My 19 year old son has always been impulsive, slightly ADD but never taken meds. He was in a serious car accident with a severe closed head injury and is now being diagonsed with ADD. I am told that a head injury like this will cause ADD or excelerate slight ADD. He does not like the way Ritalin makes him feel....can't eat, can't sleep, very jittery. Until he gets his cognitive thinking skills and depth perception back he is not bieng allowed to drive or work but he is so impulsive with his testing that he is not improving his scores. He says he doesn't care and that all of the therapists are stupid.....nothing is wrong with him! He does not want to take drugs. I am wondering if there are any drugs that don't have these side effect that will help him with his concentration and focus.ADD/braininjury, Ya know they really don't know what causes ADD but there is alot of talk about imbalanes in brain neurotransmitters. The closed head injury could cause an increase in pressure in the brain and his could cause some disturbance or imbalance in this chemicals. Just a thought! I think he needs alot of support. From what you have said it sounds like he is really trying to hide his frustrations and anxiety. My son could not take Ritalin or anything from this category because it makes him more hyper and aggressive. I found that Focalin works for him and does not seem to cause the effects that Ritalin did. You might ask the therapist about Paxil or another antidepressent. Just not Wellbutrin! He could have some depression going on too! Good luck and hang in there!
my son who is now 6 had a pretty bad concussion last spring and every since then his adhd is "severe". you can tell he tries so hard to be good, but he literally can't. you can look at him and just tell his mind is on overload. they did an eeg today and he slept the entire time and she said it should be a good reading because there was "LOTS" of activity the entire time and he was sound asleep.
I truly believe that head injuries do affect add/adhd. I know my son could function in school the year before his head injury and now he can not without meds. he is finally seeing a psychologist & psychiatrist.
i wish you the best of luck and hope you can figure something out and i agree that it sounds as though he may have some depression as well.
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