Experience with putting a 4 yo on Ritalin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not the op or the other pp. Some of you have a lot of nerve as if ADHD is nothing more than a stereotype of hyperactivity or inattention. For children with severe ADHD the situation goes beyond that and severely impacts their lives making them miserable and unable to cope throughout the day. It also impacts the children around them. Do you think the op went to four different doctors who recommended medication because her child is "very hyper?" Do you think a child is getting kicked out of three different preschools for inattention or hyperactivity? Give me a break. The medication is likely for help with emotional regulation. That child is likely hitting, kicking, and ashing out at other children and doing the same, if not more, to caregivers who attempt to transition him away from a preferred activity. She didn't provide significant details as her child's situation because she wasn't asking for advice on whether to medicate. She was asking for others experiences. No one needs to be on this thread pontificating whether she should medicate and presuming to know more than four separate doctors.

I agree with you. A child with that behavior may also have autism. Unfortunately some research shows that autism/ADHD is less treatable w stimulants. My kid on the spectrum had periodic outbursts of aggression starting at 3 that thankfully were not daily and responded to a change of preschools. But if they continued in the new preschool or were more frequent I would have tried meds.

[Anonymous]

OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

Op here. Ok. It’s still nice to hear about kids doing well in young adulthood after having challenges when younger. The fact that PP’s story doesn’t map perfectly to mine doesn’t change that it is still nice to hear.

Again, there’s tons of medical/school/home context I could provide on my situation but this isn’t really a thread where I’m looking to do a deep dive on my child’s full history. In part, because I’ve already had that conversation on this page before so I just don’t feel the need to revisit it. We have also already made the decision to try Ritalin, the medication is on the way, and so I’m not in the process of deciding. I came here to hear about other experiences with Ritalin at 4. It does seem relatively uncommon so I haven’t gotten a ton of replies that are responsive to my actual question, but a few of them have been helpful.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my sister in law started Ritalin around kindergarten, and she developed tardive dyskenesia. She's the poster child, there's an article about her getting that movement disease. Why don't you just take your child outside to play more, or less screen time, or quit their daycare and find a new environment before Ritalin at 4. You know a lot of these docs opinions about ADHD drugs and medicating simply based on your subjective report. I can go to 4 doctors and say the right thing so all 4 offer Ritalin too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

Op here. Ok. It’s still nice to hear about kids doing well in young adulthood after having challenges when younger. The fact that PP’s story doesn’t map perfectly to mine doesn’t change that it is still nice to hear.

Again, there’s tons of medical/school/home context I could provide on my situation but this isn’t really a thread where I’m looking to do a deep dive on my child’s full history. In part, because I’ve already had that conversation on this page before so I just don’t feel the need to revisit it. We have also already made the decision to try Ritalin, the medication is on the way, and so I’m not in the process of deciding. I came here to hear about other experiences with Ritalin at 4. It does seem relatively uncommon so I haven’t gotten a ton of replies that are responsive to my actual question, but a few of them have been helpful.

OP, you only want certain stories that perfectly align with what you want to hear. You keep posting for “advice” and get snippy and ghost when you don’t hear what you want. I recognize you as the epilepsy/low iq poster and, again. I am going to tell you to join an epilepsy support group where hundreds of parents with kids who have genetic conditions and epilepsy will tell you about medicating at 4, and will have advice that you may not have heard about, like amantadine which is taking off at Hopkins, and how your child will likely need a non stimulant also. But you for whatever reason absolutely have your head in the sand and refuse to accept membership in the genetic condition/epilepsy club. I assure you, most of us didn’t ask for membership either. But your denial and dismissal is weird and you need to get over it. Help your kid and help yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

Op here. Ok. It’s still nice to hear about kids doing well in young adulthood after having challenges when younger. The fact that PP’s story doesn’t map perfectly to mine doesn’t change that it is still nice to hear.

Again, there’s tons of medical/school/home context I could provide on my situation but this isn’t really a thread where I’m looking to do a deep dive on my child’s full history. In part, because I’ve already had that conversation on this page before so I just don’t feel the need to revisit it. We have also already made the decision to try Ritalin, the medication is on the way, and so I’m not in the process of deciding. I came here to hear about other experiences with Ritalin at 4. It does seem relatively uncommon so I haven’t gotten a ton of replies that are responsive to my actual question, but a few of them have been helpful.

OP, you only want certain stories that perfectly align with what you want to hear. You keep posting for “advice” and get snippy and ghost when you don’t hear what you want. I recognize you as the epilepsy/low iq poster and, again. I am going to tell you to join an epilepsy support group where hundreds of parents with kids who have genetic conditions and epilepsy will tell you about medicating at 4, and will have advice that you may not have heard about, like amantadine which is taking off at Hopkins, and how your child will likely need a non stimulant also. But you for whatever reason absolutely have your head in the sand and refuse to accept membership in the genetic condition/epilepsy club. I assure you, most of us didn’t ask for membership either. But your denial and dismissal is weird and you need to get over it. Help your kid and help yourself.

