Please Help | ADHD Information

Hello all ~ I am new, and have been reading this all day!!!!  FINALLY ...... there are other people out there that have the same things going on with their Child!  I have a 7 year old little boy.  He is adopted so we have no family history!!!  From the age of 3 we have gone from doctor to doctor.  When he was in Kidnegarden he had the worst teacher ever ............ I was being called almost every day, with her telling how bad my child was today.  Finally he was ruled to have ADHD and was put on 25mg of Strattera in the first week of 1st grade!!!!!  WOW what a difference ................... and we had a great teacher.  I haven't told the school that he is on Strattera.  As I was walking down the hall one day, a teacher had a child by the arm walking her to the office, in a very stern voice she said to the child "YOU HAVEN"T TAKEN YOU STRATTERA TODAY ...... HAVE YOU" that went through me like an ice pick, and promised myself that would never happen to my child.  Now he is in the 2nd grade, we still have problems, but no where near what it use to be.  His teacher had him tested at the beginning of the year, and he is a gifted child.  Here is my question ............... For the last two weeks his teacher has e:mailed me, asking what is going on with Jeffery, he can't sit still, won't leave other children alone, and is talking no stop, he is hitting other kids on the play ground and he seems that he can't control his anger.  I am seeing a change with him at home as well.  I am so scared to up his dosage, he only weighs 38 lbs and he is 7 years old.  PLEASE any suggestions?

You may want to call the doctor. It may be time for a med change.

This is very hard for me .......... too many tears about putting my little boy on meds.  He never eats and I am scared that uping the dose will make him eat even less.  I agree, Call your Doctor. I have found with my daughter. THat as she is getting oldler the med dosn't work as well and we had to increase Hope this helps. Melissa

I understand your fears.  Ask your Dr if an increase is called for based on the change in his behavior.  I have 2 grown sons and went thru what you are going thru now.   At the time my only Rx choice was Ritalin and Ritalin SR.  I too didn't like anyone knowing about his dx or the meds, but if your child was diabetic and req'd insulin they would need to know.   It's unacceptable for a teacher to treat a child the way you saw that child treated, it happened to one of mine, I can assure you that everyone felt my wrath that day.  My suggestion is that you request a meeting with your child's teacher and the school nurse, inform them of the diagnosis, the meds he is currently on.  Ask the teacher to monitor his behavior and contact you of any changes.  If she is aware maybe there are some small things that can be done such as seating arrangements, etc.. before you have to consider altering his dosage.  But don't leave the school in the dark, just make sure you let them know that you won't tolerate your child being held out to ridicule or ostracized because of his condition.  I found out that if you show willingness to work with the school but also strength in your dedication to your childs education you will get the same in return from the staff.

Now with all that being said, DON'T HESITATE TO BECOME THE LIONESS YOU MUST TO PROTECT YOUR CUB!

I'm not sure they'll up the dose anyway. Strattera is weight dosed, not symptom dosed. I agree a school meeting is a good idea, but  you are seeing symptoms increasing at home and at school.