Treating ADHD without meds
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Yes, it is a normal feature of well child exams because it is so damaging to leave unaddressed. |
Anonymous
PP can you provide a citation to the "overly diagnosed". Overly diagnosed means something very specific - it is being diagnosed frequently in situations where the diagnosed person doesn't actually have ADHD. It is true that the ADHD diagnosis has increased over time - but I am unaware that there is evidence that that increase is because people who don't have ADHD are being mistakenly diagnosed with it. Increases in diagnosis can happen for a lot of legitimate reasons - drs and patients become more aware of the existence of a diagnosis and seek help, a treatment becomes available that makes seeking a diagnosis worthwhile, a diagnosis becomes less stigmatized, the broader environment changes causing an increase in the number of people with the illness, etc. This paper thoroughly reviews ADHD diagnosis increases and concludes, "ADHD is not a new phenomenon, however its prevalence has increased significantly in the recent years. Given changing diagnostic criteria and increasing awareness of the disorder in marginalized populations, especially individuals of color and females, this finding is not surprising. The general public has become increasingly more aware of ADHD through the media and social media. People are more likely to bring up their concerns to a physician, which in turn might prompt more numbers of people to be diagnosed. While some may argue that the increase is concerning and due to intentional feigning of symptoms in order to gain access to stimulant medication or test accommodations, the evidence suggests these groups have a negligible impact on diagnostic trends. In fact, as medical providers, focus on the idea of “overdiagnosis” may instead be harmful, create additional barriers to care, and add to the stigma towards their requests for help. It is important, instead, to approach patients holistically, and with an understanding of both the risks of treatment and undertreatment in mind. For those who have been struggling with unrecognized ADHD, there are significant impacts to mental health, social life, and work life. Thoughtful diagnosis and subsequent treatment can make all the difference." Adhd Diagnostic Trends- Increased recognition or over diagnosis? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9616454/ |
Anonymous
Not PP, but adhd diagnoses are a third greater for young for grade students than old for grade ones. Doesn't that raise your eyebrows just a little? |
Anonymous
citation please - what is the source of your stat ? Several obvious reasons why jump to mind but it's hard to address your stat without source. |
Anonymous
There was a huge study in Canada. Canada school enrollment goes strictly by calendar year. So everyone born between jan 1 and Dec 32 is in one grade like everyone born in 2010 is in 8th grade, 2013 is in 5th grade, etc. Then the study looked at adhd prescriptions which is easy because Canada’s health care is nationalized. They found that the youngest kids -those born in the fall were far more likely to get diagnosed with adhd and prescribed medication |
Anonymous
This is not a citation. A citation tells where the “huge study” can be found. |
Anonymous
DP. These studies of young for grade children being more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD are well known. Here are several: https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(16)00160-8/fulltext https://www.cmaj.ca/content/184/7/755 Generally: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2018/oct/youngest-class-more-likely-be-diagnosed-adhd |
Anonymous
|
Op I understand where you’re coming from and I think nearly every parent on this journey thinks the same thing upon learning that their child has adhd. Nobody wants their child to be on medication if it can be avoided. You have to let go of the stigma that medicating is a lazy way of dealing with adhd.
Medication have enabled my son to function, to absorb more at school and foster friendships on a level that was previously inaccessible to him. It has improved relationships at home as well. To me, it’s not how can I treat adhd instead of medications - it’s how can I treat adhd in addition to medication. He is also in OT for sensory integration and self regulation, we have a private SEIT come to his classroom for one hour a day to work on regulation skills, executive functioning and frustration tolerance in a live environment (he’s in prek) and he goes to play based speech therapy to help with articulation on a few sounds. He also attends a social emotional play based social skills group. His medication helps him access his therapies and I cannot underscore the growth we’ve seen in the 6 months that he’s been on a stimulant, 8 months total on medication (started with Guanfacine then added a stimulant) My hope for him is that he grows up understanding his adhd, knowing that medication is an option for him, and learning how to be self aware of how medication can help him and when he needs it. That, in combination with his therapies and maturity over time, I hope will give him the tools to effectively manage his adhd. I also have adhd and as an adult struggling, I cannot imagine withholding medication from a child who is struggling with emotional regulation and connecting with peers. You have to assess the damage that the symptoms are causing on a daily basis to determine whether medication benefits would be worth the risks. |
Anonymous
Hi pp. I want to at least speak to the fun creative part and say that when my child is on stimulants that isn’t lost at all. My son is still very much himself. Still engaged, creative, intense. It’s more that the edge is slightly off so still hyper but not jumping up and down constantly. Still fun but not as frustrated the second something goes wrong. Hope that helps. And as for weekends, we do a short acting one time in the morning and so far that has worked for him so we use it 7 days a week. Since it is just the short acting he usually has a big afternoon snack and dinner. At first he ate a lot less lunch and some days he still does but that has evened out more and anything he doesn’t eat he makes up at dinner etc. So we just use it consistently. If your child is on the border though there may not be such a difference that you worry with friends. Also anecdotal and just my opinion not based on research but I think it helps my child at night even though the stimulant has worn off. my theory is because he doesn’t have to work as hard to hold it together during the day, he often has a little more bandwidth at night. |
Both our kids have ADD and we also thought they were fine handling it organically without meds. At 14, things went to hell.
Anonymous
|
To the PP who noted their kid was on guanfacine, did you notice any improvements before adding the stimulant? We've tried stimulant medications in the past and they are not well-tolerated by my son. We were going to start guanfacine but didn't end up pursuing it for any number of reasons. Based on what I'm reading in this thread, I'm wondering if it's time to get back and at least give a non-stimulant a try.
Other posters, have any of you had the experience that your child was more able to tolerate the stimulant side-effects as they got older? When we tried the first two stimulants, we had pretty noticeable negative impacts including the complete inability to sleep and nonstop twitching/tics. It wore off with the meds but definitely not something that we could tolerate on a daily basis. |