Trying to deal w/ son’s ADHD | ADHD Information

Hi,

I was wondering has anyway tried anything out of the ordinary for treating their child. I have tried meds and discipline. He is on 40mg of strattera right now that does not seem to be doing much.

A very close friend of mine suggested spiritual healing. By laying of the hands over the child. Has anyone done this?

How much does he weigh? Strat is dosed by weight, not symptoms. He is 73 lbs. I spoke to the Doc about upping it but he wants to give it another couple weeks at the 40mg before he ups it to 50. Which he said would be the max he would do.I am familiar w/the spiritual healing through laying on of hands. It is something very common in my church. I have had these blessings myself and for my son who is ADHD. The laying on of hands is powered by faith, it did not take away the problem but is something that brought great comfort to us and answers to our prayers.

Stimulants are the first line drug for adhd. They should be tried first. However, Strattera also helps some with adhd. This has been proven in peer reviewed scientific journals. It may not help as much as stimulants, but it helps. It helps my son. He gets about the same benefit from it as he did from Concerta. We had to switch due to weight issues.

I'm not offended, but I am very passionate about my spiritual convictions....which definatley shows up in my posts

and I am not "anti-stimulant meds" either. I agree they are a first line as far as meds go...but I now believe ANY meds should be the last resort when considering what I have been through.

As far as being a believer/nonbeliever...I don't hold that against anyone.. that is between you and God. Every "believer" was once a "nonbeliever" and it sometimes takes major struggles in life... and ending up seeking God's help in those struggles.....to convert a nonbeliever into a believer.

Nevertheless, I just wanted to share what has worked for us and what hasn't which is the whole reason for this forum's existance.

Just fyi: (this is not the forum for religion, so will not post about this again) actually, usually every believer was raised to believe. (I was raised with religion, and once was a believer.)
I have since become a nonbeliever, and if believers treated Atheism the same way that they treat their own religions-with respect, and not try to "save me" or "convert me" or have an air about them towards me that I am ignorant and/or borderline insane-I wouldn't be so sensitive about it.

Have a wonderful day.

Yme!39577.4116435185

Well, I wish you the best--whatever you decide!

I know that my faith has been strengthened though this whole ordeal. I do believe, no..... I KNOW that God hears and answers our prayers. He may not answer them the way we want Him to or the way we think He will...but He does answer them. And sometimes we pray for the wrong things....I was praying for healing of ADHD....it may just happen that Lane never really had ADHD, but all these other issues masqueraded as ADHD--in which case he didn't really need "healing" so much as he just needed a few wrongs (spinal misalignment and food allergies) to be corrected and God knew that and got us headed down the right road.

God has a way of placing the right people in our paths at the right time, for sure!... so the massuse might be the ticket! It probably wouldn't hurt to try.

[QUOTE=Bubbles]

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I think my frustration comes when parents avoid trying this as a "first line" due to the incredible amount of antimedication propoganda that is out there and it shows in my posts. Thanks for the additional info.

As far as the God posts and prayer-you are speaking to a nonbeliever, so that also shows in my posts. No offense was intended.

[QUOTE=Yme!]
OY! I feel like I may lose it at times when I read what mis and dis information is out there.Strattera is an antidepressant medication. It has been repackaged to dose out to parent's who are afraid of stimulant medications. (It is also no doubt useful in treating mental health issues, but if your child has ADHD--try a stimulant medication.)What is a stimulant medication? It is a medication that awakens the frontal lobe of the brain-which in these children there is a lack of activity there. Stimulant meds: Concerta, Ritalin, Vyvanse (spelling?), others.People will tell you it is speed, or meth, etc. It is essentially the pharmaceutical version. In the words of my dr.: either it will work or it won't, but it will be out of their systems the same day and it won't hurt to try.As far as hands and church: that is called a PLACEBO AFFECT. Which means that because your brain is tricked into believing something will help--it actually does.If you have any more questions-please post them.Having a 13 yr. old boy with all of the classic symptoms of ADHD (and a diagnosis, too of course), no behavioral therapies worked, no herbal remedies worked, no change in diet worked, etc. It helped by giving him what his brain needed: stimulant medication.
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we have tried stim meds and had to take him off because it enhanced his tics to where they got out of control. That is the reason the Dr switched to Strattera. We are currently at the 40mg for the past 3 weeks. So, no, Stims do not work for everyone.

As far as laying of the hands I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I have seen miracles happen with my own eyes with it so I believe in it, but I am not about to start an argument with it. I was just wondering if anyone here has tried it.

Dear adhdson: Laying on of hands and prayer with annointment works. We have had Jon prayed for and annointed and we now have our son back. While God may not have answered us the way we wanted He did answer us and Jon feels as he knows God and His Son intimately.

