Experience with putting a 4 yo on Ritalin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi op, nothing to add but starting my 5 year old on ritalin this week as well. I wish us both luck! if you have consulted with many professionals (as we have as well), you are probably doing the right thing to try and remember that no one on this anonymous forum knows your kid even remotely as you do. You know what is best for your kid. Waiting longer for medication can be right for some kids, but it also isn't a badge of honor and taking the edge off can be a real gift to your kid. I hope it ends up being so for both of us!

Op here. Fingers crossed for both of us! Let’s hope we see a difference!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

Fwiw, none of those (except problems at school - he's 4?) are reasons to medicate that young. Time will help. Give him time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

Fwiw, none of those (except problems at school - he's 4?) are reasons to medicate that young. Time will help. Give him time.

What kinds of new skills? Have you done preliminary iq tests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

Fwiw, none of those (except problems at school - he's 4?) are reasons to medicate that young. Time will help. Give him time.

Op here. Well, our team of docs and therapists disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

Fwiw, none of those (except problems at school - he's 4?) are reasons to medicate that young. Time will help. Give him time.

What kinds of new skills? Have you done preliminary iq tests?

Op here. We’ve done a full neuropsychological exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

What are the impacts those problems are having though? The kid is 4.

Personally I would not medicate a 4 yo just to do better in preschool. I do not see the benefit.

[Anonymous]

Have you first tried no additive, dye free, high protein diet with lots of omega 3s, low/no sugar and minimal processed food, plus checked iron, ferritin, zinc, magnesium levels?

For a 4 yo before starting a lifetime of meds I’d thoroughly attempt the above to help with dysregulation and see where you get. Reason being, if these factors are exacerbating the problem it’s better to understand that extent now when the stakes are relatively low so you can manage better as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the reason that the 4 doctors have recommended meds? What are the reasons that you are considering meds for your DC? What areas do you see as a problem or need improvement?

We started meds at 8-9 and in some ways they are helpful and other ways not, I'm not sure if it's two steps forward and one step back or two steps forward and two steps back. At 4 and 5 (and younger and older), DS was a wild child but it wasn't a reason to start meds. For example, at school, he wandered around the classroom instead of staying seated or near his place and the teachers were fine with that.

Sometimes the teachers are not fine with that. We had to medicate ours at 5 because he'd talk over the teacher all day long. He'd interrupt her every 2 minutes and talk non-stop.

[Anonymous]

OP, find a better preschool. We found a small, low-ratio church preschool was tolerant of DC. Sometimes smaller preschools work well, other times larger preschools work well. If the place where your DC is now is not working, change to a different place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

What are the impacts those problems are having though? The kid is 4.

Personally I would not medicate a 4 yo just to do better in preschool. I do not see the benefit.

Op here. I think I’m gonna go ahead and follow the advice of our large medical team, but thank you for sharing.

My question was about experiences from people who have done this, not for opinions on whether we should ignore the unanimous consensus of multiple doctors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, find a better preschool. We found a small, low-ratio church preschool was tolerant of DC. Sometimes smaller preschools work well, other times larger preschools work well. If the place where your DC is now is not working, change to a different place.

Op here. Well it’s our 3rd preschool in the last year, so……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you first tried no additive, dye free, high protein diet with lots of omega 3s, low/no sugar and minimal processed food, plus checked iron, ferritin, zinc, magnesium levels?

Different poster (not OP). It was hard enough to get my seriously emotionally dysregulated kid to sit down and eat anything, let alone a super-restrictive diet. This is just unrealistic! OP, try the meds--ignore the naysayers. These are the same people who dismiss the need for anti-depressants, counseling just muscling it through depression with "clean eating" and willpower. They are delusional and not worth your time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you first tried no additive, dye free, high protein diet with lots of omega 3s, low/no sugar and minimal processed food, plus checked iron, ferritin, zinc, magnesium levels?

Different poster (not OP). It was hard enough to get my seriously emotionally dysregulated kid to sit down and eat anything, let alone a super-restrictive diet. This is just unrealistic! OP, try the meds--ignore the naysayers. These are the same people who dismiss the need for anti-depressants, counseling just muscling it through depression with "clean eating" and willpower. They are delusional and not worth your time.

Or, we have kids with ADHD too. And we have experience and opinions. There's a reason OP hasn't heard from anyone who successfully medicated their 4 year old. It's just too young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.

Fwiw, none of those (except problems at school - he's 4?) are reasons to medicate that young. Time will help. Give him time.

What kinds of new skills? Have you done preliminary iq tests?

Op here. We’ve done a full neuropsychological exam.

What were the results? If you’re the epilepsy poster, you will of course need to figure out how to medicate with your epilepsy meds. That’s an even harder trial and error post. Are you on an epilepsy forum? Lots of stories. Epilepsy and adhd go hand in hand.

[Anonymous]

If your child has a low iq, skills will still be challenging. It’s hard to hear but time is all that’s going to help majorly.