Help 11yr old son has ADHD,mood disorder, high anxiety

Angela - posted on 02/22/2011

Had a similar problem with my daughter until we took her off of clonidine. She is now on Trileptal and Concerta. She takes 1-3mg of melatonin to help with sleep. It has not gotten rid of nightmares, but she sleeps through the night almost every night. Her behavior during the day is drastically improved. The Trileptal took about 6 weeks to have the full effect, but once we found the right dose, its been working for two years. 300mg, 2x a day. Concerta in the mornings. You havent lost him. He definately still needs you. My daughter had her first major change when she was 7 and we went through quite a lot of crappy doctors before finding a good one. She was hospitalized just before she turned 8, and I refused all meds as they wanted to blanket her with everything before diagnosing what was wrong. She went from being sweet, normal everyday 7 year old to a hateful mean little girl that wanted to hurt things. It was a terrifying experience to say the least. I actually locked myself in a room at night so she would not hurt me. We found a good doctor in Boise, Idaho. She diagnosed her, and we started down the long road of "does this work?" At the age of 10 we found what worked.
We are military and have moved from the doc we liked, and have been arguing with new ones since. I am moving away from my husband to seek a better doctor as there is not one in the Tucson area that is worth anything. They keep wanting to change what she is on!! I refuse to change what is working so well. Her doctor here put her on an antidepressant and that went very badly.

My suggestion to you is to keep trying new things and eliminating what doesnt work. It took us three years of constant trial and error. But we found the right combo. Keep the faith and keep searching for it.

Shara - posted on 02/17/2011

I have noticed if I can keep day calm and tv and such is limited i see iit does help.

Shara - posted on 02/17/2011

Thank-you to all who replied. He is in therapy however our ins. says they didn't rcv forms and cut us off . I have resent them . His therapist came 2x for free and i will call them friday.

Arnette - posted on 02/16/2011

Hi Shara,
My name is Arnette. I am so sorry this has happened to your son. My son is 10yrs old and he is ADHD as well, but his is not as sever. I do know that big changes that trigger anxiety for my son will make him spiral out of control. Is he still in therapy? That may be the only thing that helps. He may have developed trust issues and needs to work through them. Best of luck to you and your son. I know this was not much help at all, but if you need to talk I am here.

Jane - posted on 02/16/2011

Is he still going to the therapist regularly? The only thing that kept my daughter on the straight and narrow was the therapist. Also, at 11 you now have all the normal tween stuff mixing in - not a good combination. It is very hard to find anything that talks about the tween years and hormones etc. and the affect on a kid with ADHD. I am sure his whole system is changing and so a different med may be needed. My daughter has been on 5 different ones. She is now on Strattera. I have a blog for moms of tweens and teens. It is not going to solve your problems, but we do articles eveyday, you may find some of his behavior is just normal for these years. www.motchat.com. Don't give up - you have not lost him.

Elizabeth - posted on 02/15/2011

Type natural remedies for ADHD, try different products until you find what works. Look up ATTEND (helps my son be tolerable and think clearer), nativeremedies.com (I like theire products and I am about to order from them). They have somehting for a lot of conditions.

Mitch - posted on 02/15/2011

When working with kids with ADHD removing specifically red dye 40, from their diet was proven to be effective, in some cases. It has an effect on behaviour, contribute to attention and memory difficulties, hyperactivity, temper tantrums, and impulsivity. There are many articles about this online. You'd be surprised at what foods contain this dye.



Something else I've seen work is acupunture but it doesn't work on all kids. Couple of more options for you :) Good luck!

Arminda - posted on 02/14/2011

hi.. i feel for you.. but i guess you're much luckier coz u can send ur kids to the doctor , buy him medicines send him to the best schools while me i'm so helpless coz i feel my youngest son is getting there and unfortunately we don't have the means coz the real thing is i only have god as my source of everything.. and i think i can survive...! i'll include your kid in my prayers.. god bless!;;

Laura - posted on 02/14/2011

I feel for you ladies! I worked at a residential treatment facility with kids just as you have described, only with little to no support from parents/family. I admire you guys! Keep up all of the work you are doing on behalf of your kids, I know it isn't easy!

