a success story | ADHD Information

I'm very happy for you and your son!the less patience thing could just be that your son is
maturing a bit and his interets are differing from little
brothers...


otherwise, all sounds good! :) way to go to your DS!

... so far!

My 7yo son was diagnosed with ADD/ODD this past year, and started on medication just a few months ago.  He's taking dexadrine, and it's working very well for him.   My husband and I were quite hesitant to put him on anything of course, but he's been much happier since he's been on it and the sleep issues and appetite issues have been pretty mild.

Well, we just got his last report card for the year last week.  This is the first reporting period where he was on meds.  The teacher's comments start with "Wow, I feel like I'm writing a report card for a different child!"  In what I call the 'plays well with others' section of the report, he went from 2's and 3's out of 5 to 5's straight across.  Academically he improved as well, although not quite as dramatically. 

At home, life is also much improved.  I now can't really believe we lived in such chaos for so long!  The only down side is that he has less patience for his little brother, I wonder if this is something other parents have noticed.  Before he was more on his level, now he's interested in different things. 

We are so pleased, and so is he!   I hope someone who is feeling lost and desperate can be encouraged by this.

Thank you Willa for posting this. I feel lost and so depressed. I feel all alone
as my six year old daughter was just diagnosed with ADHD and we have to
start her on medication. I have been fighting this for so long but our house
has been so difficult to live in lately that I don't know what to do. I have a
call into a psychiatrist to set up an appointment to discuss medication and I
am very afraid.

That's wonderful that things have worked out so well for him! I know what it's like to feel such relief after such hopelessness!  Enjoy!

frustrated28, hang in there! It WILL get better!  My family is living proof!

That is great news!

We are on the other end of the spectrum... though his teachers say he focusses BETTER on the Dexedrine (in fact they refuse to instruct him if he forgets it), his report card is still tragic looking.

Everyone says he is smart, but his output is not good enough.

The side effects of the Dexedrine have been no apetite during the day, and temper tantrums and agression in the late afternoon.

He starts High School in the fall and we are going to try going without the pill.....