BTW- if you all remember about the VIOX scare; my doctor prescribed it for me over the phone. I took ONE dose and almost died from it with damaged lungs, damaged liver, kidneys that stopped working, I blew up with fluid so much that my skin turned purple and split and I lost my short tem and some long term memory. I also went into congestive heart failure. All of this was shown on xrays, eccocardiograms and blood work. I wanted to die I was in so much pain. I was taken to our church by my husband and our pastor had a service for all the church members with laying on of hands. He prayed over me with family members holding me upright and I felt a tingle like ice cold water starting from my head down to my feet. That was Sunday. The tests that showed the damage to my body was two days before. On Monday I was retested and ALL the damage to my heard, kidneys and liver was healed. My lungs were healed except for some scarring and within 6 moths my memory was as sharp as it ever was. My church says it is a miracle and I am here as proof. There is a book in the church with my before and after tests and labs work.

I only post this to tell you adhdson that God always answers prayers.

Randy

[QUOTE=randyjim]

I only post this to tell you adhdson that God always answers prayers.

Randy

[/QUOTE]

Randy,
Thanks for sharing your story. That is just amazing. I have seen it happen to my family and myself, so I believe. My mother, my husband ,I have all received healings from God.

I have some people coming to my house next week to lay hands and pray for my son.

I know God will answer these prayers!

For my son, the meds worked for a while...until he started building tolerances to them and having to raise dosages, switch meds, etc.,....next thing you know, he's having chest pains & shortness of breath and it turns out he has a congenital heart defect. As far as the "meds either work or they don't" statements I hear from many people over an over... its just not true. It is not that cut and dried! I've lived this for YEARS and I know what I am talking about!

--and for the record...I VERY much believe in God and His healing powers! Sometimes he heals miraculously....and sometimes he heals through others (such as doctors, chiropracotrs, etc.)

I must respond to the following quote:

"As far as hands and church: that is called a PLACEBO AFFECT. Which means that because your brain is tricked into believing something will help--it actually does."

My response: if this "placebo affect" "actually does" work--should it matter if the brain has been "tricked?"

Below is my answer to a private message where a parent wanted to know what we were doing for our son who can NOT take meds any longer.

FOrgive me.. this is long and probably full of typos.....

If you are like me, the "no med" verdict freaked you out and you knew you HAD to do something to help your son....

I frantically began researching alternative methods and found many news stories and articles on chiropractic helping with ADHD. I thought it was a long shot, but decided to take Lane, my son, to the chiropractor to be evaluated anyway.

During the consultation, the chiropractor asked me a lot of questions about Lane's birth and infancy...such as, were forceps used (a vaccum device was used)...was he breastfed (yes) did he prefer one breast over the other (yes)...did he hold his head "funny" or to one side when he slept? (and he DID). He told me that all of these things indicated misalignment of the cervical vertebrae and ordered an x-ray.

WHen we looked at the x-ray..it was obvious that the c1 and c2 vertebrae were WAY out of line. His spinal cord had to have a kink in it (like a water hose can get). We began chiropractic right away. After the first couple of weeks we began to notice a change..Lane just seemed calmer. My biggest AHA! moment was when he handed me his homework to check one night and I could actually READ it. His handwriting had improved drastically with NO effort on his part. He stopped getting into trouble at school as much, but still had ups and downs.

I was so thankful for the progress we were making, but I wanted some consistency and talked with the chiropractor about reasons Lane can have such good days and then turn around and still have horrible days...SO we talked about food allergies and supplements. He started Lane on Omega 3's and Magnesium supplements--which caused remarkable improvements...Lane even started cleaning his room without having to be asked.

I didn't think food allergy testing would be necessary b/c I felt I was feeding my son a well-balanced and nutritious diet and he hadn't shown any symptoms of food allergies (or so I thought). Nevertheless, I did decide to make sure we were abiding by that wonderful food guide pyramid and made sure he was getting all those nice, healthy whole grains and I had already cut out artificial colors and flavors and preservatives.

WHen he started eating so much more whole grains and breads.... he started breaking out and then having vomitting episodes in the mornings...so I gave in and had the food allergy testing done (they just drew blood and sent it to a lab).

It turned out he was allergic to WHEAT, milk, eggs, and was severely gluten intolerant in addition to having sensitivities to several other foods! I had been basically poisoning him...So I cut all those things out of his diet ( I have found "specialty diet" foods to replace his favorites with and he actually likes those foods--thank God!).. but I still was not connecting that the food allergies had anything at all to do with ADHD symptoms.

