ADD meds, what works, what doesn't. need to know

[pumanator]

Jon, google search it and go back and check the links that are in this post.
Lord Bless bro

 

[whitestar]

My 7 y/o son is in the process of getting diagnosed. We go this Monday for the final evaluation. He is in second grade and since pre-school the teachers have been gently trying to tell us that he has attention issues. So finally we took the steps to have him checked out.

Our biggest issue with meds is the appetite supression. Our son weighs 62lbs and is on the 95 percentile for height. I would consider him a moderately pickey eater. We are worried that he will loose to much weight. The doctor assures us that they watch that pretty close. We still don't think he can afford to even loose 5 lbs. We are not considering the holistic approach. We feel the medications out there are pretty good in treating this but like I said fear he won't eat anything. Any suggetions?

My son takes Clondine which is actually for lowing blood pressure but they found it works for ADHD too. Its not a stimulate, so does not change their eating. In fact for the first time in my son's life he is getting a little belly on him...not really sure why as he is still very high engery! People get worn out just watching him.....sigh. Anyway you might ask about that. I have heard very little good things about ritalin. To say its safe is a flat out lie. My sister's son was on it and was not growing as much as he should be and very thin. They also have a rebound effect from it...meaning later in the day it wears off and if you think they were hyper before! watch out! My son tried it for three days and couldn't get to sleep until midnight because he was bouncing off the walls after it worn off... It also deeply affected his moods and he broke out in a rash from it too. I had to stop it of course. He cannot take anything stimulates at all. We tried Strattra too which is suppose to not be a stimulate but it makes anxiety worse if they have that and he went over the edge on it! Clonidine can make them sleepy though. My son cannot take a whole pill at all. He takes one eighth at noon at school and 1/4 in the evening so he can sleep.

I have tried all the natural things too, to help him...for one thing you pay out of pocket for anything vitamines, oils, etc and its costly! And for my son, it didn't work...

I was reading on another post on here about certain vitamines helping with ADHD and so got to looking at the vitamines my son takes. He also have bad allergies and taking a daily vitamine seems to help his allergies alot. So I was checking what all is in them and this one listed I didn't know what it was so did a search on it...turns out this also helps with ADHD and depression!

http://www.symmetry4u.com/Ingredients/inositol.htm

Inositol, is often called to as "vitamin B8," and it is present in all animal tissues, with the highest levels in the heart and brain. It is part of the membranes of all cells, and aids the liver process fats as well as contributing to the function of muscles and nerves. Inositol may also be involved in depression. People who are depressed often have much lower-than-normal levels of inositol in their spinal fluid. In addition, inositol participates in the action of serotonin, a neurotransmitter known to be a factor in depression. (Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit messages between nerve cells.) For this reason, inositol has been proposed as a treatment for depression, and preliminary evidence suggests that it may be helpful. Inositol has also been tried for other psychological and nerve-related conditions.
​

SOURCES
Inositol is not thought to be an essential daily nutrient. However, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains, cantaloupe, and citrus fruits supply a substance called phytic acid, which releases inositol when acted on by bacteria in the digestive tract. The typical American diet provides an estimated 1,000 mg as daily supplemental level.

USES
Preliminary double-blind studies suggest that high-d inositol may be useful for depression, panic disorder, Alzheimer's disease, obsessive compulsive disorder, and attention deficit disorder. Inositol is also sometimes proposed as a treatment for the complications of diabetes, specifically diabetic neuropathy, but there have been no placebo-controlled studies, and two uncontrolled studies had mixed results. Finally, inositol has been recommended for bipolar disorder although there is no scientific evidence to support this use.

Scientific research

Depression: Small double-blind studies have found inositol helped for depression. In one such trial, 28 depressed individuals were given a daily dose of 12g of inositol for 4 weeks. By the fourth week, the group who were receiving inositol showed a significant improvement compared to the placebo group.

Panic Disorder - People with panic disorder frequently develop panic attacks, often with no warning. The racing heartbeat, chest pressure, sweating, and other physical symptoms can be so intense that they are mistaken for a heart attack. A small double-blind study
(21 participants) found that people given 12g of inositol daily had fewer, and less severe, panic attacks as compared to the placebo group.

Safety Issues
No serious ill effects have been reported for inositol, even with a therapeutic dosage that equals about 18 times the average dietary intake. However, no long-term safety studies have been performed.

Inositol, is also known as: vitamin B8

 

[whitestar]

they just thought i was on too much sugar. BUt but i justcant turn off my mind. I too zone into other realms it beats this reality anyday beleDAt oh now im typing like will smith. i would like to find resourses for different forms of schizophrenia along with add i think it would de depremental to my recovery. <****at has got to be the longets run on sentence ive ever write! oh yah so if any of you could give me some links it would be great!

