Okay ADHD diagnosis at 5 has turned to ADHD, anxiety, OCD and aspergers syndrom at 7 year

Karren - posted on 06/14/2012

Straterra didn't work for my boy's. I gave it w/ the Adderal and w/o. The doctor and I had done this expiriment for 4 months. Both had gotten more aggressive towards each other and myself. I am a stay home mom and I love my kids to death. My 11 yr old knew what was on the line, no matter what we did to control his impulsive behavior it just didn't work.

Karren - posted on 06/14/2012

I can definitely relate to you and this situation. I have 2 boys, 6 and 11, who both have PDD/NOS and ADHD. they both have been on Adderal since 1st grade. Now the 11 yr old takes Adderal XR 30mg in the am, Adderal 5mg @3 pm (to hold him through homework and till bed time), Clonodine 0.1mg (for sleep) and Respiradone 1mg (for aggression) before bed. My 6 yr old takes Adderal XR 15mg in the am, Adderal 5mg @3 pm (to hold him through till bed time), Respiradone 0.5mg (this medicine helped him make it to 2nd grade, he was supposed to be left back) and Melatonin 6mg before bed. Many people, like my parents, would say that I am over medicating them, but I have tried everything. I have taken them to all sorts of therpies, tried to keep them busy w/ sports, but all my 11 yr old did was bite his fingers and was diturbing to other children. My 6 yr old just didn't want to do anything and asked to sit out. They are both gifted and my 11 yr old recieved the presidential award for education. They love their XBox360 and their other gaming systems. They are not very social, but we make time to go to the park and the pool or even the basketball court. Don't force them to do anything if they aren't ready or don't want to. My kids told me that there were too many people watching and interacting w/ them, that's why they didn't like it. They weren't ready.

Dawn - posted on 06/14/2012

I just re-read posts and saw the skin picking/meltdown comments. when my son was on adderall EVERYTHING cause a meltdown to point he had to be restrained at preschool because he was hurting himself. He would throw his shoes and socks and pick his toes till they bled and slam his head on the floor. He would get nervous and rub his thumb w/his nail until it would bleed (still has large callus) and pull his top lip out until red and swollen. The finger he sucks became the finger he bit. He did not do any of this (besides finger sucking, sometimes lip pulling , but not to that extent) pre-adderall he stopped most of this 2 days after switching to strattera. His implusivity and hyperactivity is only a little less--not sure how he will be in school as he was done the first week of may and will not go back until aug----but the side effects were just too much on adderal

Dawn - posted on 06/14/2012

Adderall made my sons autism move from HF to classical. We are on Strattera now w/tennex in the afternoon. Still working on dose (he is 4) but this is SOOOOOOOO much better than the adderall. Try looking at cornsyrup and food color--those seem to make the hyperactivity and impulsivity reach a point where we feel we may need meds to deal with him. Try a different medication and see if it helps. I heard about a patch that was not supposed to be in the system too long after removal. I dont remember anything else about it other than my son was too young for it. There are some OTC herbal things at the health food stores, did not work for my son but many people say they do. Maybe have a test done to see what suppliments maybe missing or if there is a yeast infection. We do ours as a urine test and it tells the doc what vits, minerals, chemicals maybe out of wack. Our son is still battling yeast and until its gone we dont know what the "real" problems could be as yeast can cause many of the symptoms we see. When we started the testing his yeast was 4x what it should be and at his level it is know to cause psycological problems. Hope this helps--if you want I can look up what the test is called. BTW diagnosis--ADHD firtst, then mild spd, then PDD-NOS and ODD. The ADHD was/is so bad they wanted meds at 3 I tried other methods that helped but was not enough (his impulse problems lead to people getting hurt when he is happy or upset) and he started med at 3y 11m he is now 4y 2m.

Tandi - posted on 06/12/2012

My son was initially diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 6, which was later changed to Asperger's Syndrome at the age of 10. Most tests for Asperger's aren't entirely suitable for younger children, and more often than not Asperger's isn't even considered until the child is in middle school. My advice is to do all the research you can, because Asperger's doesn't exactly require medication, and if you're son truly has asperger's, he may be taking medication he doesn't need. good luck.

