Post by misty on Jan 7, 2007 16:27:11 GMT -5
We moved from a different location in January, 2007. This thread was transferred from there and has a different format than the ones which are created on this site.
alan...........Thread Started on Dec 6, 2006, 11:37pm
Ok another thread about whats on my mind guys...........
MY ds is four and ADHD he has been doing better at the school and some good days and some bad.
At the end of this term he is to get evaluated again,now i know there is no way in hell that once he goes to the big school he will be able to concentrate and sit at the table like other kid in class. At present the extra teacher in the class (iep)helps occupy him and works hard to keep him in order. But when he goes up next year there will be only one teacher in a class of say 20? Sos i thinkmedication will be likely.
I know as a parent we have a right not to medicate and me and DW have talked about it, but i have to admit i dont want him to loose his personality as some people have warned me.
Can someone please give me some good experience stories as i think i am starting to get the Hebyjebbies at the thought of medicating
Charlie Girl
If they alter his basic personality, the meds are either too strong or not the right ones. The right med at the right dose will enable him to control himself better but not give him a zombie type personality; he just won't be climbing the walls as much
Rae70
My son Damian is now 9.5 years we started him on Dexamphetamine when he was 7. Prior to this he was having a lot of behaviour problems, and was very hard to manage. The dexamphetamine did not agree with him at all, in caused him to become rather anxious and depressive and so we changed to long lasting dex. no real improvment there. Then we discovered Ritalin and his learning world was opened up for him. he could at last focus and concentrate. recently he was tested and we discovered that our son is exceptionally intelligent - something that was hard to notice at all under all that bad behaviour over the years. his problems now are mostly due to anxiety and we have recently started him on risperdal. My suspicion is that he may be schizophrenic or bi polar and his high IQ makes his life a little harder for him at times, the Dr said its harder to treat the smart ones because they are so complex. he has held his meds under his tongue and spat them in the bushes after leaving the office and has been very difficult at school with running away etc.
its a long hard road parenting these kids. I am hoping that my son has just ADHD with anxiety and no major mental illness but if he does it will show later in his teens.
But at the moment he is managing well on risperdal and ritalin and we are happy. with Damian we count our blessings when we have these peaceful periods and i must admit they are becoming more and more longer.
getting the meds right is the tricky bit. my suggestion is to find a very good child psychiatrist that specialises in meds, as does damians. his psychiatrist is not interested in the counselling side - just in biological affects with regards to meds and getting the balances correct. that has been extremely helpful for damian to have such a hyperfocussed (and honestly i am suspicious that this dr is a tad ADHD himself lol) on getting meds perfect.
puzzled
My son is 10 and started meds last March. Before meds, his grades steadily fell..in the early grades, he got decent grades, A's and B's, but always had comments on his grade card like "Does not turn in work consistently" "does not follow directions" "Does not stay on task". In my mind I would tell myself.."Oh well, his grades are fine..." Then when he hit 4th grade, the work became more difficult, and he began having to change classes for each subject, and the complaints began pouring in along with the C's and D's. He could not remember any of his supplies from class to class, he was bringing home tons of homework, despited being given 10 minutes at the end of each class to complete some of it..papers that said "Done together in class" across the top of them would come home with Horrid grades on them....How can one get an F on a paper that was done together in the class??!!!
i finally faced the fact after trying everything that I and the teachers could think of that there was a real problem here. My son was really trying to do well, and sometimes he would for brief moments, but it was never lasting. I had him evaluated, and a diagnosis made. After being medicated, he hasn't had a C on his grade card in almost 3 grading periods...all A' last time and on the last progress report.
We were lucky, the first med that he took did the trick, and from the first day he was a different boy. His self confidence has soared. Before meds, he would tell me every day when I picked him up at school..."Mom ,I don't know why you think I am smart...I am too dumb to learn anything" "Why don't you and Mrs, Walker (his homeroom teacher) just give up on me?"
