ADHD/ODD | ADHD Information

We started a group for parents of kids with ADHD. After our meeting yesterday,it seems as though our son is presenting ODD as well. We haven't got an official diag. on that yet,I am just curious generally how adhd with odd is treated.Do you just treat the adhd or is there a different med. for the odd?

My son's doc explained it like this to me:  He said when kids have ADHD they are get in trouble for just about everything they do!  They are constantly being redirected, told "No", etc which makes a kid feel awful inside!  He said the bad feelings come out in one of two ways.

1. Bad self esteem- They turn the feeling inward. This was my son.  He would say things like "I'm not a good boy.  I'm bad.", "The other kids don't like me because I'm always in time out", "I can't do anything right".  And he was only 3 years old!

2. ODD-They turn the feelings outward toward others around them and it come out as very defiant behavior.

The ONLY thing that worked for my son was medication.  Once we got the meds right his self esteem issues went almost completely away!  I've also heard many say the same about ODD once the ADHD is under control. Good luck!

Hi my daughter Jazzy is 4 years old and also was just diagnosed with ADHD and ODD and we really did'nt know she had the ADHD just thought she was hyper but then the disruptive behavior and tantrums got so bad that her kidney doctor notice it and said we should have her tested. Well anyways the doctor told us that sometimes when a child has ADHD and is not treated in anyway the fact that she always is been put in time outs or yelled at gives her the sence that she is a bad child and that then turn into anger becasue she cant controll it. She also told us that once the ADHD is treated exspecially with behavior therapy the ODD will get better and sometime disappear within time. We are actullay going in this monday to discuss options for our daughter. Due to present medical problems medication is a real big decision for us but we are definietly going to do behavior theapy as a family. So we will see. But I hope this helps and good luck.

Thank you for the input. We are starting concerta tomorrow after having not much luck with the ritalin sa.we shall see! thanks again.

Our son also has ADHD with ODD.  I think we have settled on his medication- Vyvansse ER(morning) and Adderall IR (afternoon), as well as Fluvox for OCD/anxiety.  With the ODD, it seems like it goes in waves... gets really extreme for a time and then settles into a medium/light cycle and then grows back to extreme after a while.  I have no idea what contributes to this, but that's the way it seems to go with him.