ADHD medication for 5 year old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for all your responses. He is in OT and speech therapy and in pep classic. If there was any way to avoid medication I would. Unfortunately it is so severe that it impacts every part of his life. I myself have ADHD and was on meds in high school and college. I know I hated the way I felt on it. I'm hoping that medication has improved. I feel that if he could just pay attention he could be so much more successful. He is not hyperactive but completely inattentive.

OP, our DS started medication right around the time he turned five. Like your DC, our DS has ADHD and significant developmental delays. Our developmental ped at KKI finally said "you know what, he's falling so far behind on some fundamental learning skills and we might have an opportunity to help boost that development by trying meds early since attention and distractibility has become a real obstacle and there's no point in waiting for him to fail when academics really kick in after about second grade." So we've been trying Focalin. Although originally I was opposed to medication, after watching my DS struggle and after recognizing the global impact of the inattention and executive-functioning deficits on DS's social, educational, physical and emotional development, I decided that if there was any chance at all that meds might help him then it was worth a try. That being said, we unfortunately have not really seen any difference in DS's behavior or development at home, although DS's teachers have said they see some improvement at school. DS is on a very low dose of Focalin so I don't know if maybe his ADHD is so severe that the dosage is not sufficient or whether Focalin is just not the right med. We've tried the Focalin for about 7 months. Honestly, I wish it was working better because at this point I would be willing to try almost anything if it would help my DS. And changes in diet, etc., have not done squat for him.

You really need to be with a great who is happy to try diff Medsvand doses tofine the best for your child.

Thank you iPad. I was trying to say: you need to be with a great dr who is happy to try diff meds and doses to find the best med/dose for your child. In our case we took quite a while with our dr on a couple meds and various doses before we got it right. We see dr Kronen and love him.

[Anonymous]

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

Yes. And they are powerfully addictive (the amphetamine class).

Some parents decide the trade offs are worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

Yes. And they are powerfully addictive (the amphetamine class).

Some parents decide the trade offs are worth it.

Not OP here. Thanks for this, but I think that I will go follow the opinions of multiple different doctors that I have seen that that medication is the best option for my child. Moreover, the hard science of numerous medical studies show that the ADHD medicine is overwhelming safe when not abused (i.e., taken recreationally by people without ADHD), and are tremendously helpful to kids. Moreover, the hard science shows that non-medicated ADHD people have **significant** issues, such as:

1) lagging years behind their peers in school;
2) significant social and interpersonal issues (imagine being told several hundred times a day that you are a screw up);
3) significantly reduced income (it is tough to hold a job if you lose focus all the time) and extremely high rates of divorce (spouses don't like being ignored) in untreated adults; and
4) very high rates of depression and even suicide.

No one medicates their child without a world of consideration and thought, and there are significant certainties of not addressing your child's ADHD. I started my child at 9, but I wish we had not waited because he was struggling for such as long time and he is so far behind in his pears in writing that I don't think he can ever catch up.

[Anonymous]

You left out 5) antisocial and inappropriate behavior that puts them at significant risk of commiting crimes and being a part of the criminal justice system as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

Yes. And they are powerfully addictive (the amphetamine class).

Some parents decide the trade offs are worth it.

Oh bullshit. The brains of kids with ADHD are already developmentally different and developmentally delayed. It's a neurological disorder for fuck's sake! And 'powerfully addictive'? More bullshit! My kids go off it any time they're out of school, including weekends and snow days. If they were addicted, we'd be seeing some very different behavior. All we see is a return of the ADHD symptoms.

As 10:42 and 11:18 have noted, the impact of not treating ADHD can be catastrophic. I have first hand experience with that. My family has a long history of substance abuse, depression and negative behaviors. I know where my kids will end up despite my best efforts if they don't get medical interventions for their very real medical needs. Even with all the knowledge I have, getting to the decision to medicate was wrenching. People like the PP have no business making it more difficult or passing judgment especially when it's based on emotion and not science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

Yes! We've consulted with our ped, a neurologist & a psychologist. None think meds are a good idea for a young child (ours is 7). A psychiatrist friend keeps saying we should medicate him, but IMO psychiatrists thinks meds are the answer for everything. We've been treating DS with cognative behavioral therapy and some diet modifications recommended by a nutritionist (Kelly Dorfman). He's also in a school with small classes and plenty of time to get his wiggles out.

Before starting meds, I highly recommend reading the book Boys Adrift. It was written by a psychiatrist and has lots of info on treating boys with ADHD.

