Help Advice Fast???!! | ADHD Information

I'm always at loose ends when posting here.  My 9 year old - diagnosed with ADD this summer has had anger issues with outbursts that can be severe - about 3 x per month.  Never know when they are going to happen so it's always a surprise.  S

She takes 10 mg Adderral XR in the a.m.  It has helped somewhat - nothing dramatic on the whole in terms of alleviating the anger.  She had an outburst this morning again - What does this mean??  We NEED to get the anger outbursts under control if at all possible...

Should the medication be increased?  Changed to a new medication?  She's tolerating it well on the whole...Please please please please, any advice would help me consider all the factors.

My almost 9 yr old son also has ADHD and is prone to rage's and in fact we had a beauty this evening (some of it I even caught on video camera to show the Physc at our next visit).  Tonight my son was calling me and my husband names, calling us f------ idiots among other horrible names and then he started spitting and throwing things in his room. This went on for about 30-40 minutes and then my son went straight to sleep and woke uop a few hours later for a drink and half asleep came into the lounge and appologised to me and hubby.

We try the strategies our Physc give's us......when he arks up, we put our hand up and say (calmly) stop, gain his attention and try to talk (calmly) but by this stage my son has lost it and it seems as though he has to get himself out of it (the rage) himself. It's horrible and scary.

We are reviewing med's at the moment as I don't beleive my son's meds are working effectively.

I have often wondered if my son also suffers Bi-polar or a mood disorder.  My son seems to be hellbent on annoying others.

A book that alot of people recommend is The Explosive Child by Ross Greene.  Maybe see if med's need tweaking.

Sorry I wasn't alot of help but just to let you know there are other's kids out there very similar and best wishe's sent your way.

Cheers

Anger is often related to the medication.If there are symptoms that the medicine isn't covering, then tell the doctor -
another one might be better.

Also, she has to be taught how to deal with her anger appropriately. My son
really started to come around when he started therapy.

Good luck!Angry outburst could be the sign of a mood disorder.  It's known as rages.  Did these outburst happen before the meds or since taking them?  Please do not think I'm trying to diagnose, since I'm not even sure what's going on with my daughter.  Just trying to present another idea to look into. 

Some things that help with my daughter when she rages:  remain calm and understanding.  Don't try to discipline during a rage.  They pass way more quickly with this approach than the strict approach, for my daughter anyway.
We're in the same boat as many of you....The outsbursts are so frustrating.  We're waiting to get into see an occupational therapist - if they ever return my calls...Something I've been reading up on is called Oppositional Defiant Disorder...I'm certainly going to ask to have my child screned if there is such a thing....Talk to your doctor about.

My 9yr son has adhhhd and Opposstional Defiant Disorder.  They were both diagnosed at the same time by a psychologist.  The ODD is a cormidity (spelling?) and can be common with adhd.  It is the hardest part of his whole thing.  When we first started the meds, he really got emotional in the afternoon,  we are on a very low dose, just enough to get his impulsiveness under control. If he doesn't get enough sleep, the meds don't seem to work well. I learned from the psychologist that anxiety can present as anger...

I really beleive in therapy in conjunction with the meds.  Our psychiatrist doesn't do therapy, so we see a psychologist who specializes in adhd for kids.

good luck everyone:)

Adderall XR made my son psychotic - he got in kids faces and was angry and aggitated. The teacher told us about this and we stopped the med that day.

He actually went to his pediatrician after school and the dr. witnessed it.

I also believe the med may be causing this.

My son was switched to concerta after that and is still on it, 7 years later. We use a psychopharmacologist who helps regulate the meds. We swear by him.

Once you find the right med AND the right dosage, you will have a happy child.

Hang in there, I have been where you are.

Who is prescribing meds for your child; an MD or
Psychiatrist? If it's an MD, nows the time to change.
MD's are good for colds and broken bones, but are not
experts when it comes to behavior. Your child's anger
and agitation may be connect to his meds. We experienced
the same problem and discovered that our guy besides
having ADHD also had Bipolar symptoms that were amplified
by many of the ADHD meds. By changing to a child
psychiatrist, we finally found an expert who was able to
dial in meds that helped with focus and reduced the
evening agitation. No, it did not happen over night, but
it was nice having an expert who was very familiar with
the library of meds for behavior problems instead of a
family MD who only had the knowledge share by the drug
reps.

Paul