Angela - posted on 06/05/2012

My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD at 3 which is very rare, but she did meet all the criteria. We started her on Ritalin during Kindergarten because the teachers said she was highly distracted and couldn't sit in her seat. It worked for a while then we had to try something else. Almost 3 years ago a new doctor put her on Vyvanse and referred us to a specialist. She is high-functioning autistic with hyperactivity. We continued her on the medicine and when she had difficulty sleeping at night we tried tenex then intuniv. It helped at the time but I noticed she would have terrible nightmares. She is currently in 6th grade which has brought on many challenges including anxiety and panic attacks at school. She would fight to go to school and would only be happy with me around. The same doctor suggested a child psychologist who works with children that are on the spectrum. She's now been diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and OCD. These are VERY COMMON in children that have a spectrum disorder. She is currently taking zoloft with her vyvanse and it has worked wonders. She is gaining weight and much calmer than ever. I know some people have issues medicating their children due to side effects, but in the long run the means will be greater. I would continue focusing on the best treatment for your child. It's a long road and yes, very stressful, but you are already on a great path. You are asking for help. Keep up with it, prozac doesn't work for everyone but their are 3 or 4 meds out there that may help. I would also look into group therapy and individual therapy. I don't know if school is an issue or will be, but I would look into every service they have available to your child. I've also found family therapy helps too, especially if there are siblings. I hope this helps....don't hesitate to ask for more help!

Val - posted on 05/25/2012

Rossanne what is EFT? I would love to try it. I am going to look it up right now and see where you can get it. Is there a longer name for it? Val (robixqueen@yahoo.com).

Rossanne - posted on 05/24/2012

EFT can help anxiety very easily. It reduces the hormone cortisol in the brain so that the fear responses are not triggered as easily.

Katie - posted on 05/21/2012

Not that I would every wish what my son has gone through on anybody, but it is reassuring to know that there are other moms (and dads) out there that have gone through a similar situation. My son has had ADHD ever since preschool, technically diagnosed at age 5. He's had little quirks about him ever since, of which I related to the medication and side effects. However, as the melt downs got worse and he seemed more stand-offish (among many other behaviors), I would begin to wonder if there was something else going on. I first mentioned my concern to my son's dr back in Sept and by Dec we had a referral to a neuro-psychological testing institute. The testing didn't take place until March. That was when I learned that my son also has an anxiety disorder, asperger's, and a cognitive disorder, in addition to the ADHD. My son is now 11. I was a little taken back by the diagnosis, but relieved to have some answers. As I was listening to the psychologist who performed the testing and as she was delivering the results to me, she was explaining that it is very typical for there to be a dual-diagnosis, with more than one thing going on at the same time. ADHD is a disorder that oftentimes hides or disguises some of the symptoms of other disorders. I felt bad and had a little bit of mommy guilt for not recognizing these symptoms throughout the past 6 years. It didn't take me long to realize the only thing I could do was to move forward and do what I can for him now. He is now on an anti-anxiety med along with his Concerta for his ADHD. I haven't heard many good things about vyvanse. Medication is always a difficult thing because of how long it takes to show the actual results, it's a trial and error process to even find the right medication, and even when you do find the right medication that works wonder for your child now, it may not still work in a year to two. Then you're finding yourself starting the process all over again.

Val - posted on 05/21/2012

Heather thank you so much for your reply. I am finding out this condition is more complex and the medications are much more complicated than I ever anticipated. When my daughters Principal said that finding the correction medication could take several years I never thought I would be still on the medication roller coaster three years later. My daughter was initially diagnosed in kindergarten almost three years ago. I had no idea that I would still be in the diagnoistic stage of the game. My daughters brownie leaders child is having the nail biting and skin picking. Lauryn is just having all of these melt downs leading to a lot of problems at school. If she is assessed to have aspbergers then she will be put in a program they have at her school to help her with social skills. We have met with administrators to start getting classroom accomodations to assist her with her testing and class work. Home work is right now a chore. We had to hire a tutor to get through second grade, if you can believe it.

I did not think the co morbidities would be so extreme and start so soon. I have been looking for a pediatric psychiatrist since we have not had very much luck with the pediatric nuerologist, we have met with a child psychologist which was the first to suggest autism spectrum disorder. which specialist did you have the best luck with?

We have not tried Tenex before but vyvanse is a nightmare right now. I was in hopes that many of the problems were medicaions related, but after reading your comment I see that a simple medication change may not help us now. I plan to look further into the specialist (insurance is the culprit as to changing physicians right now), and look up that medication Tenex. It is very frustrating to see my child or any child go through what she is going through, I feel helpless, but have no other choice but to keep trying. I just never thought it would be this way.

