Treating ADHD without meds

[Anonymous]

Oh and I should add my child was even younger than yours so we tried everything, all the “natural” approaches - supplements, diet changes, therapy, you name it we did it. None of it worked. It’s of course important to do all the things like routine, low screens, parenting approaches that are helpful, etc but for us nothing moved the needle remotely like medication

[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).

pony up for a real psychiatrist instead of your budget, insurance funded pediatrician (we have one too but i would never ask this person for their advice on adhd medication timing).

[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.

An important thing to know about ADHD is that it does not foreclose the ability to focus. In fact, for some people with ADHD the issue is overfocus—inability to use executive function to change the topic of focus.

Medication assists that executive function, enabling the person medicated more choice in what they want to focus on.

[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.

I would read up a lot more on adhd. You described adhd in this post perfectly. Russell Barkley says it should be called focus on all the things you find interesting and no focus on anything else. Hyper focus is a tell tale adhd symptom (hello Michael Phelps and many other athletes). Since you asked - the research says medication alone is the one thing that moves the needle the most. However sleep and treating the untreated parent are also very important. The flavor of adhd you describe is one you see a ton in middle school bc the kids w disruptive behaviors start to be ostracized. The kids staring at the window and inattentive don’t cause the issues. The impulsive and hyperactive ones are a lot for the teachers and start to get labeled bad - and they generally have very high iq!
I think you are right to see everything you can do so the medication can be as minimal as possible - so keep it up - sleep, protein with breakfast, you can neuro feedback too.

[Anonymous]

Interactive Metronome worked for my kid. Diagnosed by neuropsych at age 7 and we tried meds with minimal benefit and side effects (my otherwise good eater and sleeper started to be irritable in the evenings and having difficulty sleeping, not eating well). We stopped all meds and did the IM training and finally after 6-12 months of being consistent, we are seeing a definite improvement. We had no issues using meds if they worked for our kid - but we never got on the right meds and decided to give this a try. It's working so far.

[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).

pony up for a real psychiatrist instead of your budget, insurance funded pediatrician (we have one too but i would never ask this person for their advice on adhd medication timing).

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don’t understand either. Elementary years build the foundation for education. If they have trouble learning at that age it could affect their self esteem for life. FWIW our pediatrician was fine prescribing meds in 3rd grade, and that was also recommended by the psychologist.

[Anonymous]

OP I get it because my DC was diagnosed even younger and has another complicating medical condition. I also had a lot of learning to do about ADHD because my child loves to learn and will hyperfocus on math and reading and is a tremendously good student. They were diagnosed largely based on the same type of social issues you describe and really significant hyperactivity. I highly encourage you to see find a psychiatrist who can give you a more nuanced view of the options available and help you understand the benefits and risks of each. For a variety of reasons my child is only on a non-stimulant but it does help. And I am glad we will have the team in place if we need to do more in the future.

Social skills classes and OT did not help very much because my child *knew* what to do, they just didn’t have the impulse control to do it consistently. They do see a therapist but honestly that’s for co-morbid anxiety which we do far have not medicated for, if that gives you a sense of how reluctant we were to go to medication. To be honest it was very interesting to see how the psychiatrist approached medication for ADHD vs anxiety- obviously some of that was based on my child’s specific profile but I felt a lot calmer having those detailed discussions with a real experienced expert.

Good luck.

[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).

I did not medicate my child in ES - by middle school his self-esteem was very negatively both in academics and socially. I waited until he "started to have problems", which was actually way too late. Because pulling a kid out of a negative place is much harder than preventing them from getting there.

In retrospect, we should have medicated by 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally understand why you want to first try natural methods. Medication can be scary. The thing is that medication is the only thing that truly helps with the implusive behaviors that hurt relationships.

By the time your child hits middle school they will hear over and over again that they are annoying. Kids will be irritated when they are partnered with them at school. This is going to eat away at your child's self-esteem. No amount of therapy or fish oil is going to help the situation.

How could you POSSIBLY know that?

[Anonymous]

https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-ADHD-Helping-Engaged-Focused-Without/dp/0738213551

[Anonymous]

Following - how do you all address how scary it sounds to medicate a 7/8 y.o. for impulsivity?

(We are in the process of learning about med trials and have found OT to help significantly but not be enough.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following - how do you all address how scary it sounds to medicate a 7/8 y.o. for impulsivity?

(We are in the process of learning about med trials and have found OT to help significantly but not be enough.)

You tell yourself that just because something “sounds scary” doesn’t mean it is scary. In fact it can be good.

If you had cancer, chemo would sound scary right? But you’d do it? Or surgery for some other issue? You can do hard things for the benefit of your child.

[Anonymous]

Medication and parent training are the most effective interventions for children under 12. Educational therapy can also be helpful. - pediatrician

[Anonymous]

OP I was reluctant to medicate as well. We tried family therapy but it didnt work at all. Now that my kid is in 5th grade I definitely see how this impacts her socially. I can see how her peers are outpaciing her in conversation skills, self regulation etc. We are currently in the stage of trying to find the right med (and why is Vyvanse still impossible to find!), but I beleive that once we find the right thing, it will help her feel more confident and then we can really work on other non-med related strategies.