Treating ADHD without meds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also understand your reluctance to immediately medicate. I was a special ed teacher for more than 30 years and have worked with every kind of ADHD out there, and I never found a child with the diagnosis that was truly successful without meds. There are lots of meds to try and it is not easy, but the benefit to your child to not feel like they are constantly screwing up is immense. I liken it to if I were eight years old and went to a place where I couldn’t speak the language and couldn’t keep up, all day long. Why would you want your kid to feel like that? An enormous number of people in prison have untreated ADHD, just so you know. Side effects can be managed.

18:36 here. Your experience is only with a selected group. Many kids with ADHD never meet a special ed teacher, whether or not they are medicated. They manage, successfully or unsuccessfully, in a general classroom.

I’m the tutor who works with all those ADHD kids who are managing - often unsuccessfully or at a level that is clearly less than their intellectual capacity - in a general classroom. In addition to struggling academically, they are struggling socially - being shamed by teachers and left out socially on some levels. The amount of effort to accomplish even adequate work (or if they are brighter than average, close to their intellect) is far more effort than peers and over the long run that takes it’s toll.


I have a kid and multiple family members with ADHD. Meds are extremely helpful. Side effects are possible but not always likely or more than mild and many of the common ones (like appetite) can be managed by changing routines or doses, etc.

[Anonymous]

I asked this same question about 6 months ago and got similar answers. We tried the meds. It's been life changing. The only side effects is some slight trouble falling asleep, so bedtime has been pushed a bit later. But otherwise we all couldn't be happier.

More confident kid with better grades and better friendships, and much more peace at home and at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I’m unsure of the degree to which he may have adhd. We were told by the pediatrician that she could prescribe him medication directly after evaluating the Vanderbilt forms and discussing options with us. No expensive outside diagnosis needed.

I have seen my son be so beautifully focused on projects, like the 3-D car he is working on now. His teacher says he focuses beautifully when she works with him directly one on one and says he’s absolutely a bright kid.

It’s when he’s in a group setting that he is disruptive and distracting other children, trying to be the class clown. He doesn’t listen to directions in school and gets distracted very easily. He doesn’t seem to hear when asked a question directly.

We love our son so much and want the best for him. We’re just concerned about whether meds is the correct method, given that he can absolutely be focused.

This “focus” is “hyper focus” and it is actually a kind of focus that is very common to ADHD but it usually not something ADHD kids can produce on demand. In order to hyperfocus they either need external structure, novelty, interest, challenge or competition or urgency . But most of school does provide any of those things that are necessary for the ADHD kid to focus without meds.

Please educate yourself more on ADHD - you seem to think that ADHD is a disease of “not being able to focus”, but it is really a disease of not being able to regulate ones interest and turn it on/off/up/down. It’s also a disease of executive dysfunction and emotional dysfegulation, both of which have negative social and academic/professional that can be lifelong (and which you are already noticing). ADDItude Magazine YouTube videos are very useful and backed by medical research. In particular Russell Barkley, Bill Hudson, and many other well known ADHD researchers provide good info.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid with ADHD who is not medicated and has a lot of self esteem. I have another child who has ADHD, who's ADHD was causing a lack of self confidence, and he now takes medication and is doing great. Both are doing great. I think 8 is very young to take medication, unless he is really disruptive in class and isn't doing well academically.

[Anonymous]

I’d start with a nutritionist and discuss the GAPS diet. Also find a functional medicine doctor test allergies and vitamin deficiencies.

[Anonymous]

Op here, these are all great insights, thank you!

For those who started a medication for a young child, what did you notice on the first few days of dosage?

Was it practically an immediate change in behavior? Did you stop asking your kid to do a task 10 times in a row?
Any lethargy? Did it do the opposite of what you hoped? Just curious about a med like Adderal. My son is pretty small and I do worry about loss of appetite and growth.

[Anonymous]

For what it’s worth, our pediatrician strongly recommends delaying ADHD meds until middle school for all but the most severe cases. There are plenty of therapies that will help your kid before you go the meds (which, to be clear, will be needed eventually).

