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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]ITA also about a psychiatrist.  The thing is that there are tons of medications for ADHD and finding the right one sometimes takes time.

My DS also rejected help at the beginning. The only way I got him to try is to acknowledge explicitly to him that he is becoming an independent person who gets to make his own decisions, but that I hoped that he recognized that I, as a parent had a lot more knowledge of and understanding of ADHD, meds and health care and that I really cared about him and sensed that he was not very happy and that I was offering him tools to help him cope with ADHD and his life and that he could create a life he was happier with.

I pointed out that it seemed kind of short-sighted to make a decision about medication without talking to the expert in medication - the psychiatrist. I validated his concerns about meds and said there are many ways to handle and gave him examples - take meds in am after a big bkfst, have a second dinner after meds wear off, pack small snacks for school, try a different med, etc. I also validated repeatedly that I know that brain based disorders - whether ADHD, a learning disability or mental illness like depression - are at their core physical (brain chemistry and brain networks) and that stigma against them is wrong and stupid, and not at all what I believe.

He did ultimately see the psychiatrist and tried both ADHD medication and an anti-depressant, which he found helpful.

He stopped taking meds in college, had a bad semester, but then got into an academic major he found really interesting which solved many of his ADHD problems.

While growth impact is a real concern with ADHD stimulants, the impact on growth mostly comes from the way stimulants decrease appetite.  Lower caloric intake during the critical growth period means slightly less height.  But, there are many ways to try to ensure a kid still eats enough.  Some I mentioned above.  Others involve taking a short-acting dose and stacking all academic classes in the first half of the day so that normal appetite resumes.  School *must* make scheduling accommodations if you want to do this.

FWIW, I am also ADHD and found taking Straterra pretty helpful - it helps my emotions be not so big and that was a big part of task avoidance for me.  It also dampens the Default Mode Network which allows the Task Positive Network to be more effective - this cuts down my daydreaming/rumination. [/quote]

It’s not at all clear that ADHD is even this issue here - so he needs a psychiatrist who will start from scratch to evaluate what is going on. [/quote]

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