Now he tells me that his goal is to not have any paper with a grade lower than a 95% on it, and most of them are higher! His personality is the same...he still stands up for the underdog at every opportunity. His teachers tell me that he is a very kind, considerate boy, often coming to the aid of a physically handicapped boy that is in his class that others taunt. This boy is on crutches, and my son helps him with his books when he needs it even if they are not headed in the same direction. He has helped him up when he slipped on the ice (yesterday). He still is a jokester, loving to come to me with the latest joke that he has heard...."Mom. spell furniture" I say ok "F-u-" "Mom, watch your language" then cackles as he waits for me to get it.
The only issue that we have is overemotional over reactions to small things and he did that before meds to a much bigger degree...we just have to tweak the meds...find the right combination...but he is the same little boy that he was...he just was able to come out of his cocoon and show us what he was capable of.
He call the med his "sweet pill" and when I asked him why, he said "Because it helps me to calm down and be sweet" If he forgets to take it, he will call me from school to bring it, but he has only forgotten once...
I have never regretted giving him the meds, and only wish that I had seen the light a year or two earlier...but he is not the "hyper " type, just inattentive, so he slipped through the cracks for a while...I still have people (teachers this year) say to me "He has ADHD? Tell me how you came to that...he does so well!" I have to tell them the story, and then I tell them to go and talk to his teachers from years past...
The sweetest thing is that my boy could not wait to show his progress report from a few weeks ago to his teacher from last year...he credits her with finally getting his brain dead mom (my words not his) to see the light and begin testing him for the disability...she was so proud of him.
He told me yesterday that he wants to be a science teacher when he grows up...now that will probably change next week, but it speaks to the fact that he now loves school, where before meds, he would rather be anywhere but school.
I had heard the same horror stories and as a preschool teacher, witnessed a few myself.
I have learned though, as others have told you, if the child's personality is altered so much, the med or the dosage is not right...keep looking.
alan...........Thread Started on Dec 6, 2006, 11:37pm
Ok another thread about whats on my mind guys...........
MY ds is four and ADHD he has been doing better at the school and some good days and some bad.
At the end of this term he is to get evaluated again,now i know there is no way in hell that once he goes to the big school he will be able to concentrate and sit at the table like other kid in class. At present the extra teacher in the class (iep)helps occupy him and works hard to keep him in order. But when he goes up next year there will be only one teacher in a class of say 20? Sos i thinkmedication will be likely.
I know as a parent we have a right not to medicate and me and DW have talked about it, but i have to admit i dont want him to loose his personality as some people have warned me.
Can someone please give me some good experience stories as i think i am starting to get the Hebyjebbies at the thought of medicating
Charlie Girl
If they alter his basic personality, the meds are either too strong or not the right ones. The right med at the right dose will enable him to control himself better but not give him a zombie type personality; he just won't be climbing the walls as much
Rae70
My son Damian is now 9.5 years we started him on Dexamphetamine when he was 7. Prior to this he was having a lot of behaviour problems, and was very hard to manage. The dexamphetamine did not agree with him at all, in caused him to become rather anxious and depressive and so we changed to long lasting dex. no real improvment there. Then we discovered Ritalin and his learning world was opened up for him. he could at last focus and concentrate. recently he was tested and we discovered that our son is exceptionally intelligent - something that was hard to notice at all under all that bad behaviour over the years. his problems now are mostly due to anxiety and we have recently started him on risperdal. My suspicion is that he may be schizophrenic or bi polar and his high IQ makes his life a little harder for him at times, the Dr said its harder to treat the smart ones because they are so complex. he has held his meds under his tongue and spat them in the bushes after leaving the office and has been very difficult at school with running away etc.
its a long hard road parenting these kids. I am hoping that my son has just ADHD with anxiety and no major mental illness but if he does it will show later in his teens.