The one aspect of overall treatment that was never explored well where I worked (mainly because it wasn't considered an issue back then) was the importance of nutrition and food sensitivities. New research is coming out all of the time showing that many of the food additives in our diet of proccessed foods can and do cause behavioral changes in people, kids particularly. Food allergies and sensitivities can also effect behavior. Sarah is definitely on to something. I would start by recommending you eliminate ALL proccessed foods that contain dyes, preservatives, artificial flavors or sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup. There are substitute products that don't carry these additives and are sweetened with just plain sugar. The drawback: Cost. If you change products you can expect to pay more for them. But if eliminating these things from the diet improves the behavior in your kids, then the cost would be worth it, IMO. The good thing about trying this approach is that you don't need a prescription and the dietary changes can be good for the whole family!

If changing proccessed products doesn't seem to help, you could then consider exploring actual food allergies or senstivities. This won't neccessarily "cure" the behavioral problems, but it may improve the behavior enough to where meds can be reduced or even eliminated. Just another angle to the behavioral problems to consider. Good luck!

Shara - posted on 02/14/2011

Thank-you Darcey and sounds like you have a worse situation. I notice girls are harder and more violent. My son never hit me has mistreated the animals and I was swift to re- state everything in this house is safe and life respects life here. And also that like home is his safe place in the world no matter what happenns outside he was safe here as are the animals and he has no right to treat anything the way he would not like to be treated. Seemed to relax a bit when he realized home is safe and he can express himself without judgement he gets outside. Let me know how the behavioral therapist works I would like my son to do that along with his usual therapist. What kind of afterschool program do you use?

Darcey - posted on 02/14/2011

We've had to change her diet since she was borderline diabetic. She doesn't like video games and she really doesn't spend a lot of time on tv she likes to interact with people and be involved with hands on activities, unfortunately with the ADHD she doesn't always stay on task for very long so we have to find quick crafts or like this weekend we took her tubeing for a couple hours and she loved it and did very well for the day as well! A nutritionist told me to cut out hot dogs and mac 'n cheese 2 of her biggest favorites, I substituted them with Turkey dogs and organic mac 'n cheese which I disguise in the Kraft boxes in the cabinet. Sometimes what they don't know won't hurt them. I've also tried to up the Omegas, a tip from her Chiropractor, they stimulate the parts of the brain which don't respond properly from the ADHD. We still have our days but all in all it's a battle worth fighting for her.

Heather - posted on 02/14/2011

less tv, video games, sugar, caffeine, change of diet and it can be live able!

Darcey - posted on 02/13/2011

I have the utmost sympathy for you and your son's situation. My daughter has ADHD, ODD, Sensory Disorder, Learning Disabilities, we have been told Bipolar, Aspergers, but she suffers from definate behavioral issues. She can be absolutely great and pleasant one day but a total torture fest the next. I've been kicked in the face for just explaining the rules of behavior before we go in to a restaurant (we never made it for that meal). She has grabbed my arms and just twisted, punched me, hit and spit on her sister, constantly hits our dogs for no reason. She has no friends at school and is required to have a 1:1 at all times for safety. We have her in an after school program now through state funding which is helping but what I am looking at now is a behavioral psychiatrist to work with her and us to help us understand how to manage her behaviors with a positive program before we are all burnt out.

Sarah - posted on 02/13/2011

Hi there! I would highly recommend that you do a little research. Try using google and type in these searches: B vitamins and depression, B vitamins and anxiety, B vitamins and insomnia, B vitamins and mood. Also type in ADHD and amino acids. These are just a few to start off with. I think you will find some really good information out there. It really pays to do the reasearch on topics like this! Nutrition is the one HUGE thing that we don't embrace in our american culture and alot of our foods are very much vitamin, mineral, and amino acid deficient. Check it out and let me know what you come up with!