We are now 3 weeks into being gluten, wheat, milk, and egg free and OMG! I cannot believe how blissful it is! Lane is consistent! He has even been getting GOOD notes home from teachers for perhaps the first time in his LIFE! He is not fidgety or antsy....he sleeps well and wakes well in the morning (that used to really be a battle) And I noticed just yesterday that it doesn't take him an hour to tell me a 10 minute story (if you know what I mean) he seems to be able to think clearly and doesn't have to struggle to figure out how to put what he wants to say into words.... and it has been that way--consistent-- all week this week! He can sit still and do homework in 10-15 minutes that used to take us hours due to the battle to get him to be still and focus.

Looking back-- I can see that his "good days" were steak and potato days while his "bad days" were pizza or lasagna days.

Over the years, I learned not to get too excited when something worked b/c it never seemed that anything worked for long....and I was VERY skeptical about all the above...but I am no longer!

I believe that chiropractic and dietary changes are responsible for his complete turnaround. I believe this is going to last, too! I also believe his psych will be quite impressed at our next visit! Basically-- I am on CLOUD 9!

I am not saying these methods will work for every child and I must admit it has been a real struggle trying to get to the bottom of everything ... finding all this information out and then figuring out what to do with it from there! But for any parent in the situation we were in..I'd definately recommend a chiropractic evaluation and food allergy testing! It can't hurt and it has certainly changed Lane's life for the better!

adhdwarrior39577.3537731481

In addition to my post above....lots of prayer hasn't hurt things either! God knew what he was doing when he "pointed" me in the direction of a good chiropractor who is very knowledgeable in NATURAL healing.

He [God]healed my husband's terminal cancer miraculously through prayer and laying on of hands and, with diligence as I searched for answers (no doubt I was being driven by the Holy Spirit), I believe Lane is on his way to a life of Spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health!

adhdwarrior39577.3574305556adhdwarrior, Wow...I have goosebumps!! (and tears) Thank you for sharing that.

Believe it or not I have spoken to a friend of mines mother. She is a massuse (sp??) she does all that alignment stuff. I am trying to decide if I want to try that too!!!Randyjim thank you for your support. I have thought of going back on an anti-depressant. I'm a little annoying to my kids about doing things, and I remind them too much to get things done. Could that be OCD?

Having a child with ADHD can make us OCD

All jokes aside... many of us have reacted in the heat of a moment and made mistakes... the fact that you feel so terrible about it and did cry all night about it makes it clear that you are a great parent! I have been there and done that...but it doesn't necessarily mean you are clinically depressed. Women, especially moms, are hard-wired to take things straight to the heart.

As long as it is not a habit to slap your daughter in the face, you need to forgive yourself for it and move on! If it IS a habit...something you do automatically... it still does NOT make you a terrible mom..you simply might need some help yourself as randyjim mentioned. Your admitting you were wrong is the biggest step you can take toward healing.

I understand you're worried about the private conversation between your ex and your child....but try to just forget about that, too. Let them have their bonding moment and focus un your own bond and private moments with your children.

If your child custody arrangments are "typical" it means that dad is the "fun" one and you are the "no nonsense" parent. That tends to happen in divorces. Dad doesn't have the kids as much so he makes his visitations fun and exciting in the hopes of leaving them with memorable experiences that will make him feel favored--nothing wrong with that-- its just the way it is...

Mom has them the majority of the time and takes care of most of the major decisions concerning school, medical, nutrition, discipline, etc.

If that seems to be your situation, my suggestion is for you to make a real effort to break away from your role as the no-nonsense parent periodically--- not completely because you can't afford to do that because at least one parent has to take control of all those important things. But plan fun, "anything goes" outings with your children on a more regular basis.. once or twice a month-- or even more if it works out!

Hope this helps

[QUOTE=adhdwarrior]

Having a child with ADHD can make us OCD

Mom has them the majority of the time and takes care of most of the major decisions concerning school, medical, nutrition, discipline, etc.

Hope this helps

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VERY WELL TAKEN ADVICE. YOU ALSO HIT IT RIGHT ON NOSE WITH THE DAD WEEKEND AND WHAT NOT. WE DO ALOT; NOT EVERY WEEKEND, BUT i TRY TO DO THE "FUN OUTING" A FEW TIMES A MONTH. YES THIS DID HELP ME TREMENDOUSLY.

