Thanks for your help

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Ah, thank you for clarifying!

Did the ped say there was another med they could try or perhaps something longer lasting or "gentler"?

It's always up and back and up and back with this stuff. I know from pharmacology that many meds will lessen their effectiveness over time. Also, stimulants can definetely add to crankiness in some people over time. Do you all notice what time he goes off? Could it be when the half-life of the stims is wearing down?

I suspect as well that kids are so happy [just like adults!] to feel 'right' for a while that when it's not quite 'as right' it causes a bit of panic and a feeling of being back at square one which, for those of us who don't tolerate frustration very well--is VERY frustrating.

The reason I asked about the full assessment is that although he may be the ADHD poster child in behaviour, there may be more than that going on and if there is--stimulants can definetely exacerbate underlying struggles in some cases.

A full psych assessment could help sort this out.

It's pretty standard in ADHD'ers that we don't "feel normal". Tasks that are so simple for other people seem guargantuan and yet we know [in most cases] that we're smart enough to do things.

I suppose the rest depends on what a definition of "normal" is.

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MetisRebel39244.5854166667increasing meds can increase anxiety and/or increase side effects. It's all about getting relief of symptoms with little or no side effect. If he can't manage on the 10's and is acting like this on the 15's he may need to just be swicthed to something else. Don't be nervous about that, we've all done this. It takes time to find the right med and quite often that doesnt "stay" the right med. Hang in there. Talk to his doctor right away. The summer is generally a good time to adjust meds where you can observe him plus the stress of school is not there.