I posted this on the parents board early today.
Hello
Tuesday we go to the Habilitation psychologist to discuss medication for the upcoming school year. Matt has an Official diagnosis of ADHD and ODD (mild). Two from our own doctors and one from the school paid evaluation. I am nervous, scared to death about starting him on Meds. I know that he needs something to turn his mind off at school and that medication will help him pay attention and control his impulsiveness. What are your recommendations? What are some side effects to watch for? Are they noticeable right away? He will be starting 4th grade in September and I don't want him labeled by classmates because he has to go to the nurse everyday to get a dose of medication. The less the school is involved the better. I will tell his new teacher about the medication incase of any side effects. Will this medication kill his loving and outgoing personality? Will the medication change his creativeness? I know these are alot of detailed questions but I figure I will ask those who have been there. Thank you for your input......Colleen
cmls529 wrote:
Will this medication kill his loving and outgoing personality? Will the medication change his creativeness
With stimulant medication, when given the right mediction for that particular child at the right dose, it will not change your childs personality. What it will do is unlock your childs potential. If the medication does create a drastic negative change in your child, that indicates that its the wrong dose, wrong med or perhaps something more is going on going on than just ADHD.If the medication makes the child like a zombie, that suggests the dose is too high. Patients are put through a trial of meds becasue everyone rsponds differently so it might take a while before you achieve the goal of finding the right med and the right dose for your child. Thats why its important to keep in close communication with your childs doctor while the child is going through a trial of meds. Your pharmacist should also give you a print out of expected side effects and also abnormal side effects that should be reported to your doctor immediately. Once the child is receivng the target dose, you should see significant change immediately. It is also important that the child be followed by an expert in the field of treating childhood disorders as more times than not, those that dont specialize in the field just dont hove enough knowledge with regard to the disorder itself or how to treat and adjust the medications properly.
Depending on what med you give your son will depend on when you will notice any changes.
If you are worried about him going to the nurse for his med, Concerta would be a good way to go. It is taken once in the morning everyday. The thing with these medications is that it is sometimes a trial and error thing. It might be the right med, but the wrong dose... or it might be the wrong med all together.
Speaking to your sons doctor about what meds he prefers to administer would be a good start!
Good luck
My daughter started taking Adderoll XR in October of last year. She was finally diagonosed with ADHD with sensory sensitivity after 4 years of doctors telling me that she didn't have anything and it was just "bad parenting". I noticed a change in her immediately. Within a week, she was much calmer, more attentive in school and could actually play in her room without destroying it and then having and all-out war about cleaining it up. Nothing is perfect. We still have alot of issues with tantrums, taking responsibility for her actions and of course....candy! She is the most stubborn child I have ever met. When she got her meds during school last year, I went to the nurses office to talk with her and it was really no big deal. They don't call her over the loudspeaker or anything and there are alot of kids doing the same thing during lunch. She cannot swallow pills, so we had to find "alternative" ways of giving her meds. It did not, however, ruin her creativity or spunk. She could finally sit and color, paint and read a book. She could never do that before for more than 5 minutes. She is only on 15mg. twice a day, so it doesn't make her a zombie. I would love to try Concerta, but it can't be crushed or broken, so that's not possible for now. Please talk with your doctor and consider the meds. I'm not overjoyed about having her on meds, but it's what works for now.