Reply to Toddlers are now getting Ritalin and Adderall drugs

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]we were at the end of our rope with your 3 year old. biting, hitting, screaming, melt downs. Dev Ped suggested we might consider drugs at a "younger" age. We worked intensively on behavioral modification, diet, parenting, atmosphere--it was a full time job. We also waited for our child to mature. Now, at 4.5 drugs are not an issue, despite the clear ADHD diagnoses. Will they be in the future? Perhaps, though given the research showing that long term use of these drugs results in no improvement has given me pause. i would prefer to understand what is going on--there is clearly a brain chemistry issue with our kid (when child has a fever, is a completely, 100 percent different kid, like night/day, a reaction that is not uncommon for other kids with autism and adhd) but i'm not sure if messing with that brain chemistry through drugs is the right answer. Then again, my child is not suffering right now. I have known and seen kids who literally cannot function without the drugs. What to do?[/quote]

This is a thoughtful post and I sympathize with you. It must be an incredibly difficult situation. One question to consider: how did parents/ kids cope before these drugs were available?[/quote]

The same way we cope now.  You just deal.  But it's not easy.  Your life is vastly different from your friends who have children the same age.  You Hoover at play dates ready to intervene at a moments notice-- you don't walk away just to talk to a friend or go to the bathroom, your circle of friends is VERY small-- these people all know what is going on and still accept you and your child, you don't go out as a family because if the child starts acting up you need to leave, you take 2 cars to most events so that one parent can leave if need be, you feel guilty for neglecting the other children in your household, you don't go on vacations, you dread seeing the preschool number show up on your phone-- and it shows up frequently.  It's not a fun life and it impacts everyone in the household.[/quote]

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