School and ADHD | ADHD Information

my son was diaganosed with ADHD about a year and a half ago-he has been on so many different medications and none of them seem to worrk.  the last medication Concerta , made him depressed.  We decided to take a break from the meds a few weeks before school started and he seemed to to better for a bit.

Now, 9 weeks into 2nd grade, he is having alot of issues.  his teachers are asking me to look into something other than ADHD as a diagnosis so he can get more help in school (IEP).  everything we are trying is not working!!!!!

he goes to a counselor to work on behavior and coping skills.  the options the doc's want to try next is Vyvance or Straterra.  Im so confused and tired.

any help in navigating the public school system would be much appreciated.

Our personal experience and from reading and talking with our doctor, strattera is best for those who are not HHHHH, more the innattentive type. It also depressed my 8 yr old son at the time to want to kill himself.

Vyanese seems to be successful to other posters here, I have been reading them earlier today.

do you need another evaluation to make sure there isn't something else going on?

May I ask is it just hyperness, impulsive behavior or is there somthing else that is being mentioned?

I am so sorry you are experiencing this. We use concerta with guanfacine and  it really works best in addition with the guanfacine. Have you tried it? It is also called tenex?

My son is now 12 and on 104mgs of concerta and 1 mg of guanfacine. And is very successful, without the two of them, he is really impulsive, silly, goofy, etc. He would be in trouble!

Have you also looked into a psychopharmacologist - they specialize in these meds.

Welcome to the board chello7 Getting the right diagnosis sometimes can be quite daunting because many things can look like ADHD. Before trying anything else I suggest that you get a second opinion to confirm or deny a diagnosis of ADHD and also whether there is more or something else going on. In order to get a definitive diagnosis, its critical that you have your son assessed by a specialist, that being a child psychiatrist or a neurologist. Confirm the diagnosis first and then work with the specialist in terms of treatment that will eventually be the right fit for your son. Good luck and please keep us posted

Thank you both for your input-we have never tried tenex, but will do some reasearch.  Im a little scared of Straterra. 

my son was diagnosed at age with adhd by our peditrician, saying that we should keep our eyes open for other symptoms on the autisum spectrum.

we went to a child psycharist about 6months ago and he confirmed the adhd diagnosis.  Im not saying that he doesn't have adhd, I just think there is a piece missing.  he is hyper and does have impulse issues, and is hard to reign in . he cant follow directions in class or at home.  if it is something he is really into he can focus, but otherwise forget it.

Im thinking we should get another evaluation, but him not being on anything is no working very well-but he is not so emotional and depressed.  THIS IS HARD!

thanks for your support-will kep you posted