Does any medication work? | ADHD Information

I think a re-eval with a psychiatrist is in order also. He must be terribly unhappy sleeping all day. Whay all the mood meds if he has only ADHD? Does he have a co-existing condition?

Yes, it does sound as if there is more going on than ADHD.  Who know without that  evaluation.  I wonder what kind of things they might find on the scans?. I would carefully consider the thought of actually pressing charges for the theft.  Sometimes that is the only way that youth get the picture, or to spend a night in jail, especially if he is a "repeat" offender.  He cannot go on much longer, in his mind he is seemingly getting away with it. It may not change his behaviour or motivate him, but he is definitely old enough to be more responsible and take the consequences for those actions of stealing, and should pay the consequences whether the punishment "gets" to him or not, otherwise it will probably just escalate to more stealing as he gets older and out on his own.  Best of luck with him, this must all be heartwrenching.  

My son who is now 16 has been taking medication since 3rd grade. He first started out on Ritalin and that didn't work.  Then he went on Adderall and that worked for a while.  Then he was switched to Concerta and that worked for awhile then back to Adderall.  In the meantime he has been stealing from me and my husband for many years. Mostly just off and on until recently he stole a 0 while at his friends house.  Took it right out of his friends mom's purse.  The counselor I take him to recommended before this happened to press charges.  Nothing works when it comes to punishment.  I told him we didn't want to ruin his life but he said he is going to do it.  What a nightmare and I don't know how much longer I can take all of this.  Somethings I cannot tell my husband what he does because he has a temper problem and will over react.  Anyways the medication he is now taking is Risperdal, was on Welbutron and that has now been changed to Lamictal, and Effexor.  These meds make him sleep all day.  It has been recommeded that he have a QEEG to get a brain map of what is going on in there and get some kind of help and extended treatment.  At the rate he is going he will end up in prison for stealing because he cant control himself.  ADHD is a terrilble thing to have.  I know he has a sickness but sometimes I cannot take anymore of this.  Any words of advice would greatly be appreciated.

FrusratedMom1

Sounds like more than ADHD going on, I would have the EEG, and a re evaluation with a good psych. SOme counseling is in order. Lamictal is also used for bi-polar disorder and it sounds like your child may be bp as well as adhd. But anti depressants in children can cause serious problems. They can also interact with other meds, creating new disorders. I would thoroughly read up on each medication the doctor prescribes BEFORE admininstrating any of them to your child. Yeah...I don't think that has anything to do with the medecine.Well, Risperdal is an anti psychotic, lamictal is an epilepsy med, used for ADHD and other disorders, and effexor is an anti depressant. So obviously there are other issues going on besides ADHD. A comorbid. sounds like an awful lot of meds to me. I take effexor, and I too sleep a lot, although I don't know if it's the effexor that's causing it. Do you know what each med is for? Sometimes asking the doc what the meds are for is a good indication of how well yor doc knows what he's doing. And if there are good reasons for him to be on those meds, there's probably more to it than ADHD. Those are not all ADHD meds; risperdal is an antipsychotic. effexor is an antidepressent, dunno about lamictal, but I think that is as well. You haven't mentioned any other co-existing disorders, but if you haven't been told of any, you certainly have a right to know.