Here is a link that might interest you:
http://www.ctds.info/5_13_magnesium.html#magnesium_allergies
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A study in Bulgaria also found magnesium abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia and depression. The authors thought the schizophrenia and depression caused the magnesium deficiencies, but I disagree that that was necessarily the case. When you look at this study within the context of all the other studies mentioned in this section, it is more likely that the magnesium abnormalities caused the mental illness. (There are quite a few studies on magnesium and mental illness on Medline. I just included a few to highlight my points.) [/font]

I had read on that one post where she said magnesium helped with ADHD so I looked it up...turns out it helps with ALOT of different problems. Its pretty interesting...I am going to email this to my whole family, cause some have allergies, some have stomach problems and skin problems ..it seems to cover quiet a lot of things...including ADHD. I think I am going to get some more today and have both my son and I take one every day and see if it helps our allergies and our ADHD. I don't take any medications for my ADD (I don't have the hyper part of it...unless you count my mind being hyper! lol). I just don't have the money for meds for me so have lived with it all my life. I hate not being able to focus (though I can off and on...then I get like super focused and can't switch activties...sigh...but usually I am just bouncing all over the place). I know when I take this vitamine I have more engery physcially, which usually I feel tired...I think my mind wears me out...lol.

Oh, on the ADHD on this site:



[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Attention Deficit Disorder

A medication containing magnesium has been used successfully to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In a study from Poland, children with ADHD were been found to more deficient than controls in a selected number of bioelements. Magnesium deficiencies were the most pronounced difference. Magnesium supplementation in the ADHD children decreased [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]their hyperactivity.

In a study from Germany, boys with reactive behavior problems were treated with a medication containing magnesium with positive results.

I don't know if this relates directly to ADD or ADHD or not, but I found the following [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]study interesting. In a study on guinea pigs, a group of the animals that had [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mg deficiencies induced showed [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]changes in their brain waves. [/font]


[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In a study from England, there was a strong association for more disturbed [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]and excitable patients [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]to have abnormal (either high or low) Mg levels. The authors [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]thought that the patients who seemed most disturbed may have some abnormality [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]of Mg metabolism. [/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Also see my cool links section for more information on ADD.
[/font]










God bless

 

[sunflower1]

I took my daughter at the to testing at a toddlers program because we were concerned with her speech and focusing. She wasnt learning as quickly as we thought she should, although she was very smart, we were concerned with her speech.

We tried the no sugar diet! This meaning, no wheat products, no canned vegtables, no juicy juices, no candy, no dyed products, no rice and it didnt work for our daughter. We tired therapy and disciplin techniques, didnt work and finnlay...

My daughter was to be on Ritalin and I decided to take her off of it becuae it "literally made her zombie like" and I didnt like the way it affecterd her body, eating, attitude, sleeping and everything else that went on. Then she started to get ANGRY on the medication and become violent after a few weeks, we waited becuase it was still "the trial period" and it didnt work.

Then the psychiatirst decided to try the low blood pressure medicine, cant remember the name aymore, we had an EKG done and everything and then I decided to switch doctors becyuase hte doctor cahnged his mind on puttiner her on that medication.

Met with a new doctor adn my daughter is now on Strettera - it works GREAT. At first when she was on it, I noticed it "wearing off" twords the end of the day and she now gets another dose in the afternoon, it works well with her adn we notice that she focuses much better during teh day, she understands what we are saying and rarely ever put her in "time out", to wehre before she was ALWAYS in time out and when she came out she could never tell us "why she ws there" it was like she didnt understand it. She even talks better and clearly, which before we were concerned becuase it was so slurred and mumbled togethor and no one coudl understand what she was saying. She goes to bed in the evening with no problems, to where before it was a fight EVERY night to get her to go to sleep, she was always so "wound up". There are NO side effects wtih this medication and out daughter, she eats great, dosnt have mode swings, adn goes to bed on her own in the evening, and has no weight loss at all.

People are goign to have there say on ADHD/ ADD and say its an excuse for parenting but its not. My husband has ADHD and was on adult strerra for awhile but went off of it after therapy and learned how to deal with it and contole it. It runs on his side of the family as well as mine. We've noticed a big change in our daughter. I hate the fact shes on medication, but its helps her out, helps us out and we can have fun and be a family.

 

[pumanator]

Sunflower....great post...u 2 Whitestar Adult ADD is the worst to deal with for my money...it can affect work and home and if you have a spouse that can't relate it really stinks.

