Reply to For ADHD - H, could you tell me why you decided in favor of/ against stimulants?

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Reply to "For ADHD - H, could you tell me why you decided in favor of/ against stimulants?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My 9YO DS just got diagnosed with mild ADHD, mainly H. He is doing well academically, [b]social relationships are fine, and is athletically active. But sometimes does have impulse control issues, can’t sit still for long, and sometimes talks over people in class. 
[/b]
We are discussing options, including medication, with the doctor.

I have heard/ read about some concerns with stimulants, and I’ve had friends in their 20/ who had challenges with adderall dependency, so I’m a little cautious on this.

For those of you that had similar circumstances and decided for or against stimulants, could you share your reasoning in decision making? And how is your child doing?

Thank you in advance. [/quote]

Why did we start ADHD meds?  Our DS seems the same as yours.  In retrospect, social relationships were *not* fine, but that was very hard for me to suss out as a parent.  The impulse control, not being able to sit still and talking over people ARE social issues that increasingly isolated our DS and caused him to be unhappy about the lack of friendships of the kind he saw other kids have.  Both adults and kids noticed these issues and both adults and kids were impediments to making friends.  It was deeply hurtful to DS.  He started meds in HS, but I wish we had started around 3rd grade when we found out about the ADHD.  We thought he was doing "fine" but he wasn't, so we didn't start until it was clearly apparent that he was doing *badly*.

BTW, stimulants are not the only ADHD med.  Our DC ultimately started stimulants in HS, and although we have a strong family history of addiction, DS has not become an abuser, mostly because a stimulant normalizes his behavior it doesn't give him a high for which he would seek to abuse the drug.  When DS was in HS, I kept and administered the medication daily.  As a senior, we transitioned to him keeping the medication with me being allowed to peek whenever I wanted to see how many pills there were.  Now in college, DS tends to take the medication when he "needs" it -- during the school week, not so much on the weekends and not so much when he is in a highly interesting, fast moving, high pressure environment (in that case, the environment is the medication).   I have talked openly about the family history of addiction and why it's important not to use any substances or alcohol, particularly before mid-20s and even after.  There is also some data to show that unmedicated ADHD is a risk for substance abuse as people self-medicate instead.

Another family member takes Straterra (atomoxetine) which is not a stimulant and doesn't have a capacity for abuse. It works very well for that family member, who chose not to take a stimulant due to low-weight issues, which the stimulant only would have made worse.  [/quote]

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