Do you have to medicate ADHD?

[Anonymous]

You put your opinion out there, you open it up for disagreement. That it is your opinion does not inherently make it right, and providing additional facts considerations and analysis shouldn't be threatening. If the person I'm responding to would like to come back and respond to me in detail, I'd be happy to consider their position and have a discussion.

So, you disagree with the PP and advocate that even if a child is successful in school and not struggling you should still medicate. I note that the PP did not limit success to academics. Even school administrators recognize the need for social success in school. My kids had IEP goals related to those when they were in ES. They've taken medication since 1st grade (they're in HS/MS now) but I would never advocate using medication if a kid is successful and not struggling.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP who works in sp ed. The OP asks "Do you have to medicate ADHD?" That's the question I was giving my opinion on. Your anecdotal experience with your own child or your childhood or adulthood as one with ADHD is interesting but maybe less relevant than my 15+ years of working with elementary kids both medicated and unmedicated.

Sp ed professionals and others who work in public schools may not advocate to a parent that they medicate their child. We cannot say, "Larla would likely be more successful if you medicate her." That's because we truly don't know that to be true.

I have worked with kids who did pretty well without medication, kids who were doing very badly in every aspect of school (academics, attention, behavior, socially) and then did really great once on the proper dosage of the proper medication, and many in between. Usually it's an ongoing process, involving lots of communication between home and school and doctor, to achieve the best possible combination of dosage and med.

So, feel free to contribute your opinion about whether you have to medicate ADHD but I'm not sure why you feel the need to attack my opinion based on years of experience with students with ADHD (and multiple other disabilities).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Working with sp ed students, I would say if your child can be successful in school without medication then by all means do not medicate. However, if they cannot be successful, or struggle a whole lot, then trying medication is a good idea.

+1

Initially we had a teacher and principal tell us DS needed medication to be successful. Within a year we had worked very hard with DS using therapies, timers, tools, techniques, and better diet to improve. Its not perfect (still using modifications, like extra time and reminders) and DS still struggles some to stay on task and focused, but he is at a level that is manageable for everyone. He gets good grades and socializes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You put your opinion out there, you open it up for disagreement. That it is your opinion does not inherently make it right, and providing additional facts considerations and analysis shouldn't be threatening. If the person I'm responding to would like to come back and respond to me in detail, I'd be happy to consider their position and have a discussion.

So, you disagree with the PP and advocate that even if a child is successful in school and not struggling you should still medicate. I note that the PP did not limit success to academics. Even school administrators recognize the need for social success in school. My kids had IEP goals related to those when they were in ES. They've taken medication since 1st grade (they're in HS/MS now) but I would never advocate using medication if a kid is successful and not struggling.

Nice misreading of my post. I said that school success wasn't the only factor that should be considered. A kid can be doing fine in school by all outward appearances and yet still be struggling internally with their ADHD symptoms, and they may still be struggling in contexts other than school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP who works in sp ed. The OP asks "Do you have to medicate ADHD?" That's the question I was giving my opinion on. Your anecdotal experience with your own child or your childhood or adulthood as one with ADHD is interesting but maybe less relevant than my 15+ years of working with elementary kids both medicated and unmedicated.

Sp ed professionals and others who work in public schools may not advocate to a parent that they medicate their child. We cannot say, "Larla would likely be more successful if you medicate her." That's because we truly don't know that to be true.

I have worked with kids who did pretty well without medication, kids who were doing very badly in every aspect of school (academics, attention, behavior, socially) and then did really great once on the proper dosage of the proper medication, and many in between. Usually it's an ongoing process, involving lots of communication between home and school and doctor, to achieve the best possible combination of dosage and med.

So, feel free to contribute your opinion about whether you have to medicate ADHD but I'm not sure why you feel the need to attack my opinion based on years of experience with students with ADHD (and multiple other disabilities).

You're still missing my point completely, which was not that school performance is irrelevant, but that it's not the only factor that should be considered. Perhaps the context in which you have experience with ADHD has left you with a bit of tunnel vision. I will continue to follow the advice of the psychiatrist, psychologist and therapists that we've worked with that the child's full life should be considered, not just school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP who works in sp ed. The OP asks "Do you have to medicate ADHD?" That's the question I was giving my opinion on. Your anecdotal experience with your own child or your childhood or adulthood as one with ADHD is interesting but maybe less relevant than my 15+ years of working with elementary kids both medicated and unmedicated.