 

[training4utopia]

As one who is overcoming ADHD I hope my advice can help. I was on medication all throughout my childhood. Had (and still have some) all the classics, impulse, compulse, racing mind, problems paying attention, imaginations so creative I could get an anxiety attack (even if it wasn't something bad.) The problem almost totally is focus. A problem with focus can lead to many other things, but the root cause is an inability to focus. When we can focus, we can't snap out. Our mind is ours to control. We have to tap into the part of our brain thats weak and exercise it. If you don't want medication, which I don't, reading is essential. We have to catch this problem and contain it. Most of us are on a 5 minute daydream before we can even snap out of it. When we decide to pay attention we'll have a ton of nonsense trying to break down the barrier of paying attention. Believe it or not we have no choice but to focus. Instead of focusing on whats in front of us, or what we're listening too, we get too caught up in our logic, reason and or imagination. This is why we can be near genius even if you don't have much of an education, but yet still appear dumb to those around us. WE'RE INVERTING WHAT IS MEANT TO BE EXTRAVERTED. This can be done, it's hard and takes extreme dedication. It also means a commitment to give up alot of things we like about it. Thats right, you'd be surprised how much of this stuff we like. read the battle field of the mind by Joyce Meyer. I was never the same after reading this book. I had no idea how much I could control this. It took dedication and alot of praying and effort, but the progress I've made is staggering. And it's only been a little over a month, no meds or anything. I have been beating this thing like crazy all with the help of God and commitment. This can be done easier than you think. We just need the truth. We're simply not controlling our mind. I wasn't even able to pay attention if a pin dropped in the room. When I went out to eat, I could hear every fork scrape every plate, evey persons conversation, the cooks frantically serving orders and the cash register all at the same time. But I couldn't tell you a word my family just spoke at my own table. If I looked on a cluttered table for my car keys, I'd look over the entire clutter and never see 'em, instead of individually looking for the keys. It's ours to beat, I promise. We're too smart and too creative not too. I promise you wondering and pondering is not good. Analizing and rationalizing is not good. Reason and logic can be our worst enemy. Once we can beat this, than we can use all those skills to our true advantage.

 

[pumanator]

. read the battle field of the mind by Joyce Meyer.

You hit a whole bunch of nails on the head...will look for this book

 

[Redstiletto]

As one who is overcoming ADHD I hope my advice can help. I was on medication all throughout my childhood. Had (and still have some) all the classics, impulse, compulse, racing mind, problems paying attention, imaginations so creative I could get an anxiety attack (even if it wasn't something bad.) The problem almost totally is focus. A problem with focus can lead to many other things, but the root cause is an inability to focus. When we can focus, we can't snap out. Our mind is ours to control. We have to tap into the part of our brain thats weak and exercise it. If you don't want medication, which I don't, reading is essential. We have to catch this problem and contain it. Most of us are on a 5 minute daydream before we can even snap out of it. When we decide to pay attention we'll have a ton of nonsense trying to break down the barrier of paying attention. Believe it or not we have no choice but to focus. Instead of focusing on whats in front of us, or what we're listening too, we get too caught up in our logic, reason and or imagination. This is why we can be near genius even if you don't have much of an education, but yet still appear dumb to those around us. WE'RE INVERTING WHAT IS MEANT TO BE EXTRAVERTED. This can be done, it's hard and takes extreme dedication. It also means a commitment to give up alot of things we like about it. Thats right, you'd be surprised how much of this stuff we like. read the battle field of the mind by Joyce Meyer. I was never the same after reading this book. I had no idea how much I could control this. It took dedication and alot of praying and effort, but the progress I've made is staggering. And it's only been a little over a month, no meds or anything. I have been beating this thing like crazy all with the help of God and commitment. This can be done easier than you think. We just need the truth. We're simply not controlling our mind. I wasn't even able to pay attention if a pin dropped in the room. When I went out to eat, I could hear every fork scrape every plate, evey persons conversation, the cooks frantically serving orders and the cash register all at the same time. But I couldn't tell you a word my family just spoke at my own table. If I looked on a cluttered table for my car keys, I'd look over the entire clutter and never see 'em, instead of individually looking for the keys. It's ours to beat, I promise. We're too smart and too creative not too. I promise you wondering and pondering is not good. Analizing and rationalizing is not good. Reason and logic can be our worst enemy. Once we can beat this, than we can use all those skills to our true advantage.