But at the moment he is managing well on risperdal and ritalin and we are happy. with Damian we count our blessings when we have these peaceful periods and i must admit they are becoming more and more longer.
getting the meds right is the tricky bit. my suggestion is to find a very good child psychiatrist that specialises in meds, as does damians. his psychiatrist is not interested in the counselling side - just in biological affects with regards to meds and getting the balances correct. that has been extremely helpful for damian to have such a hyperfocussed (and honestly i am suspicious that this dr is a tad ADHD himself lol) on getting meds perfect.
puzzled
My son is 10 and started meds last March. Before meds, his grades steadily fell..in the early grades, he got decent grades, A's and B's, but always had comments on his grade card like "Does not turn in work consistently" "does not follow directions" "Does not stay on task". In my mind I would tell myself.."Oh well, his grades are fine..." Then when he hit 4th grade, the work became more difficult, and he began having to change classes for each subject, and the complaints began pouring in along with the C's and D's. He could not remember any of his supplies from class to class, he was bringing home tons of homework, despited being given 10 minutes at the end of each class to complete some of it..papers that said "Done together in class" across the top of them would come home with Horrid grades on them....How can one get an F on a paper that was done together in the class??!!!
i finally faced the fact after trying everything that I and the teachers could think of that there was a real problem here. My son was really trying to do well, and sometimes he would for brief moments, but it was never lasting. I had him evaluated, and a diagnosis made. After being medicated, he hasn't had a C on his grade card in almost 3 grading periods...all A' last time and on the last progress report.
We were lucky, the first med that he took did the trick, and from the first day he was a different boy. His self confidence has soared. Before meds, he would tell me every day when I picked him up at school..."Mom ,I don't know why you think I am smart...I am too dumb to learn anything" "Why don't you and Mrs, Walker (his homeroom teacher) just give up on me?"
Now he tells me that his goal is to not have any paper with a grade lower than a 95% on it, and most of them are higher! His personality is the same...he still stands up for the underdog at every opportunity. His teachers tell me that he is a very kind, considerate boy, often coming to the aid of a physically handicapped boy that is in his class that others taunt. This boy is on crutches, and my son helps him with his books when he needs it even if they are not headed in the same direction. He has helped him up when he slipped on the ice (yesterday). He still is a jokester, loving to come to me with the latest joke that he has heard...."Mom. spell furniture" I say ok "F-u-" "Mom, watch your language" then cackles as he waits for me to get it.
The only issue that we have is overemotional over reactions to small things and he did that before meds to a much bigger degree...we just have to tweak the meds...find the right combination...but he is the same little boy that he was...he just was able to come out of his cocoon and show us what he was capable of.
He call the med his "sweet pill" and when I asked him why, he said "Because it helps me to calm down and be sweet" If he forgets to take it, he will call me from school to bring it, but he has only forgotten once...
I have never regretted giving him the meds, and only wish that I had seen the light a year or two earlier...but he is not the "hyper " type, just inattentive, so he slipped through the cracks for a while...I still have people (teachers this year) say to me "He has ADHD? Tell me how you came to that...he does so well!" I have to tell them the story, and then I tell them to go and talk to his teachers from years past...
The sweetest thing is that my boy could not wait to show his progress report from a few weeks ago to his teacher from last year...he credits her with finally getting his brain dead mom (my words not his) to see the light and begin testing him for the disability...she was so proud of him.
He told me yesterday that he wants to be a science teacher when he grows up...now that will probably change next week, but it speaks to the fact that he now loves school, where before meds, he would rather be anywhere but school.
I had heard the same horror stories and as a preschool teacher, witnessed a few myself.
I have learned though, as others have told you, if the child's personality is altered so much, the med or the dosage is not right...keep looking.
This is not normal!!!! pulling the fire alarm at the store to see the fire trucks. Dragging me through the store to get to the toy aisle taking out a ladies knee caps with those 3 ft carts just for kids. THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!!! I could tie him to the cart and he would knaw his own arm off to get free and off causing havoc in the freezer section. I am in the process of taking Jake to a neurologist. We have decided to wait till after x-mas. Also CC I tried asking my Dr about the omegas but he said it was a ? for the nuerologist, patients is driving me crazy