And not that you’d care, apparently, but many kids with epilepsy and adhd are medicated for adhd much earlier and so there will be a ton of stories and advice re starting at 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For some perspective, this board is very pro-meds and is always quick to encourage a parent to choose ADHD meds as a first step. Any other choices are discouraged and disparaged.

But OP is posting about a 4 year old. She hasn't posted any specific reasons for medicating her 4 year old, only general ones. Maybe there are also other reasons, but without knowing them, she's not getting support for medicating her 4 year old.

Actually, I would say this board is very evidenced based in general, as far as lots of different interventions. The fact is there is lots of evidence for the use of stimulants to treat adhd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

Op here. Ok. It’s still nice to hear about kids doing well in young adulthood after having challenges when younger. The fact that PP’s story doesn’t map perfectly to mine doesn’t change that it is still nice to hear.

Again, there’s tons of medical/school/home context I could provide on my situation but this isn’t really a thread where I’m looking to do a deep dive on my child’s full history. In part, because I’ve already had that conversation on this page before so I just don’t feel the need to revisit it. We have also already made the decision to try Ritalin, the medication is on the way, and so I’m not in the process of deciding. I came here to hear about other experiences with Ritalin at 4. It does seem relatively uncommon so I haven’t gotten a ton of replies that are responsive to my actual question, but a few of them have been helpful.

Op, it’s not worth anyones time to comment or share or advise when you keep insisting you are only revealing a sliver of information because that’s all we need to know to weigh in. That’s not how any of this works. The child is viewed and treated holistically. You are doing yourself a major disservice by thinking of treatment in these discrete chunks and you’d get much more helpful insights if you shared relevant information. There’s no way to know based on the lack of what you provided. It’s silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you first tried no additive, dye free, high protein diet with lots of omega 3s, low/no sugar and minimal processed food, plus checked iron, ferritin, zinc, magnesium levels?

Different poster (not OP). It was hard enough to get my seriously emotionally dysregulated kid to sit down and eat anything, let alone a super-restrictive diet. This is just unrealistic! OP, try the meds--ignore the naysayers. These are the same people who dismiss the need for anti-depressants, counseling just muscling it through depression with "clean eating" and willpower. They are delusional and not worth your time.

Or, we have kids with ADHD too. And we have experience and opinions. There's a reason OP hasn't heard from anyone who successfully medicated their 4 year old. It's just too young.

We started medication at 4yo, although not with stimulants because our child is severely underweight. But while most kids may not need medication that young (I wasn’t medicated until I was an adult), some kids are more severely affected.

There is not one type of ADHD, and while you may know more than most, you do not know more than the expert, you do not know the child in question, and you are not in a position to give medical advice. If you have experience with stimulants at that age, by all means chime in, but otherwise you’re being ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, my sister in law started Ritalin around kindergarten, and she developed tardive dyskenesia. She's the poster child, there's an article about her getting that movement disease. Why don't you just take your child outside to play more, or less screen time, or quit their daycare and find a new environment before Ritalin at 4. You know a lot of these docs opinions about ADHD drugs and medicating simply based on your subjective report. I can go to 4 doctors and say the right thing so all 4 offer Ritalin too

Jeebus, can you just get out of the special needs board with this kind of ableist garbage? Not the OP, but while behavioral support is crucial, it alone cannot treat ADHD. Maybe you should talk to older ADHD patients whose parents refused to medicate and the impact that decision made on their mental health.

Sometimes parents have really rare or challenging situations and this section of the board in particular could be helpful if people didn’t turn into toxic harpies who interrogate and doubt and overrule multiple medical experts. I wish I could check out the resources here more frequently, but this board is a deeply unhealthy place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

Op here. Ok. It’s still nice to hear about kids doing well in young adulthood after having challenges when younger. The fact that PP’s story doesn’t map perfectly to mine doesn’t change that it is still nice to hear.

Again, there’s tons of medical/school/home context I could provide on my situation but this isn’t really a thread where I’m looking to do a deep dive on my child’s full history. In part, because I’ve already had that conversation on this page before so I just don’t feel the need to revisit it. We have also already made the decision to try Ritalin, the medication is on the way, and so I’m not in the process of deciding. I came here to hear about other experiences with Ritalin at 4. It does seem relatively uncommon so I haven’t gotten a ton of replies that are responsive to my actual question, but a few of them have been helpful.

