New to Forum | ADHD Information

Hi, everyone!  I'm new to this forum, and wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Kelli, and I have four year old twins, Hailey and Greg.  The twins were born 9 weeks prematurely at 31 weeks gestation,and spent 5 weeks in the NICU before coming home.
After coming home from the hospital, Gregory began having recurrent ear infections.  We had him tested by an allergist, and he did show a slight milk and egg allergy, but nothing significant enough to be causing the ear infections.  For a while, he had ear infections every month, and was constantly being treated with antibiotics.   He finally had tubes put into his ears at about 2 years of age, and has only had one ear infection since.
Unfortunately, Greg was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in November of last year.  He is currently on an insulin pump to control his diabetes. 
Greg's behavior is, at times, exhausting.  Since he was a very small toddler, he has been having a very difficult time settling down at nap and bed times.  He will frequently yell for hours before falling sleep.  He pounds on his door, jiggles the door knob, knocks on the wall, jumps off of his bed, gets into his drawers, empties shampoo onto his carpet (even though it is in a childlocked cabinet), etc.  It's exhausting.  He just can't calm his body down.  He is also extremely hyper during the day, and will often run through the house screaming and yelling.  He torments the dog, and is always grabbing him, pulling his tail, sitting on him, etc.  He just can't seem to stop himself. He is always singing or making some sort of noise.  He routinely falls out of his chair at dinner, because he just isn't paying attention.  He walks into doors and into walls.  A little while ago, he was trying to pull the vacuum out the back door and walked right off the back porch.  He is just so incredibly impulsive.
This behavior is consistent at Greg's sitter's house, too.  There are days when he is incredibly well behaved, and others when she wants to strangle him.  I'm a special ed teacher, and have been for 8 years.  I work with students with emotional and behavior disorders.  Many of my students have ADHD, so I am very familiar with the problems that Greg is having.
We have an ADHD consult scheduled with Greg's pediatrician this Thursday.  We're hoping to get some answers/help, as we really aren't sure what to do with him now.  We've set up a reward system for his positive behaviors.  Because of his diabetes, his day is very structured, so he always knows what to expect.  We are very consistent with his consequences.  Still, we are currently at a loss.  We just know that we can't go on like this.
Thanks for reading our story.  I look forward to getting any input anyone may have!

Kelli

Hi Kelli and welcome! Boy I do NOT envy you! Four is hard enough, I can't even grasp having two four year olds at the same time!

Hang in, it gets better..................4 is the worst IMO. My daughter with ADHD is 14 and although we still have our struggles it is so much better than it used to be. Some of it is her maturing and some of it is me being more experienced. I also have a 6 year old who is not currently diagnosed with anything, but has her "issues". Life's NEVER boring

Well, that gives me hope that things do get better!  Thanks! 

Welcome Kellitwins! My son jon was also very preemie. He had a lot of ear infections etc which were determined to be from YEAST. He had athlete's foot (a yeast fungus), mouth fungus, etc. We treated him for yeast in his blood stream and the ears feet and mouth is now history. If your son is a Type I diabetic (which is likely at his age), just be consistant with proteins and Omega 3-6-9's. They help regulate the body.

Things are quiet right now here which is a great relief for me since the past 6 months have been horrendous!

You will get a lot of support and info on the forum. Keep us informed.

Randy

I agree, ask your ped for a referal to a good neuropsych or child pshycologist for testing.Hello KelliTwins and welcome  Since you have a child with diabetes, I'm sure your aware of the fact that blood sugar levels can and do effect attention, concentration and moods so to a non professional, such symptoms can mimic ADHD. While a child can have both, I suggest that you consult with a professional (neurologist or child psychiatrist) to get an accurate diagnosis and definitive diagnosis. Pediatricians are not qualified and don't have the expertise to make such a determination. Perhaps the pediatrician can give you a referral. Good luck and please keep us posted.