Wow this is an awesome positive perspective, thanks for sharing!!!

nic

 

[Shesjr]

Well our son’s doctor gave us the news this past Monday…he has ADHD and prescribed him medication. Oh well, my H and I have much to consider now and how we will proceed. All we want for our boy is for him to be able to do as good as he possibly can do in life and if med’s can help him then why not?? The doctor assured us that the medications prescribed are tired and true, 40 years of data from studies. He said the ADD type meds are the group of medications most studied by the pediatric medicine. I mentioned that blood pressure med Clondine I think it is. He is familiar with it and uses it as a second or third try if the other meds don’t work. He prescribed our son Ritalin; he assured us that the benefits of this medication far out weigh the reported side affects. So we will see as we plan on doing our own research on the ADD type medications to make the best education decision for our son. Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[training4utopia]

Shesjr I should have pointed out that I was referring to adult ADHD/ADD. Once he's grown he might could do this even easier since he'll already have an idea how to grasp it since he was one meds. A child would have to have adult maturity and intelligence to even attempt what I wrote. Also children that don't even have ADD do not have the life skills required to understand impulse control and etc....

 

[Shesjr]

Shesjr I should have pointed out that I was referring to adult ADHD/ADD. Once he's grown he might could do this even easier since he'll already have an idea how to grasp it since he was one meds. A child would have to have adult maturity and intelligence to even attempt what I wrote. Also children that don't even have ADD do not have the life skills required to understand impulse control and etc....

I kind of thought that after I read what you wrote. Thanks. What med's did you take?

 

[sunflower1]

ShesJR...

Good luck with diagnosing your child with ADD/ ADHD, I know its a very difficult time for you, I really hope that the ritalin works for your child. My daughter was on ritalin for about three months and it ended up makienr her worse in, however that dosnt mean that it wont work for your child. We have to keep in mind that all children taken all medications differnetly, they never react that same as the next child. We tired there different meds before we foudn the stretarra to be more beneficial than any toher emdication. If you need any help let me know.

 

[training4utopia]

Ritalin from 6-13. Then I started going off and on of it for a while. When I was 18 I started taking concerta. Same stuff except it's slow release. I started trippin' like I was on speed with the concerta. Ritalin peaks and drops pretty quickly. If that stuff is ever put in front of your kid, get a second oppinion. They use Straterra for kids your's age, but it has been known to give children suicide thoughts and such. These drugs are the same thing as coke and speed, you want to start of with as low of a dose as possible. How many miligrams are they suggesting for him? Hopefully 10 or less.

 

[Shesjr]

Ritalin from 6-13. Then I started going off and on of it for a while. When I was 18 I started taking concerta. Same stuff except it's slow release. I started trippin' like I was on speed with the concerta. Ritalin peaks and drops pretty quickly. If that stuff is ever put in front of your kid, get a second oppinion. They use Straterra for kids your's age, but it has been known to give children suicide thoughts and such. These drugs are the same thing as coke and speed, you want to start of with as low of a dose as possible. How many miligrams are they suggesting for him? Hopefully 10 or less.

Yes they started him with 10mg of the long lasting Ritalin once per day in the early morning. We start him tomorrow so if you could pray for us, my boy's name is Adam...

 

[Shesjr]

We gave him his first 10mg dose just about an hour ago....I will keep you posted!

 

[aspie2x]

My son is 10 and had ADHD, he also has High Functioning Autism. We have tried Dexanphetamine which helped him concentrate better but at the doses he needed to be helpful, it caused Agression, sleeplessness and poor appetite.
we also tried the long release Ritalin which you only need to take once a day. Again though it helped him concentrate, he became mouthy and talked back always, which he didnt do before, nor does he now. He also took really big risks. He couldnt see he was putting himself in danger.
Now he is on normal Ritalin and it works a bit. You can tell when he hasnt had it. However he should have a higher dose to be more useful but it causes agression so he is only on a minimal dose.
Ive tried the fish oil and magnesium an improvong his diet to no avail.
Its all trial and error. What works for some may not work for you.

 

[Shesjr]

My son is 10 and had ADHD, he also has High Functioning Autism. We have tried Dexanphetamine which helped him concentrate better but at the doses he needed to be helpful, it caused Agression, sleeplessness and poor appetite.
we also tried the long release Ritalin which you only need to take once a day. Again though it helped him concentrate, he became mouthy and talked back always, which he didnt do before, nor does he now. He also took really big risks. He couldnt see he was putting himself in danger.
Now he is on normal Ritalin and it works a bit. You can tell when he hasnt had it. However he should have a higher dose to be more useful but it causes agression so he is only on a minimal dose.
Ive tried the fish oil and magnesium an improvong his diet to no avail.
Its all trial and error. What works for some may not work for you.

So you see better results from the short Ritalin lasting (4 hours) vs the slow release (8 hours)? The medication is basically the same so I wonder why there is a difference in behavior between the two. How many mg does he take and how often? Just wondering becaue striking the balance of type of med and dosage is vital to these children.