Sp ed professionals and others who work in public schools may not advocate to a parent that they medicate their child. We cannot say, "Larla would likely be more successful if you medicate her." That's because we truly don't know that to be true.

I have worked with kids who did pretty well without medication, kids who were doing very badly in every aspect of school (academics, attention, behavior, socially) and then did really great once on the proper dosage of the proper medication, and many in between. Usually it's an ongoing process, involving lots of communication between home and school and doctor, to achieve the best possible combination of dosage and med.

So, feel free to contribute your opinion about whether you have to medicate ADHD but I'm not sure why you feel the need to attack my opinion based on years of experience with students with ADHD (and multiple other disabilities).

You're still missing my point completely, which was not that school performance is irrelevant, but that it's not the only factor that should be considered. Perhaps the context in which you have experience with ADHD has left you with a bit of tunnel vision. I will continue to follow the advice of the psychiatrist, psychologist and therapists that we've worked with that the child's full life should be considered, not just school.

Why do you feel the need to attack someone who has a differing opinion? Perhaps you don't realize how you come across......

[Anonymous]

NP here. It may also depend on type of ADHD. My 7YO DS has ADHD combined type, and of course, the child. We chose to try meds when it became obvious that he could not sustain attention or willpower to learn coping strategies or anything else. It was nearly impossible to have a conversation with him (if it wasn't a topic of his choosing) because he couldn't pay attention. We were at the end of our ropes at home, and at school, having tried many behavioral strategies to little avail.

I know other boys in his class with ADHD-Inattentive and ADHD-Hyperactive. The parents of boy with ADHD-I don't medicate—the issue is primarily motivation, and they work on that in different ways. For the boy with ADHD-H, he is super motivated but simply cannot control himself without meds. They've tried med vacations, and ultimately felt like it was almost cruel not to give him meds when he so clearly needs them.

We have not had an easy road with finding the right meds—some success, but DS seems to be sensitive to side effects of stimulants. It's a learning curve, and I had hoped to have it all figured out this summer so we can have the perfect school year next year (ha ha), but we're still working on it. He also clearly needs more structure, more exercise, and probably stronger intervention at school.

Not to be trite, but it really is a journey to try and figure out what is going to work for your child, and that may change over time. I don't think anyone wants to give meds to kids unnecessarily, but it's essential to keep an open mind. Maybe there's not a need to medicate now, but the need may be clearer down the line.

Also, the essence of your child's personality should not change on meds. If it does, then it may be the wrong dosage or just not a good fit.

Good luck to you—this is a hard decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may also depend on type of ADHD. My 7YO DS has ADHD combined type, and of course, the child.

That should read: It may also depend on type of ADHD, and of course, the child. My 7YO DS has ADHD combined type.

[Anonymous]

If your child was diabetic, would you even bother to ask this question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working with sp ed students, I would say if your child can be successful in school without medication then by all means do not medicate. However, if they cannot be successful, or struggle a whole lot, then trying medication is a good idea.

Even if a child can succeed in school without medication, there may still be major benefits to medicating him or her. I have inattentive AS HE & was not medicated growing up. I did very well in school but really suffered emotionally because of my symptoms & my self esteem took a major hit. Looking back, my childhood & teenage years would likely have been a lot happier & I almost certainly would have entered adulthood with a lot more self confidence had I been medicated. My day-to-day life is so much less frustrating now that I am taking Adderall.

What were some of the things tha were affected?

I ask because DD struggles with friends - one example specifically is not following through if they ask her to do something.
She doesn't call or text with an answer and I think they will soon stop asking her.

SHe has mild ADHD - Inattentive. We don't medicate as of now but I think we should explore...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child was diabetic, would you even bother to ask this question?

Different situation. Childhood diabetes always requires medication. Some ADHD cases don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working with sp ed students, I would say if your child can be successful in school without medication then by all means do not medicate. However, if they cannot be successful, or struggle a whole lot, then trying medication is a good idea.