[Anonymous]

OP here unfortunately my sons ADHD is not just a few wiggles. Even in a one on one situation he loses his concentration and is distracted by his own thoughts, something he sees in the room, a noise he heard. If it wasn't as severe as it is I would wait to start medication later on. I am not big on medication but he is so far behind already at the age of 5 that he needs something to help him. I have been researching the diet and am going to start that as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

Yes. And they are powerfully addictive (the amphetamine class).

Some parents decide the trade offs are worth it.

Not OP here. Thanks for this, but I think that I will go follow the opinions of multiple different doctors that I have seen that that medication is the best option for my child. Moreover, the hard science of numerous medical studies show that the ADHD medicine is overwhelming safe when not abused (i.e., taken recreationally by people without ADHD), and are tremendously helpful to kids. Moreover, the hard science shows that non-medicated ADHD people have **significant** issues, such as:

1) lagging years behind their peers in school;
2) significant social and interpersonal issues (imagine being told several hundred times a day that you are a screw up);
3) significantly reduced income (it is tough to hold a job if you lose focus all the time) and extremely high rates of divorce (spouses don't like being ignored) in untreated adults; and
4) very high rates of depression and even suicide.

No one medicates their child without a world of consideration and thought, and there are significant certainties of not addressing your child's ADHD. I started my child at 9, but I wish we had not waited because he was struggling for such as long time and he is so far behind in his pears in writing that I don't think he can ever catch up.

You protest a lot. I'm pp, and in my 2 sentence post I clearly stated that some parents (such as you, evidently) decide that the trade offs are worth the downsides of taking the amphetamine class of ADHD meds.

Great!

They are, in fact, addictive. Coming off of them is HARD. Even when you have been diagnosed with ADHD: still addictive, still withdrawal.

Go ahead - ask me how I learned this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Don't those meds affect your child's brain development at such a sensitive young age?

Yes. And they are powerfully addictive (the amphetamine class).

Some parents decide the trade offs are worth it.

Oh bullshit. The brains of kids with ADHD are already developmentally different and developmentally delayed. It's a neurological disorder for fuck's sake! And 'powerfully addictive'? More bullshit! My kids go off it any time they're out of school, including weekends and snow days. If they were addicted, we'd be seeing some very different behavior. All we see is a return of the ADHD symptoms.

As 10:42 and 11:18 have noted, the impact of not treating ADHD can be catastrophic. I have first hand experience with that. My family has a long history of substance abuse, depression and negative behaviors. I know where my kids will end up despite my best efforts if they don't get medical interventions for their very real medical needs. Even with all the knowledge I have, getting to the decision to medicate was wrenching. People like the PP have no business making it more difficult or passing judgment especially when it's based on emotion and not science.

PP, you are so right. I feel like I saved my male child's life by agreeing to medicate him two years ago at 9 years old. I could see where he was heading and it wasn't in a good direction. Now, he behaves at school, gets his work done and is a much better student. He's not perfect but no child is. I have no regrets whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Are these meds the antipsychotic type?

[Anonymous]

They are, in fact, addictive. Coming off of them is HARD. Even when you have been diagnosed with ADHD: still addictive, still withdrawal.

Go ahead - ask me how I learned this.

So, you felt a compulsion to take stimulant medication despite wanting to stop? You were unable to stop taking stimulant medication because you had a compulsive need for it? That would be addiction.

Or, did you have unpleasant physical symptoms that emerged when you stopped taking stimulant medication? That would be dependence.

I suspect you experienced dependence because I've never seen any literature or heard any anecdotes of people becoming addicted to stimulant medication. Not saying it could never happen but if you were addicted you must be an exceedingly rare case. I've never experienced addiction or dependence on stimulant medication so I guess our experiences negate each other.

There are a lot of different drugs that our bodies can develop a dependence upon. I certainly felt withdrawal symptoms when I titrated off an SSRI I was taking for depression. That doesn't mean people shouldn't take SSRIs, it just means they need to be monitored. I've seen what happens when depression is left untreated and that dependence is a very small price to pay.

Oh, you do know it's easy to develop a dependence to caffeine, right? Those withdrawal symptoms are very real and can be very visible to others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these meds the antipsychotic type?

Yes or no?

[Anonymous]

Funny how you all got silent here.

[Anonymous]

I am the 20:51 PP. My son takes Concerta, which is a stimulant medication and not an antipsychotic drug. Please talk to a medical professional instead of asking medical questions of DCUM posters.