 

[training4utopia]

I'll be sure to keep you and yours all in my prayers. Ritalin does have a side affect with aggression. To make matters worse I grew up in an angry house as well. My rage has been out of control since I was 12. I have only recently do to conviction and revelation by the Holy Spirit been able to confront this. I was given a drug called 'rispirdol' in conjunction with ritalin to combat the anger when I was 13. Then I was prescribed 'elavil' so I could go to sleep. Always try to keep doses as low as possible. Talk with the doctors so you can try to find the happy medium. I was doped up on something nearly my entire childhood, it all started with a measly 5 miligrams of ritalin. Than 10, than 20. Then new drugs and more new drugs. Keep an eye out for elevating trends in the amount of medication your child is getting. Also always try to find the flaws. Encourage your children and learn this with them, so that when they get older they can start taking care of this on there own. Autism is a different story and will probably always require medication. Again I'll keep you all in my prayers. The older a child with ADD/ADHD gets the more intelligent he'll likely become. The imagination of someone with ADD is usally always brilliant, but still needs to be contained. The reason is because even though an imagination can bring intelligence, it can also bring fears, anxieties and emotional problems. The reason is because the stimuli released when someone solves something do to imgaination produces excitement. If one is not able to contain this they'll harp on it and not be able to snap out. This varies do to the persons condition, and usally is something to look out for in teen years and early adulthood. It's also something thats easy to overcome as long as the person is aware of what it is andhow it works. While this sounds strange to most people, keep in mind that the things a person with ADD can figure out are at times mind boggling. We have a very unique ability to simply reason, analize and get something out of it. Logic and intelligence can also breed agression, because what they realize fast takes time for most to comprehend. This in turn will test their patience with all sorts of things in life.

 

[Shesjr]

I'll be sure to keep you and yours all in my prayers. Ritalin does have a side affect with aggression. To make matters worse I grew up in an angry house as well. My rage has been out of control since I was 12. I have only recently do to conviction and revelation by the Holy Spirit been able to confront this. I was given a drug called 'rispirdol' in conjunction with ritalin to combat the anger when I was 13. Then I was prescribed 'elavil' so I could go to sleep. Always try to keep doses as low as possible. Talk with the doctors so you can try to find the happy medium. I was doped up on something nearly my entire childhood, it all started with a measly 5 miligrams of ritalin. Than 10, than 20. Then new drugs and more new drugs. Keep an eye out for elevating trends in the amount of medication your child is getting. Also always try to find the flaws. Encourage your children and learn this with them, so that when they get older they can start taking care of this on there own. Autism is a different story and will probably always require medication. Again I'll keep you all in my prayers. The older a child with ADD/ADHD gets the more intelligent he'll likely become. The imagination of someone with ADD is usally always brilliant, but still needs to be contained. The reason is because even though an imagination can bring intelligence, it can also bring fears, anxieties and emotional problems. The reason is because the stimuli released when someone solves something do to imgaination produces excitement. If one is not able to contain this they'll harp on it and not be able to snap out. This varies do to the persons condition, and usally is something to look out for in teen years and early adulthood. It's also something thats easy to overcome as long as the person is aware of what it is andhow it works. While this sounds strange to most people, keep in mind that the things a person with ADD can figure out are at times mind boggling. We have a very unique ability to simply reason, analize and get something out of it. Logic and intelligence can also breed agression, because what they realize fast takes time for most to comprehend. This in turn will test their patience with all sorts of things in life.

Wow thank you so much for your imput. We are on our 5th day of 10mg of the medication and there is some improvment. His teacher reported on Monday and Tuesday this week (we have off the rest of this week for Thanksgiving,,oh BTW Happy Thanksgiving my CF friends ) that he seems more focused but still being impulsive in his conduct in the class. Not agressive kind of impulsive just blurting things out, and being a distraction in the class. I just figure that some of that is his personaility. I am an extrovert type of a person and I think he is too. I don't want to dope him up so much that it surpresses who he is as a person . If we don't see the continued improvment, before we up the mg's, I may ask the doctor to switch to the fast release so he'd be taking one in the morning at home and another one in the nurses office at school around lunch time.

Thank you so much for keeping Adam in your prayers. Last night was parent/teacher conference. His teacher confided in us that in her years teaching, she has never had such a nice, considerate and kind boy in her class. I think Adam is her favorite .

 

[mylittlelambs]

You are going to try them, My son went thru 4 before he got the right one. He is suppose to take straterra, it works well with him. Ita a non stimulint. Good luck