Heather - posted on 05/20/2012

It is very possible to have a co-mormid with ADHD. My daughter was 12 when she had testing for possible non-verbal learning disorder(autism spectrum), but was dianogosed ADHD and generalized anxiety. The doctor thought that the anxiety was due to the ADHD, and would subside once the ADHD was treated, but eventually she ended up being treated for the anxiety as well. About 18mths later she was also diagnosed with OCD due to increased anxiety, which brought on skin picking. Her new doc(love him!) thinks that she does not actually have anxiety, but the anxiety-like symptoms are actually part of the ADHD. But, interesting enough, some symptoms that we had attributed to taking meds were actually depression. Now at 17 she has a diagnosis of ADHD and MDD, takes meds for both, and is doing great. My son was dignosed with ADHD at age 9, and his doctor also believes he has ODD. But, then again, the symptoms of ODD can be typical of kids who are very ADHD. He takes an ADHD med and Tenex.

IMHO, symptoms of autism/Aspberger's would not manifest from taking ADHD or anti-depressant meds. Also, IMHO, symptoms of anxiety and OCD can be increased by meds. It has been a LONG road to find the right meds for my kids, and I have seen that ADHD meds can definitely increase anxiety, which may end up looking like OCD. Taking certain meds caused my anxious daughter more anxiety, which manifested in skin-picking. We then tried Zoloft to help with the OCD, but it never helped much because she didn't really have it. I have seen Vyvanse and Intuniv both cause extreme anger/mood swings/darkness in my son. I was diagnosed with adult ADHD in December, and Vyvanse caused me to rage. It is such a trial and error thing to find the right med, but with good testing with a neuropsychologist, developmental psychologist, child psychiatrist, etc, you should be able to distinguish between the disorders and what might be causing what. Good luck, and keep trying. I know it is so frustrating as a parent to get it all figured out, but it is infinitely more frustrating for your son.

Val - posted on 05/14/2012

That is very interesting, what did you do Jen? Therapy or medication, or just letting her grow up? Val

Jen - posted on 05/14/2012

Luckily my daughter hasn't had an out of control melt down until the first attempt at 1st grade. I literally had to threaten the school to pull her out of school completely for her to be put back into kindergarten. She clearly was not ready. I wish we could've done that one more year... she's doing well now. Every once in awhile she actually reverts to kinder-speak and we have to remind her of her age. We don't have a lot of melt downs, she mostly collapses into herself and shuts down when confronted.

Kim - posted on 05/14/2012

We have been down a similar road with multiple diagnosis. Each kid will have a different path that works for them, and if medication helps, you will have to determine which medication (or combination) works best for them. For us, the biggest help was getting the school district on board. The right teacher and learning enviornment made a HUGE difference for our son. We are still trying to get a handle on the anxiety, but he isn't melting down anymore and for the majority of the day he can focus and function as well as any other boy his age, and we have discovered that he is much smarter than they gave him credit for in the past. Best of luck, with patience and perserverance, you will get there.

Inga - posted on 05/09/2012

Hi, my son was on Intuniv for 6 weeks, however, after taking it for 3 weeks he started to become paranoid, scared and falling asleep in school. He also started to suffer from terrible nightmares. All this was going on for another 3 weeks and I did not realize that Ituniv was causing this. Only after doing some research, I realized. We just took him of this medication. I am not saying that your child will develop the same side effects, just keep an eye on him.

Val - posted on 05/09/2012

Does your daughter have the out of control meltdowns? Mine has more than focus issues, she will not sit down. I wish I could not medicate, cause it is horrible. In kinder she was out of control. We went through two teachers that year. The first one just told me she did not know what to do with her. She never did one thing and was failing. The second one was great! She let her stand up and do her work, and had a lot of interventions she made up on her own for Lauryn, but we still had to medicate. Each year gets worse than the next. What did you do with your daughter when she was younger to keep her from just going bonkers?

Jen - posted on 05/09/2012

My 14 year old just went through a battery of tests (because I wanted to finally get to the bottom of it) her new diagnosis are ADHD, OCD, Asperger's and bipolar disorder. It happens. She's not medicated and hasn't been medicated in about 6 years. We will be medicating in high school to help her with her focus. It happens. It's ok.