Do we keep trying stimulants for teen?

[Anonymous]

Emotional instability can mean impulsively. This would be ADHD.

[Anonymous]

yes stop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Emotional instability can mean impulsively. This would be ADHD.

Absolutely not - and this is the danger of diagnosis via internet trend. Emotional instability is a symptom of many different diagnoses. Not everything is ADHD or caused by ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Emotional instability can mean impulsively. This would be ADHD.

Absolutely not - and this is the danger of diagnosis via internet trend. Emotional instability is a symptom of many different diagnoses. Not everything is ADHD or caused by ADHD.

Also impulsivity is a symptom of many different diagnoses as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 13yo DD takes 30mg of Ritalin on school days. If you ask her she will say she feels no different BUT if you ask her teachers they say she’s more focused.
She took a 4 hour CPR/first aid course this summer and I had her take one beforehand. The instructor asked which kid was mine and then complimented me on how focused and attentive she was. I could have hugged him.
Ask the people around her if they see a difference.

She can mask well with good classes/teachers but struggles in poor classes regardless.

Do stimulants actually relax the mind and impulses or just heightened focus for inattentive?

Kids with adhd do well when it’s a subject they’re interested in. They can focus. They struggle with things that are boring tk them. That may be his your kid does well in some classes and not others. It’s not true masking.
My kid is amazing on the basketball court. So focused the entire time. It’s amazing to watch. But as soon as she had to do anything academic she’s all over the place.
I’m the PP with the 13yo

OP describes a lot of symptoms that do not sound like ADHD. We really do a disservice when everything is claimed to be ADHD and therefore solved by a stimulant. OP needs to work further and see if he issue is anxiety (in which case an SSRI might help) or if a therapy like DBT might be appropriate.

What symptoms sound like anxiety and not adhd?

OP describes it as anxiety. Emotional instability also sounds like a personality issue requiring therapy not ADHD.

This is OP and I did not describe it as anxiety.

She has had ADHD testing, a full neuropsychiatric evaluation, and even 6 weeks of DBT training/therapy this summer.

So I’m not going to have some random anonymous poster to continue to tell me what my daughter has. Do you know how many teens, especially girls, are misdiagnosed and over medicated for other disorders when it’s ADHD? So just stop being one of those people. You aren’t helpful.

[Anonymous]

What does she eat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 13yo DD takes 30mg of Ritalin on school days. If you ask her she will say she feels no different BUT if you ask her teachers they say she’s more focused.
She took a 4 hour CPR/first aid course this summer and I had her take one beforehand. The instructor asked which kid was mine and then complimented me on how focused and attentive she was. I could have hugged him.
Ask the people around her if they see a difference.

She can mask well with good classes/teachers but struggles in poor classes regardless.

Do stimulants actually relax the mind and impulses or just heightened focus for inattentive?

Kids with adhd do well when it’s a subject they’re interested in. They can focus. They struggle with things that are boring tk them. That may be his your kid does well in some classes and not others. It’s not true masking.
My kid is amazing on the basketball court. So focused the entire time. It’s amazing to watch. But as soon as she had to do anything academic she’s all over the place.
I’m the PP with the 13yo

OP describes a lot of symptoms that do not sound like ADHD. We really do a disservice when everything is claimed to be ADHD and therefore solved by a stimulant. OP needs to work further and see if he issue is anxiety (in which case an SSRI might help) or if a therapy like DBT might be appropriate.

What symptoms sound like anxiety and not adhd?

OP describes it as anxiety. Emotional instability also sounds like a personality issue requiring therapy not ADHD.

This is OP and I did not describe it as anxiety.

She has had ADHD testing, a full neuropsychiatric evaluation, and even 6 weeks of DBT training/therapy this summer.

So I’m not going to have some random anonymous poster to continue to tell me what my daughter has. Do you know how many teens, especially girls, are misdiagnosed and over medicated for other disorders when it’s ADHD? So just stop being one of those people. You aren’t helpful.

I think every overdiagnosis trend starts with a “girls and women are being under diagnosed” trend. Previously it was autism and before that it was bipolar. You said yourself stimulants are not working. and BTW most “neuropsychs” are not actually tests for ADHD (there’s no test for focus that diagnoses ADHD).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 13yo DD takes 30mg of Ritalin on school days. If you ask her she will say she feels no different BUT if you ask her teachers they say she’s more focused.
She took a 4 hour CPR/first aid course this summer and I had her take one beforehand. The instructor asked which kid was mine and then complimented me on how focused and attentive she was. I could have hugged him.
Ask the people around her if they see a difference.

She can mask well with good classes/teachers but struggles in poor classes regardless.

Do stimulants actually relax the mind and impulses or just heightened focus for inattentive?

Kids with adhd do well when it’s a subject they’re interested in. They can focus. They struggle with things that are boring tk them. That may be his your kid does well in some classes and not others. It’s not true masking.
My kid is amazing on the basketball court. So focused the entire time. It’s amazing to watch. But as soon as she had to do anything academic she’s all over the place.
I’m the PP with the 13yo

OP describes a lot of symptoms that do not sound like ADHD. We really do a disservice when everything is claimed to be ADHD and therefore solved by a stimulant. OP needs to work further and see if he issue is anxiety (in which case an SSRI might help) or if a therapy like DBT might be appropriate.

What symptoms sound like anxiety and not adhd?

OP describes it as anxiety. Emotional instability also sounds like a personality issue requiring therapy not ADHD.

This is OP and I did not describe it as anxiety.

She has had ADHD testing, a full neuropsychiatric evaluation, and even 6 weeks of DBT training/therapy this summer.

So I’m not going to have some random anonymous poster to continue to tell me what my daughter has. Do you know how many teens, especially girls, are misdiagnosed and over medicated for other disorders when it’s ADHD? So just stop being one of those people. You aren’t helpful.

I think every overdiagnosis trend starts with a “girls and women are being under diagnosed” trend. Previously it was autism and before that it was bipolar. You said yourself stimulants are not working. and BTW most “neuropsychs” are not actually tests for ADHD (there’s no test for focus that diagnoses ADHD).

PP you are annoying as F.

You are right. OP is wrong.

Happy?

[Anonymous]

My daughter did not do well on stimulants. We started Clonidine at night. Then added Intuniv in AM. This covers all but some focus but her grades are still going well. We may add Wellbutrin in AM to see if that helps.

[Anonymous]

Try a different class of stimulant first

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you've only tried the methylphenidate class of stimulants (Metadate, Concerta, Focalin all fit here), so trying something from the amphetamine class (Adderall, Vyvanse, etc.) would be a logical next step. Many people respond well only to one class and very poorly to the other - Vyvanse was awful for my son but he has thrived on Concerta/Focalin, and I know it's the opposite for a lot of people.

OP here. Thank you. That is what I’m thinking. It’s all the same class and just slight differences and release times. It seemed like a waste. I am going to ask to try a different class and I hope that works.

Op new poster here and just want to say I agree with this and to keep trying. And wanted to say to please ignore the posters questioning the diagnosis. You’ve clearly gotten extensive evals and everything you described sounded like ADHD to me. It sounds to me like some of these posters don’t know very much about how complex adhd did can be and have an old school black and white picture of it. Everything you described sounded right on target for my ADHD kid who is helped by a stimulant. Keep up the good work trying to find help for your kid and ignore the noise/bias against meds when it comes to adhd (because it really is our most effective tool!)