Op, it’s not worth anyones time to comment or share or advise when you keep insisting you are only revealing a sliver of information because that’s all we need to know to weigh in. That’s not how any of this works. The child is viewed and treated holistically. You are doing yourself a major disservice by thinking of treatment in these discrete chunks and you’d get much more helpful insights if you shared relevant information. There’s no way to know based on the lack of what you provided. It’s silly.

Op here. No one has to comment if they don’t feel it’s worth their time.

I agree that it’s important to understand my child holistically, which is why we just flew across the country to take DC to a super specialized clinic, where we spent multiple days with multiple providers. We saw 18 providers over the course of 4 days and every provider spent a lot of time with DC, and the unanimous recommendation of the team was to try stimulants. DC has a lot going on medically and multiple diagnoses. I think for kids who have less going on, it makes sense to get into all the details but for my DC it has never been helpful on this board because our experiences are just kind of unusual.

All I asked is if anyone had experience doing this, not whether posters recommend that I try it.

Anyway, first dose starts tomorrow, I’m excited to see how it goes.

I

[Anonymous]

We started mine on Ritalin at 4, also a very very low does. A year later, he's finishing Kindergarten strong, and this year went better than we ever hoped - although DS does have and will continue to have challenges.

We have had some issues from the medicine - reduced appetite and some jaw pain. We don't medicate on the weekend or school holidays unless he has to go somewhere and we need him to be able to comply. We feed him anything and everything he'll eat from 4-8:30 pm every day to get the calories in. We also give magnesium and omega 3 - the Magnesium to help with the jaw cramps that come on after the dose in the morning. The omega-3 just helps with mood in general.

Our son is growing, happy, proud of himself, learning in school, and working on friendships.

I hope this helps your son!

For us - it was life changing, and I am glad we have a great doctor (psychiatrist) to help us. She sees him frequently and we pay out of pocket - no insurance - but it's worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I can't read all of these responses because too many of them clearly just don't get the point you have reached. OP, I don't have experience with ritalin at 4, but I did medicate DS with an SSRI at 6. I totally get it. It made a massive difference. His tic disorder and anxiety were so severe that he couldn't function anymore. It made a world of difference. If it doesn't help significantly, the benefit of Ritalin is you can always pull him back off without too much trouble. People who's never received nonstop calls from schools and don't have this level of kid have trouble understanding how bad it can be.

FWIW, DS is 21, still on Zoloft, HFA with anxiety, panic, tics (though manageable with the meds), but is in college and basically takes care of his needs and is on track to have a job and maybe even some sort of social life!

Op here. Thank you! I love hearing stories with this kind of long term perspective. It is so reassuring to hear that stories like this do happen at least some of the time!

OP, that poster is talking about a 6 year old who is in school, in kindergarten or 1st grade. She has no experience with medicating a 4 year old who is not in school yet.

In two years, you and your DC will be in a totally different place. While your DC will still be immature for their age, they will have had 2 years of maturity and growth.

Op here. Ok. It’s still nice to hear about kids doing well in young adulthood after having challenges when younger. The fact that PP’s story doesn’t map perfectly to mine doesn’t change that it is still nice to hear.

Again, there’s tons of medical/school/home context I could provide on my situation but this isn’t really a thread where I’m looking to do a deep dive on my child’s full history. In part, because I’ve already had that conversation on this page before so I just don’t feel the need to revisit it. We have also already made the decision to try Ritalin, the medication is on the way, and so I’m not in the process of deciding. I came here to hear about other experiences with Ritalin at 4. It does seem relatively uncommon so I haven’t gotten a ton of replies that are responsive to my actual question, but a few of them have been helpful.

Op, it’s not worth anyones time to comment or share or advise when you keep insisting you are only revealing a sliver of information because that’s all we need to know to weigh in. That’s not how any of this works. The child is viewed and treated holistically. You are doing yourself a major disservice by thinking of treatment in these discrete chunks and you’d get much more helpful insights if you shared relevant information. There’s no way to know based on the lack of what you provided. It’s silly.

Op here. No one has to comment if they don’t feel it’s worth their time.

I agree that it’s important to understand my child holistically, which is why we just flew across the country to take DC to a super specialized clinic, where we spent multiple days with multiple providers. We saw 18 providers over the course of 4 days and every provider spent a lot of time with DC, and the unanimous recommendation of the team was to try stimulants. DC has a lot going on medically and multiple diagnoses. I think for kids who have less going on, it makes sense to get into all the details but for my DC it has never been helpful on this board because our experiences are just kind of unusual.

All I asked is if anyone had experience doing this, not whether posters recommend that I try it.

Anyway, first dose starts tomorrow, I’m excited to see how it goes.

I

You flew across the country for docs to prescribe a 4 year old methylphenidate (Ritalin) stimulants?

Many clinicians suggested our DC has ADHD. But we opted for a private school and tutor instead of stimulants. After doing years of OT, BT, ST, and PT. DC is doing pretty well. But it was work.