There are so many posts about medications it can be confusing..... My son is highly suspected as having ADHD and we are in the early stages of getting a diagnosis.... It seems to be taking forever to figure out what is going on with him....
We are getting to the point were we beleive he needs medication.
Could ANYONE please help me?
My son is six..... what are the choices, and side effects of the choices. I have read up on ADHD medications, but read posts that have personal experiences with them, and are totally overwhelmed.....
THANK YOU!!!!!
you can find both good and bad about most every medication. My Dr. prefers Ritalin as a first line since it's been around the longest and it's REAl side effects are documented and not severe in most people. You can fine people on crusades against medication that will rail against everyopne of them if you look.
Adderal is a stronger stimulant as well as more expensivce and "newer" . It contaions amphetimine salts and lasts longer but it is a stronger medication. Some people swear by it I never took it simple ritalin taken 3 times a day works for me.
My Dr. is down on Stratterra. Not because he doesnt think it works but, because it has a long titration period making dosage adjustments difficult and as a new drug it does not have the large number of longterm users that Ritalin and the individual drugs in Addral have( nothing in adderal is new jsut a new formula of stims). Recently , I have read some concern about adderal and sudden death
You can find sites warning all Add drugs cause it. They even post medical journal numbers. What they dont tell you is an overwhelming majority of the cases had to do with either abuse , combinations of prescription and illicit drugs or, underlying heart defects. What I have read about adderal says there may be a link....Key word MAY.
Then there are always those claims that show kids that take adhd drugs end up addicts. Of course, theyy are bunk. The incidence of Addiction and ADHD going together is very high. It is unconnected to the medication of ADHD. If you go to CHUDD.com. you can see there are studies that actually show kids diagnosed with ADHD who recieve treatment are less likely to become substance abusers than those who do not.
My own experience is DIET helped just as much as medication. I dropped sugar, severely limited simple starches, went high protein, high complex carbs with a couple of fruits a day and eliminated all processed foods, food additives, artificial sweeteners, dyes at the advice of my DR.( the frozen food section, tv dinners, most chips, most of the Supermarket not in dairy, frozen, organic, meat and fish section). I guess it's an accepted diet fo ADHD and helped me a lot.
If you do searches on medications note the sites you are going to. Scientology has more than a handfull out there that are full of crap. Ther are plenty of sites willing to sell you magic herbs that will cure adhd too...the wonders of Garlique!! etc....none with any real proven basis for there claims. Youcan find a lot of sites that tell you about the medications, studies done etc. They are mostly technical but iof you wade through them you can get the gist of them. I take a medication and would not want to stop. Between diet and the medication there was a tremedous impact on my life.
The bottom line is it's your kid and ultimately your decison...and I am sure it must be a real, real hard one. The Chudd.com site has a bunch of articles about REAl medical studies and does what I think is a great job explaining ADHD and doesn't have a vested interest in Big Pharma. For some kids I read medication is a Godsend for others I read it is bad mojo. Anyone other than aHealthcare Professional. If you know Parents of kids with ADHD n the arewa ask them what they think of their DR. Dr's aren't like Mankind they aren't all created equal. Anyone other than a healthcare Professional who tells you to medicate or not medicate is overstepping there bounds imo.
I was amazed at how much crap I was eatting when I started reading the labels. My Dr. feels strongly people with ADHD are much more sensitive to the "crap" than people without it. It can't hurt to eat healthy and it did help me. I know there are books out there on the diet but. truth is it's pretty freaking simple..dont eat over refined, modified, sugered, over salted mono and di glyercided, taste enhanced, silikiness enhanced modified (fat, protein, strach) factory food.
Bobel,
THANK you for taking time to answer my post. I sincerely appreciate ALL the information I can get, and first hand experience is always the best in my opinion. I will check out the web site you suggested.... I have already looked online, and you are right... there is a wide spectrum of opinions about every aspect of ADHD.