Even if a child can succeed in school without medication, there may still be major benefits to medicating him or her. I have inattentive AS HE & was not medicated growing up. I did very well in school but really suffered emotionally because of my symptoms & my self esteem took a major hit. Looking back, my childhood & teenage years would likely have been a lot happier & I almost certainly would have entered adulthood with a lot more self confidence had I been medicated. My day-to-day life is so much less frustrating now that I am taking Adderall.

What were some of the things tha were affected?

I ask because DD struggles with friends - one example specifically is not following through if they ask her to do something.
She doesn't call or text with an answer and I think they will soon stop asking her.

SHe has mild ADHD - Inattentive. We don't medicate as of now but I think we should explore...[/quote

Different poster, but I could have written it myself. When it came to friends, I also wasn't great about following up, but the really core issue was that I struggled with making significant connections with people. I had lots of casual friends, but not really any close friends. ADHD can make it difficult to focus in conversations because it's so easy for you to get distracted by an intrusive thought, or so fixated on one part of the conversation that you can't move on when the conversation does. The impulse control issues also create an issue if you can't help blurting out the thought in your head even when it's not the most socially-appropriate thing to say.

I also had significant self-esteem issues, because even though I was able to cover pretty well for my screw ups, I knew I was screwing up all the time and was always waiting for other people to figure out I was a screw up. I did well academically, but I always felt like I wasn't doing well enough (which I know now is because my work wasn't reflecting everything going on in my head, even if the work was good). The sense of never being good enough and worrying about when other people would also realize I wasn't good enough was ever-present. As far as I know, though, no one else around me (parents, friends, teachers) had any clue what I was feeling inside. And of course I didn't talk about it, because talking about it would guarantee that people would realize I was a screw up and not good enough to bother with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working with sp ed students, I would say if your child can be successful in school without medication then by all means do not medicate. However, if they cannot be successful, or struggle a whole lot, then trying medication is a good idea.

Even if a child can succeed in school without medication, there may still be major benefits to medicating him or her. I have inattentive AS HE & was not medicated growing up. I did very well in school but really suffered emotionally because of my symptoms & my self esteem took a major hit. Looking back, my childhood & teenage years would likely have been a lot happier & I almost certainly would have entered adulthood with a lot more self confidence had I been medicated. My day-to-day life is so much less frustrating now that I am taking Adderall.

What were some of the things tha were affected?

I ask because DD struggles with friends - one example specifically is not following through if they ask her to do something.
She doesn't call or text with an answer and I think they will soon stop asking her.

SHe has mild ADHD - Inattentive. We don't medicate as of now but I think we should explore...

Different poster, but I could have written it myself. When it came to friends, I also wasn't great about following up, but the really core issue was that I struggled with making significant connections with people. I had lots of casual friends, but not really any close friends. ADHD can make it difficult to focus in conversations because it's so easy for you to get distracted by an intrusive thought, or so fixated on one part of the conversation that you can't move on when the conversation does. The impulse control issues also create an issue if you can't help blurting out the thought in your head even when it's not the most socially-appropriate thing to say.

I also had significant self-esteem issues, because even though I was able to cover pretty well for my screw ups, I knew I was screwing up all the time and was always waiting for other people to figure out I was a screw up. I did well academically, but I always felt like I wasn't doing well enough (which I know now is because my work wasn't reflecting everything going on in my head, even if the work was good). The sense of never being good enough and worrying about when other people would also realize I wasn't good enough was ever-present. As far as I know, though, no one else around me (parents, friends, teachers) had any clue what I was feeling inside. And of course I didn't talk about it, because talking about it would guarantee that people would realize I was a screw up and not good enough to bother with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rising 3rd grade has been officially diagnosed (valid psycho education testing). The diagnosis feels right a long/time coming. Has anyone chosen not to medicate? Or to medicate, but wish you did it sooner? I am torn. I feel this is where we are heading and I am not opposed, just don't want to jump in so readily I don't ask questions and consider angles I should. Thanks.

sooner but it is what it is. DD is medicated now even doing the summer, we take small breaks here and there but it helps her