Violent Outbursts | ADHD Information

I haven't posted in awhile. My son has been diagnosed with ADHD with Generalized anxiety disorder. We recently started seeing a child psychiatrist. She changed his medication from Adderall XR to Focalin XR. The transition was relatively smooth. The only thing is nothing has really changed. Before the med change, I noticed my DS started acting out violently. He bit my nephews leg and left a deep mark. (not an isolated incident, he has been bitten again since then) What really worried me is that recently the neighbors daughter was picking on him, scratching him and pulling his shirt, he freaked and started choking her. This is according to my sis in law, she saw the whole thing.

I freaked out. I confronted DS he said she wouldn't leave him alone so he reacted. But, he was choking her .....

So, today he gets home, upset, says he had a bad day. That he has no friends at school, and that he wished he had his pocket knife so he could do something about it. I will be calling the psychiatrist tomorrow morning. I don't feel that he would physically harm himself, but others not so sure. I am so worried. Have any of you had this or similar experiences?

My son acted similarly after a few years on stimulants. It was when we raised his dose. I also remember focalin contributing to severe anger.

My son would react that way to anger as well. I was afraid for him. I ended up stopping stimulants (for this and other reasons) and this behavior went away.

Of course the ADHD symptoms returned, but I no longer felt my son was in danger of harming others or himself.

Your son's behaviors are NOT a trait of ADHD. Children that are stictly ADHD are not violent. This is important for parents to know who are seeking out a diagnosis. There must be far more going on with your son. Please make your child's pscyhiatrist aware of whats going on and good luck.

most adhders are not violent. in fact we are eager to please people. and trying to make people accept us. I would suggest that there is some thing else going on, maybe the meds are not right or maybe there is a co-morbid disorder going on. call the doc.

My son is 8 and he had aIot of violent behaviors the doctor dx. Him as bipolar and put him on risperdal. I know that all children who are violent are not necessarily bipolar, how ever your child might be. Have him checked out by a pyschatrist.lethy proud mom39555.4623842593Definitely have it checked out. Meds can cause the behaviors your are describing.

My daughter is 11 and diagnosised ADHD at 9. Her violent outbursts is what go us seeking help. When her ADHD is appropriately treated, we have not temper issues at all.

I just would like to post information about my son's personal experience with ADHD medications, not intending to direct others what to do, but just as an example of medication reactions:

My son has been diagnosed as having ADHD and, at this point, has no other diagnosis; however, he does have a lot of anxiety, frustration, and, at times, is quick to anger. (Stress, stress, stress with school issues, work issues, and peer pressure...)

He has had reactions to medications containing methylphenidate, which have included hallucinations and sudden rage - Concerta and Daytrana Patch, respectively.

He had some success with Adderall XR but it affected his appetite and may have contributed to insomnia; so now, he will start Vyvanse, per his psychiatrist.

Now, I have wondered and inquired about bipolar disorder in the past (we have bipolar disorder in our family) with professionals but none have looked further into that diagnosis.

We keep our fingers crossed and keep trudging ahead. We also really shoot for better ways to deal with anger and frustration; that is, ways to safely handle the stress in his life.

Hopefully, this new med will work for him.

If the child also suffers from bipolar disorder, ADHD medications can exacerbate the symptoms of bipolar disorder which could in fact produce such unacceptable side effects. Its very important for parents to obtain an accurate differential diagnosis because all too often, a co existing condition like bipolar disorder is either missed or misdiagnosed. This is why it is advised that the child be tested and assessed by a specialist in the field of diagnosing and treating such childhood disorders. The point is that when a child exhibits such unacceptable side effects to these medications, its a real red flag and in some cases a second opinion may be necessary.That sounds a little similar to my situation - my son was dx with ADHD and ODD. We started him on Concerta recently and the violent behavior has reduced but he still has some anger issues. (Now we adopted our son when he was 6 and bad past we are working through).

Our son has also tried chocking kids when he gets anger , poking with pencils, says he wants to kill you or himself when he gets angry- he's 8. I believe he needs to learn how to handle anger and frustration. Some kids aren't equipped with that automatically and we need to train them.

I have had plenty of talks with him about how it is normal to get frustrated or angry sometimes but how we control our bodies and what we say is up to you. I praise him when I know he has restrained himself and try to help him avoid getting too angry.

BTW: My son wasn't on any stimulants when violent behavior started as some other mentioned in their situation.