[Anonymous]

Wait until the appointment to be sure your kid will be diagnosed. I thought I knew from looking at the forms and my kid’s doctor had a totally different take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what it’s worth, our pediatrician strongly recommends delaying ADHD meds until middle school for all but the most severe cases. There are plenty of therapies that will help your kid before you go the meds (which, to be clear, will be needed eventually).

Based on what science? Pediatricians are often not great at this kind of stuff, which is unfortunate because parents rely on them so much. I work in EI and we will often get really late referrals for a child with very obvious autism or serious global developmental delays, and the parent tells us their pediatrician told them to "wait and see" or that it was "just a speech delay." And are then stunned when we have to tell them their child is functioning 2 years behind in almost all areas. Because their pediatrician never flagged it and told them it would be OK. They are also often clueless about special education and will tell parents they are entitled to things that they actually are not, or that the child won't qualify for services that they actually would, or that they can write "IEP with extended time" on a prescription pad and magically the school will produce one with nothing else. My trust in pediatricians to handle developmental issues correctly is really low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what it’s worth, our pediatrician strongly recommends delaying ADHD meds until middle school for all but the most severe cases. There are plenty of therapies that will help your kid before you go the meds (which, to be clear, will be needed eventually).

Agree. The benefit for school lasts only for a few years - make them count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here, these are all great insights, thank you!

For those who started a medication for a young child, what did you notice on the first few days of dosage?

Was it practically an immediate change in behavior? Did you stop asking your kid to do a task 10 times in a row?
Any lethargy? Did it do the opposite of what you hoped? Just curious about a med like Adderal. My son is pretty small and I do worry about loss of appetite and growth.

Our first maybe 3 days there were some stomach aches and headaches, but that went away. More trouble falling asleep, but that was always a problem. A little less appetite maybe, but also has always been a problem.

By the second or third day at school she had all checks on her behavior chart. That first week of school she also starts coming home and saying "I need to do homework" (I didn't have to push!) She was finishing her homework with minimal to no input from me, because she had gotten through the entire lesson at school without a problem. Her reading has improved. She's using new vocabulary impressively well - like all of a sudden her mind is just clear and available for learning. Less impulsive (which partially for her also means less explosive - she will ask to take a break or walk when frustrated.)

And no major personality change. She's still full of energy, she still wants to be busy all the time. Still a bit wiggly and loud. But overall I can see her confidence and happiness growing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it’s worth, our pediatrician strongly recommends delaying ADHD meds until middle school for all but the most severe cases. There are plenty of therapies that will help your kid before you go the meds (which, to be clear, will be needed eventually).

Agree. The benefit for school lasts only for a few years - make them count.

I’m confused by what you mean by this. I have an ADHD DD whose meds are helping her get through grad school.

[Anonymous]

Just when we got our kid on a good med the school labeled them in gifted. It makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what it’s worth, our pediatrician strongly recommends delaying ADHD meds until middle school for all but the most severe cases. There are plenty of therapies that will help your kid before you go the meds (which, to be clear, will be needed eventually).

This is absolutely not evidence based and is your pediatrician practicing based probably on bias and just their own opinion rather than research. The American academy of pediatrics of which recs most practicing pediatricians follow does NOT recommend this approach.

Op new poster here. My child was exceptionally helped by medication. It is the best treatment we have for adhd and in my opinion, we are so lucky that there is a medication that WORKS for this mental health need. Everything you describe about being able to hyperfocus on something of interest and 1:1 is very typical and doesn’t discount the impacts when he isn’t 1:1. The most helpful thing for me was when I watched a video by I think russel Barkley who is known as one of the experts on adhd - he explained that it is really a disorder of REGULATION. So it is a difficulty regulating your attention to the right thing. It’s why kids with adhd also may have difficult regulating emotions. He also explained that they used to have kids try therapy before medication and they found that 90% + still ended up on medication because they still needed it despite therapy so they changed the recommendation for it to be first line treatment. There is a reason it’s the first line treatment.

Anyway I know it’s hard, we struggled with it too! But it is helpful to many/most with adhd.

[Anonymous]

My child has been diagnosed with an astigmatism but I’ve heard that glasses cause headaches and can lead to further degradation of vision. I’d like to try therapy and vitamins and see if that can help before putting him in glasses. Can anyone recommend a good protocol?