Parenting Children with ADHD & ODD

Hello,

My 5 year old son was diagnoses with ADHD, I've always known that he had it though. We originally didn't want to put him on stimulants so we tried omega 3, and did the strict schedule, etc..

He is a really sweet kid but so hard to control, he darts out in front of cars, screams, has a very hard time finishing his sentences, he stutters and repeats to the point where he can't remember what he was going to say.

So we caved and they have put him on Adderall, he went from 5, to 10mg to 5 long lasting.

the only thing is when he is on it sometimes its like he is depressed, he is very sensitive, cries a lot and is so emotional.

I would love your input on this, but also its nice just to talk to people who understand, and who have been there and are going through the same thing

EPA Mom - Unfortunately this group doesn't seem too active. I came here for some help/support too. I wish I had some advice for you but I am pretty new at this. I just took custody of my 9-year old niece who has add. Her parents had her on the highest dose of Concerta possible for children (although she is pretty little - only weighs about 55 pounds). We are gradually cutting back her dose. Once we dropped the dose, I noticed that she actually seems calmer. Before it was more noticeble when she was coming off the medicine. I am also very strict about no colors, no soda. The other thing that I noticed really calmed her down was yoga. She will do it with me for over an hour and it does wonders for both of us. Good luck to you! Redwood

I nephew was on the adderall and had lots of side effects with it. My son was lucky and the first medicine we tried had worked well for him. He is now 9 an can function really good during the day at school, but we still have melt downs in the mornings and evenings. I would keep the communication open with your doctor since there are tons of options out there.

I found that when my son was four I had him on a no food dye diet and it worked really well. However. it takes 2 weeks to detox it and food dye is in everything. Once he got into 1st grade I had troubles monitoring his food with candy and cupcakes flowing at school. One bite of anything with food dye took a week to get back out of his system.

Post edited by: summom11, at: 04/11/2012 08:11 AM