Behavior, Anxiety, ADHD...HELP!

Laurie - posted on 03/05/2012

My son has both plus odd he takes adderal and depakote he used to take abilify for the ocd but we decided to take him off that one and he has done well without it.

Jamie - posted on 02/28/2012

Oh she sounds like me!



She sounds like she may be a more severe case, but I too as a child (and now) have ADD, OCD, and anxiety.



I wasn't medicated for it, but school was horrific for me. If you can find alternative ways of learning that is probably your best bet. I hate Ritalin, under extreme cases and as last resort only IMHO-



your her mom, you know what is best! Trust your gut!

Diana - posted on 02/28/2012

My kid began to have anxiety problems when she was 6 and when she turned 8 they put her on medication. I was like no way at first she would be walking around like a zombie. but then I spoke to other parents. It seemed to help she was ADD also. She was not put on Ritalin but another medication for her ADD & medication for her Anxiety. She is 23 and as long as she says on the medication she is fine. but when she is off the medication she is out of control. Do what the dr's suggest try it. I don't know much on the OCD but it will surely help. Good luck to you. Their should be more good special education teachers such as youself. Their were some that my daughter had that just didn't care about the kids. Thank you for caring.

Laura - posted on 02/05/2012

Hi Kristi! I will deffinitly let you know what the mg is when we start it his INC has to approve it so it may be awhile! I love circle of moms it's a great way to get advice fro other moms! I hope you have a great nite and a great week!

Kristie - posted on 02/05/2012

Hi Laura! I hope the Concerta works. Please let me know. If you don't mind me asking what mg they want you to try. I think there is an 18 and 27mg pill. That is the drug of choice to try next for my kiddos per their neurologist. I hope your little one is feeling better.



I have also heard they can have some coffee or something else with caffeine to help them at night. Glad it is working for you Shelly.



I am so glad I joined circle of moms :-) It is really nice to talk to other moms who are dealing with very similar issue.

Laura - posted on 02/04/2012

thank you so much for the tips! hes also on Intuniv which I don't think is working at all but the doctor sure seems to think so! I'm just hoping we can find the right one for him!

Shelly - posted on 02/04/2012

also try giving them a small cup of coffee that seems to help my kids in the evening when their medicine starts to ware off talked to my kids doctor about it and she said it was oky once in awhile he didnt like coffee at first so we made choc.milk and added coffee to that and he loves it

Shelly - posted on 02/04/2012

yes I have 3 adopted kids with ADHD and they are all on medicine when my son was 4 he was put on ritalin and wow that medicine caused lots more problems so we switched to concerta WOW what a diffrence that one made,well he is 10 now and guess what concerta does not work on him no more he is now back on ritalin and its working this time so dont give up it just takes a while to get the right medicine and the right dose but once you get there it is so worth it now my other 2 are taking concerta and they have been on it the whole time so far we have only added to the dose they take also my 10 year old is also taking a time relased ritalin during the day and after school he takes more ritalin that only last for 4 hours which is to strong for him so we cut his pills in half and it seems to be working so far he does not take this one on a daily basis only when hes more hyper

Laura - posted on 02/04/2012

HI Kristie! thank you so much for asking about the appointment! they want us to try concerta if his inc will approve it! don't know anything about that med so we will see! yea my 2 year old got sick with the stomach bug! hope you enjoy your weekend too!

Kristie - posted on 02/04/2012

Hi Laura! I hope your doctors appointment with your son went well. Do you think you got any of the answers you were seeking?



We have had a hard week with our son getting sick. He started out with step throat and then he got pneumonia. He also has asthma which is now really bothering him. We have been to the dr. 4 times this week. He is now on a stronger antibiotic and a steroid. I have been giving him breathing treatments around the clock every 4hrs. My daughter started coughing and acting sick last night. I hope she doesn't get as bad as my son. Might have to take her in to the dr. today.



I hope you enjoy your weekend and have some improvment with your sons meds.

Laura - posted on 02/01/2012

wow thats some awesome pointers! consistencey is NUMBER 1! and thats been hard with us to deal with my 5 year old son who as ADHD! but thank you so much for the pointers!

Maria Rios - posted on 02/01/2012

my daughter now 9 was born with a tumor on her brain after it was removed it was like a cross between rasing helen keller and taming of the shrew... I put her in head start at 3 and started her in early ed services at 3 the teachers and everyone else was pushing me to perscribe but i had a goo pedi who said no she is too young. we had behavorial specialists motorskills speach and got her first IEP..She was on track for kinder.. Well "play grandma" decided to take over from there thats a different story but anyways my child is on aderol and another pill that makes her like a zombie at night I cant say if its working or not shes a great student but yeah we get the stupid thing alot its not a medical thing its an ADHD thing hence attention. Its a minipulative manuevere for control. we were very encouraging in the tell us how you feel phase hahaha oboy... now we are like ya thats nice you still have to...take a bath, brush your teeth, do your homework, consistency is the key dont cave my child is a passive restraint type have ent done it in a while thank God cause it sucks... but kids will normaly tell you im dizzy or whatever as far a physcial illness complaints. Work on the behavoir managent and remember you dont have to attend every fight your invited to and you are in control in the school setting we used a "special learnig shirt" weighted vest less apt to jump up durring circle and learning time paying attention to what times a day she gets more irritable and why is she over worked in the afternoon? Does she needa snack all that ADHD isa lot of work too. My daughter said my brain is goinin faster than my body thats when I was cved to meds . Consistencey is key with new diagnosis try to keep everything as the same as possible for a while bed times , snacks high activity times store visits etc tell her she is not stupid leave it at that and find something she enjoys doing my girl had a 13 second attention span at first I was goin Nutz couldnt foucs on anything longer than 13 seconds EXCEPT coloring and cutting shes a great artist.... I dont have all the answers I'm workin thru this too but this is what seems to help and were ok ......no if I get the whole hygine thing down i'll get rid of this tention headace lol have a good nite ...

