My soon-to-be 8 year old son was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder around the age of 31/2, then ADHD at 4 1/2 years old. I definitely saw the inattention and hyperness at that time. He was placed on different meds beginning just before age 6, but they either stopped working or had terrible side effects. We took him off all meds this past summer (July 4th to be exact) and he was pretty good. His behavior was pretty much the same as when he was on meds, but without the side effects (no appetite, whining and crying, depression when it wore off, etc). Now for the past 2-3 weeks he gets very angry with his fists clenched at times, almost in a rage, yelling in anger as well as when talking, hates kids all of a sudden if something goes wrong, hates himself, wants to die, just acts out and is silly and I think will do things for attention. He used to be just silly and loud, but now I see so much anger and rage and yelling out. He also hates school and every school morning is a nightmare and then getting to do homework is horrendous. Is this something else he has, or just another part of being ADHD?
Sorry this is so long, but I don't like this side of my son and it makes me nervous. I'm thinking of going gluten free to see if this helps, because I hate to have to try another medication. The last time the doctor mentioned Strattera and I know it has a black box warning on it, which made the doctor even nervous! Why would I want to try him on that medication? Maybe he's the type where meds won't help him. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Kathy
The things that seem outside of ADHD to me are "hates kids all of the sudden, hates himself, wants to die."