Hi Ron,
You may want to get a second opinion. Even to ease your mind. A large local hospital would have an ADHD clinic. What's his diagnosis? I am only asking due to the different meds. The mood stabilizer and antidepressant along with the stimulant. All of these meds can and are prescribed for kids with ADHD depending on their symptoms. That maturity gap does get bigger in high school. There isnt a LOT you can do to get him to mature more qucikly. Quite often these kids do better having friends a littel younger than themselves. Social skills groups can help, but you cant force maturity.
Please help;
Our son is almost seventeen. Acording to the professionals we work with to help him, he behaves more like a typical fourteen or fifteen year old. This is causing him severe problems at school and at home.
He was diagnosed ADHD early in life. We have had him on meds since he was seven or eight years old. At first I would have to agree with many of your fourm writers that it was a miracle cure of sorts. He became much easier to "mannage", had friends and was maturing at about the same rates as his classmates. The real issues have began to surface in the past two years.
He is no longer maturing at the same rate as his peers. His manners have become awful, his language even worse. He has become much harder to "mannage" at home and at school. He has few friends and even worse, the few friends he has are are some real "zeros". These kids have even worse behavior than him, and he is copys their traits. One other item which really bothers me; he has put on a lot of weight in the past two years.
He hasn't been super active even though we have incouraged him to excersice. The one bright spot is that he found a parttime job at our local YMCA. This puts him in close proxsymity to excersice equipment. I have been encouraging him to work out before or after work. I went with him the other day to work out. He was on the tread mill at a slow jog and noticed that his heart rate was out of sight. At first I thought there was something wrong with the machine. We tried another machine and got the same results. His pulse was 190 to 200 bpm sometimes even higher. I checked his pulse manually and got about the same.
I am becomming very concerned for his health, both mental and physical. I know the meds help him control his behavior, but at the same time I wonder if they are destroying his physical health. We see a psychartist every three months a family therypist about once a month sometimes more often. They don't seem too terrably alarmed. Our family phyisian agrees he is obese but otherwise healthy. They all say he will mature and if he keeps woking out will shed his extra pounds. I'm not convinced.
I think one or more of meds are wrong. And, I am beginning to belive that we are not getting "full service" from our medical professionals. I think we need some extra support and maybe some second opinions.
He is currently taking 10 mg of Abilify, 70 mg of Vyvance and 150 mg of Sertaline daily. He also takes a "booster" of Methyphenidat 20 mg in the evenings as necessary. He weighs about 225lbs and is over six feet tall. Does anyone out there have a "feel" for weather any of these meds may be out of the ordinary? Or maybe over prescribed? Any sugestions about what to do about his language or rash behavior? Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
Ron
My girls are 17 and one of them is way more immature than the other. The doctor tell me this is normal. I can't wait for her to grow up.lol.
Does he have the same friend maybe it is just something they go through. I also would get a second opinion. My kids take concerta and methylphenadate. I worry that is alot, all seems to be going well at the moment who knows tomorow.
My son is a teen but not on meds.
A couple of things you wrote made me want to respond to you.
Number one, I'm sorry, but being obese is not healthy. It leads to future physical and sometimes emotional issues. I don't know if the meds could be causing the problem because I have no experience with them. I would be suspicious of a Dr. that said healthy but Obese. Obese implies more than a few pounds.
Number two - if you have a feeling you are not getting adequate answers, get a second opinion. Believe me, Doctors are not always right.
Example - not ADHD related - my dad - a healthy 74 year old - 2 years ago - very bad hip pain - athritis - etc. went to an orthopedic Dr. - he was rude - and told him "you can't have hip replacement surgery - your hip is too far gone."
Well, my dad didn't believe it because he has encountered many people who have had the operation. He went to another specialist, not only was my father a perfect candidate - he had the operation, recovered more quickly than expected, and is now walking and dancing without pain.
If he had just listened to that first Dr., he'd be miserable right now.
Point - Get second and sometimes third opinions - go with your "gut". We usually know when something is just not right with our kids - it's an intutative thing.