Hi everyone. I feel terrible and feel sometimes I have no control of my dd. Yesterday, as dad was dropping her off from the weekend, my daughter got out of control in the car. I was trying to talk to her dad and she was trying to get my attention. She grabbed and shook my arm and I snapped. I smacked her in the face. She is 8. NOw her father, who seen this lashes out of me calling me a freak, sorry mom and a sorry ex wife in front of both kids. Whom one is 13 not ADHD. My youngest dd is ADHD. I felt terrible, I cried most of the night. I told her I was sorry; not for getting onto her but that I smaked her in the face. It did get her to stop though, she had crawled from the back seat to the front from inside the car like a monkey. AFter all this, I called her father and we needed to straighten things out. It started out him yelling at me, however it ended good. But she is distant from me now and her father called her last night and she won't tell me what he told her. My dd said, that it is between her and her dad only. my Ex did end up saying (in so many words) that he didn't mean to say those things , thats just how he felt at the moment. So I've felt extreme guilt since yesterday evening about this slap. Has anyone been so frustrated with their ADHD kids that you have done something you felt guilty about?? She is on Concerta 18mg during the school week. Occasionally on my weekends give it to her depending on what the plans are for the weekend, to keep the symptoms to a minimum.

Dear rhondacty: What is done is done. Yes, it is awful that you slapped an 8 y/o in the face. However- as a paramedic- I was taught about hysteria and one way we were told to stop the hysteria if there was a danger was to slap the face.

I know what it is like to live with an out of control adhd 8 y/o and probably 95% of the people on this forum do, also. You appologized. That should be the end of it between you dd and you. If I may make a suggestion- it seems as though you are not only stressed out about your dd but also with your other child and the exdh. Perhaps you can contact your doctor and tell him you are depressed (crying all night) and stressed and anxious and he can prescribe something to help. It might change your life! God bless you.

Randy

rhondatcy- You brought a smile to my face when you asked if it is OCD. I think it is called 'parenting'. Everyone's child is different, every parent is different. This morning, when I gave Jon his meds (I put them in his mouth and watch to make sure he takes them) he flinched and asked if I was going to hit him in the face. I said no, of course not, and did he do something to think that I might... He just smiled and mumbled something about not being able to find his shoes. Shoes are a thing with him as is wearing his underwear on his head.... I laughed and told him he could wear sandals or go barefoot, I didn't care. He put on two different shoes. So be it.

Don't worry about every little thing. I don't care if my child wears clothes inside out, backwards, underwear on his head-- that is Jon being Jon. And he makes me laugh a lot with what he does. This is after I started taking antidepressents. Before, I would obsess about a lot of things and cry about a lot of things.

Have a wonderful day.

Randy

PS:and I know why you are worried about the conversation that is 'secret' between your dd and your ex. IMO little children should NOT have secrets. You might want to explain that to your ex.

I may be going to see someone soon. I currently take xanax but it only helps momentarily and wears off. It is addictive and I'd rather have a time release med. rhondacty39582.531712963

rhondacty
Praise God for his healing powers! Consider me a prayer partner as well!

Yme: My last time to post about this too...lol.. although I'd love to give my Christian testimony in response-- this is not the place for it. But I will add that I know many who were raised NOT to believe and now do....so.. different strokes....

No hard feelings on my part. I know you aren't ignorant or insane! You seem quite intelligent and rational to me. You are who you are and I am who I am (and God loves us both--sorry...just HAD to throw that in there) I can't save or convert anyone because God gave us the free will to decide whether to believe or not. If I have offended you, I am sorry. If you ever want to talk about anything spiritual...send me a pm and I promise I won't criticize or hit you in the head with a "cyber Bible" ... LOL

And all of the above goes for anyone from any religion (or non-religion)

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

OY! I feel like I may lose it at times when I read what mis and dis information is out there.

Strattera is an antidepressant medication. It has been repackaged to dose out to parent's who are afraid of stimulant medications. (It is also no doubt useful in treating mental health issues, but if your child has ADHD--try a stimulant medication.)

What is a stimulant medication? It is a medication that awakens the frontal lobe of the brain-which in these children there is a lack of activity there. Stimulant meds: Concerta, Ritalin, Vyvanse (spelling?), others.

People will tell you it is speed, or meth, etc. It is essentially the pharmaceutical version. In the words of my dr.: either it will work or it won't, but it will be out of their systems the same day and it won't hurt to try.

As far as hands and church: that is called a PLACEBO AFFECT. Which means that because your brain is tricked into believing something will help--it actually does.

If you have any more questions-please post them.

Having a 13 yr. old boy with all of the classic symptoms of ADHD (and a diagnosis, too of course), no behavioral therapies worked, no herbal remedies worked, no change in diet worked, etc. It helped by giving him what his brain needed: stimulant medication.
Yme!39576.6869560185[QUOTE=adhdson] [QUOTE=randyjim]

I only post this to tell you adhdson that God always answers prayers.

Randy

I will join you in prayer. I have also laid hands on my husband when he went into convulsions from a spiked fever. As soon as I said a few words out loud and put my hand on his head, it left immediately.