Considering to Medicate 15-YO DS for ADHD

[Anonymous]

Some do, maybe. I didn’t. I do not believe ADHD is curable. Stimulants are a treatment, not a cure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some do, maybe. I didn’t. I do not believe ADHD is curable. Stimulants are a treatment, not a cure.

Stimulants are definitely not a cure. I think the reality is there is no cure. But as with a lot of chronic illness, diet, exercise, learning executive functioning strategies, working with a psychologist on emotional regulation, etc are excellent coping/ compensation strategies. And impulse control improves with prefrontal cortex development, especially in boys. So people learn to manage their symptoms to a greater or less extent as they age. To the point many adults no longer need medication. I’m adult ADHD and sometimes I am medicated and sometimes not. When everything is as normal, I can compensate. When a lot is going on— say a new baby and a move, I reach a tipping point and need medication.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My DS started late because he was always borderline in academic impact, self-regulated through very hard athletics (exhausted himself out of impulsive behavior, essentially), and we were reluctant to medicate. So far my only regret is waiting as long as we did. However, one minor advantage was that he was over 6' when we started so I was not as worried about impact on growth.

Wait, there's an impact on growth??? I have 13 year old and we are considering medicine for ADHD. I had not idea it would impact his growth.

It can suppress appetite. My kid was always always at 95-100% on the growth curve since he was 5 had this side effect. My other kid who runs at 50% on the growth curve did not have this side effect. You just have to be sure they are eating enough when the medication wears off or before they take it for the day.

This - they can eat constantly for 4 hours after medication wears off and get plenty of calories - it's just a matter of adjusting the family schedule to accommodate the child's need to eat.

That's not a great way to set up a teen for healthy eating throughout their adult life.

+1. This is hardly a no effect side effect

BS. You are teaching the child to eat when they are hungry - not just because someone is telling you to do so. You are teaching your child to listen to their body and understand it. It's not disorganized eating - it's not binge eating - it's what the child needs, and is exactly what the pediatrician recommends.

Children with ADHD who take stimulants are more likely to be obese as adults, studies show, whether from poor childhood eating habits encouraged by their parents or from a metabolism issue or from the stimulants themselves which burn out adrenals or another reason. Just as children with ADHD who do not take stimulants are more likely to be obese as adults, studies show.

This doesn't mean that children shouldn't take stimulants or shouldn't pack in the calories in the 7-11pm window. But it means that taking stimulants doesn't "cure" ADHD for children or for adults, and doesn't reduce all of the well-recognized negative side effects of ADHD in adulthood.

And normal eating is better, in terms of a lifetime of eating, for children than skipping lunch and gorging on a bedtime snack.

Did anyone make the claim that stimulants cure ADHD? I don’t recall reading that claim. Stimulants are a tool that help control symptoms for hours after they’re taken. When you stop taking them, they stop helping. The old theory was that kids outgrow ADHD, so they don’t need stimulants as adults. I don’t believe that’s the current thinking.

Could it be that adults with ADHD (who did or didn’t use stimulants as children) have impulse control issues and might be seeking the same highs from eating that other people with adhd seek by self medicating? Also we live in an obese country. Maybe it’s not related to stimulants. You seem to be trying to suggest adult obesity is related to childhood stimulants, but you’re also saying that not taking stimulants gives the same result.

That is still the current thinking, that some children outgrow their diagnosis, irrespective of stimulants.

There’s a difference between everyone or most outgrowing a disorder and some outgrowing a disorder. Also, there’s outgrowing a disorder and no longer having it, and there’s developing better impulse control and coping mechanisms to deal with a disorder you still have.