ADHD medication for 5 year old
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Anonymous
| Did anyone start medication for their child when they were 5? My son seems to have severe ADHD as well as developmental delays. Just curious what changes they saw after medication was started and what medication they took? |
Anonymous
| how about a change in diet first? google feingold diet |
Anonymous
Also on quackwatch: http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/feingold.html If a kid is very impulsive they could prove a safety risk to themselves or others. If a kid can't focus or stay in their seat, they also can't learn. OP, we've just started medication as well as behavioral therapy. Finding the right medication/dosage is part trial and error. We're still in this stage. Highly recommend behavioral therapy whether or not you medicate. |
Anonymous
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If you're going to medicate, I'd recommend therapy to develop executive function at the same time. ADHD medication drugs can be used as a behaviorial management tool, but they have side effects. The "best practice' IMHO is to use them to manage behavior while the kid has therapy to work on executive function.
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Anonymous
| i absolutely would not do medication and i would definitely try diet first. ignore the quackwatch comment. it may work for your child. going gluten free or sugar free or artificial colors and flavors free DOES work for some children. don't discount it based on one comment on DCUMs |
Anonymous
| Where do you find a behavioral therapist in Montgomery county? |
Anonymous
| not to mention that GMOs and artificial dyes are BANNED in many countries. it would behoove you to try it first |
Anonymous
It might however there isn't a enough research evidence to say that it does. So it's not just one comment: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2009/June/Diet-and-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder If you're kid improves through diet alone (no behavioral therapy or meds), it's very possible it truly wasn't ADHD. It's lifelong. |
Anonymous
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We tried the Feingold diet. It had no effect on my kids' symptoms. Not to say it doesn't work for others but we spent 6 months doing it and it was a LOT of work. While on it, we also began to teach them the strategies needed to help with executive functioning. However, it wasn't until we started medication that we saw an significant improvements. It was the first time they were able to apply what they'd learned independently and without close monitoring. They did, however, experience negative side effects from the medication and it's been a challenge to find the right med/right dose. But, for us, the benefits far, far outweighed the negatives.
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Anonymous
| That seems so young for meds. DS didn't start until age 9. He's 17 now. ADD is much better, but ED is still a problem. this is about frontal lobe myelination and boys don't have this until their 20's. Drugs will not help it come faster. Work on Strategies and organization skills. I would wait on the drugs, OP. |
Anonymous
You're kidding, right? ADHD involves far more than frontal lobe myelination. If it were just that, medication wouldn't be as effective as it is. One of the things that makes medication so effective is that it increases the availability and receptivity of neurotransmitters. Strategies and organizational skills are important to teach and can help but nothing is as effective as treating the underlying causes of the disorder. Medication should be considered with the negative impact on daily life warrants it, not some arbitrary or anecdotal benchmark. We didn't start our DS on meds until 2nd grade. We did everything the PPs mentioned - diet, structure, routine, habits, etc. - and OT and a regular exercise program. It wasn't enough and his ADHD was impacting him at school, impacting our whole family. Medication hasn't been a silver bullet but I wish we'd started earlier - like in kindergarten but hindsight is 20/20. That was 8 years ago. DS is doing really well. We didn't delay as long with our youngest and it's been a lot smoother and advantageous for all of us. We hope as the boys mature, their symptoms will lessen. However, as much as we don't like it, they have a neuro-biological condition that can be well controlled with medication - just like DH's diabetes. Diabetes is rampant in DH's family and we knew it was likely a matter of time before he was diagnosed despite a healthy lifestyle and weight. Having a disorder like diabetes that can't be controlled except through medication has given us a whole different outlook on ADHD. My kids aren't going to suffer any more than they have to because of ADHD. Medication isn't something to be feared. It's a tool and should be used when needed. |
Anonymous
| Executive Function involves motor/frontal cortex development. I wasn't talking about attention. Long term use of stimulants also has repercussions, like growth, behavioral, and sleep problems. I am not anti-meds, my 17 year old is still on them. I just think a 5 year old is too young for them, which is just an opinion. I would not do it to my kid. |
Anonymous
| Just sharing my personal experience. My son started taking Adderall at 4 and it has been great. It doesn't fix all problems, but the hyperactivity decreased a whole lot and the ability to look at you when you are talking to him has increased... |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
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. |