Laura - posted on 02/01/2012

thank you so much for your help! we are also hoping that we get the answers that we are looking for! you have a great point when you said that your kids are worse when the meds are wearing off cuz my son gets really rowdy at nite! I would really like to get to you know a little more it's really nice to have moms to talk to that are going threw the same exact things as I am!

Kristie - posted on 01/31/2012

I'm new to this so please forgive me if I have sent the last 2 replies. I thought I replied but didn't see if posted. So here I go again.



I wish you lots of luck. I sure hope you get your answers on friday. I do know that my kids are worse when their meds are wearing off. I think worse than before starting meds. I can't even imagine what they must really be feeling.

We are going to wait until their neurologist sends his report to their pediatrician before we try Concerta.



Let me know how it goes friday.

Laura - posted on 01/31/2012

thats what we are trying to figure out! we are meeting with his doctor again this friday to talk more about the meds and to try come up with some answers for all we know the Ritalin could be the one not working cause his behaviors seem to be getting worse!

Kristie - posted on 01/31/2012

That's a hard choice. Can he do well without the Intuiv? Do you think the combo of both meds are making him like a zombie? My kids haven't been on ADHD meds for long so I'm new to a lot of the meds out there. It was def a concern for me on how they would be. Don't want them to be like zombies!!

Laura - posted on 01/30/2012

my son is 5 years old and is on Ritalin and we are having a hard time deciding if its working hes also on the Intuniv and has been a walking zambie! we are concidering taking him off of it!

Kristie - posted on 01/30/2012

Thanks so much for the info. So glad Concerta is working for your kids. I hope we have a good outcome on it as well. My one big concern is lower appetite. My son is already small for his age (38lbs and he is 6 1/2) but, he started out at 1lb 14 oz. I wonder if the longer they are on Concerta if their appetite will slowley increase?



I will have to look into the CBT. My daughter is starting back with an O.T. 2 days a week and they both are going to their first social skills class this Saturday :-)

Carmen - posted on 01/30/2012

For us (I have two on Concerta), we have had a positive experience with Concerta. We tried Vyvanse and there were horrible mood swings. The Concerta has a 12-hour time release capsule which has worked well. The side effects we have experienced have been more trouble falling asleep at night as well as a lower appetite.



My child with anxiety has been undergoing CBT for a year and a half now. We go through a psychology practice for this, but we see a therapist with an MSW. That has been a godsend because not only does it give him strategies for managing his anxiety, but she also gives us as parents skills for better parenting and managing these issues. Worth every penny.

Kristie - posted on 01/30/2012

I have 6 yr old boy/girl twins and they have both been diagnosed with ADHD. (They were born 9wks premature.) My daughter also has anxiety issues.(not on meds for but neuro suggested we might think about it) Their neurologist just suggested switching their med to Concerta. They are on Methylphenidate now. Does Concerta seem to work well and not have ups and downs? Their med now seems to only last a few hrs and before it's time to take a 2nd pill the first one has worn off. Who does the CBT theapy?

Laura - posted on 01/27/2012

my 5 year old son has been on Ritalin since the end of October and we are having a hard time deciding if its working cause his behaviors seem to be getting worse then better.

Claudia - posted on 01/18/2012

My son has ADHD as well. One of the big factors in helping improve the symptoms is to watch your daughter's diet. Make sure she doesn't eat anything with additives like preservatives or food colorings, and eliminate processed foods and sugars. Use honey sparingly for sweetening up things. When you read the labels, make sure EVERYTHING on the label is something you recognize as a food. "Natural flavorings" and other foodlike-sounding substances are NOT food, and can lead to reactions in sensitive children. Other things you can try to eliminate (and if you do so, do it one at a time for a period of a month each) are gluten and dairy. Also make sure that she eats mostly fruits, lightly steamed or stir-fried vegetables, and whole grains, supplemented by healthy proteins. Meat should be organic, and if you eat beef, it should be 100% grass-fed - the corn-fed beef that most stores sell have unhealthy fats in them and may contain hormones, antibiotics and other harmful substances.



Another thing that can help is acupuncture/acupressure and herbs. There are plenty of cases where these modalities helped, and if you find a good practitioner with enough experience, they will work with you on diet as well. There are a lot of articles on the positive effects of Eastern medicine for behavioral problems.



Also, OCD often occurs within a few week to a month after an infectious disease like strep throat or other bacterial or viral infections. Again, working with an acupuncturist and herbalist will help with that, since there are a large number of herbs that can clear subclinical infections.



I have seen many children in my clinic that have improved immensely with the help of acupuncture, acupressure, dietary changes and herbs. And unlike Western pharmaceuticals, herbs come without side effects.

Carmen - posted on 01/18/2012

My son has a similar combination of Anxiety/ADHD. It took us a long time to get to the heart of the matter and make progress. We heard the same kinds of things (I can't do anything right, I hate life, etc.)



What is working for us *right now* is a combination of ADHD meds (currently we are on Concerta) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for managing the anxiety. We tried everything we could think of before turning to meds, but nothing was effective. He could not focus enough during therapy for the CBT to be meaningful until we started the meds.



Anxiety meds have been discussed as well, bu I have been reluctant to try that yet.

Tiffany - posted on 01/17/2012

My son was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety when he was that same age, 5. His doctor put him on Intuniv, but it turned him into a walking zombie....very sad to see my normally funny, hyper boy turn into a sleepy shell of himself. We took him off and have not tried anything else yet. Sorry, not much help!