Hi. I am new here. My oldest son is 9 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 4.5, when we participated in a study on "preschoolers with ADHD" at Johns Hopkins. Long story, but we actually didn't end up participating in the medication phase of the study, but a while later, in consultation with our pediatrician, we did put him on medication. (Adderall XR). He has been doing very well on the medication -- really excelling in school and he's just generally happier and better behaved.
My question is whether we should also be seeing a "specialist" (i.e. a psychiatrist or psychologist) about his ADHD, and to monitor the medication, or whether our pediatrician is sufficient. (Our pediatrician doesn't seem to think we need to see another doctor, but I'm hoping for a more "unbiased" opinion from some of you!)
Any thoughts or input you may have would be most appreciated! (And if the consensus is that we should also be seeing a specialist, I'd love suggestions about how to find a good one in our area.)
Thanks,
Dawn
Psychiatrist to monitor meds, Psychologist to re evaluate. I think if it's not broke don't fix it. If everything is going well, no need to add any stress. If there are any bumps, for sure a pediatric psychiatrist, ideally psychopharmocologist to manage meds. You may want to get some feelers out there so you're not searching once the time does come. Theya re generally tough to find and inital appointments can be several months wait. If you are near Johns Hopkins as you participated in their program, they may be able to give you some referrals. Word of mouth is the best referral system out there!I agree with Diane -- if the meds are working and you aren't having negative side effects, stay with the ped. If you start noticing changes, go to a pediatric psychiatrist for help with the medication. It sounds like he's doing great! Congratulations!
Family docs and peds are fine on routine cases of adhd. They probably take care of 80 percent of the cases of adhd. You need to consider the psychiatrist when there are complex medication issues or when some of the more severe comorbid conditions are present.
BTW in most states the psychologist cannot prescribe medications.
Good luck
Dizfriz
My son's pediatrician manages his meds. She has a lot of experience with the med end of it, but would not dx him because there were questions about anxiety and LD- we saw a neuropsych for that.
I would have to say, if you're not having a problem and your son's doing well you probab;y don't need to worry about it.
I concur with the others. Keep the ped, but keep in mind a psychiatrist if needed in the future.My son was taken care by the pediatrician for the first 4 years, he wil be 12 next week. I just switched him over to a psychiratrist that specializes in ADHD. Now, we suspect he has Asbergers, which has been missed by the Pediatrician.
I have mixed feelings. I am still very angry because he had some major red flags and the doctors never put it together. You need to have longer appointments to talk about these things with the doctors, those short 15 minutes checkups every 3-6 months just didn't work for us.
neurologist is probably better experienced than regular primary care or pediatrician, but I still say psychiatrist for meds. I have a friend who has a son with autism. He sees a neurologist yearly anyway and she manages his meds (Adderall and Clonidine), when they were going to try a med change the neurologist wanted to send him to psychopharmolocologist. For their own reasons they chose to stick out the med regimen with a dose change and he is doing great, but if/when the time comes to change, I think they'll go psychopharm. So sort of same rules, if it's working with neurologist and it's simple med refills and maybe dosing fine, but with side effects and having to add things or keep changing, I say psychopharmocologist at best, next pediatric psychiatrist.What about a Neuro? Any opinions?