Hi I was afraid of putting son on medication but it has been brilliant manly because it has tamed tyler so much so that he can concentrate on doing his school work and sit for long enough otherwise he would of got nowhere medication has its benifits
Marie

What is he on? And have you seen any negative side effects?

its a tough decision for any parent. my two boys are adhd and I have had them on meds for 2 years. they are able to do well in school - that important for thier skills. they are less impulsive which helps them with friendships.they are more focused they do better in sports. they are able to formulate thier thoughts better and have great conversations which were otherwise impossible. Thier self esteem is higher. All drugs have side effects. I feel the trade off is worth it. right now we see major success with vyvanse.

My grandson will be six in December and we are tried to deal without meds. We are doing a sugar free diet and the Attentive Child supplements for almost 2 weeks now. Teacher also implemented 1-2-3 magic in school. He is showing improvement.

We also were afraid to put our son 9, on meds. We tried diets, fish oil, behavior management and it boiled down to 5mg(lowest dose) FocalinXR a cleaner, milder form of Ritalin. It changed his life completely. He now refuses to take it so behaivor management and play therapy to try to get him to take his meds is all we can do right now. Do not feel so hesitant. If you don't like the effects, some can be out of their system in 4 hours. You can always try short and work your way up to something long acting. I understand the hesitation, but once I saw my son on the meds It was like night and day for him, feeling good wise.

These are all great replies. First I want to ask, why do you fear the medication? I feared the meds as well for various reasons. I didn't want my daughter on drug therapy so I tried everything else. Nothing seemed to change her disorder. Even the wrong meds and the wrong doses didn't help. When she is on the right meds and the right dose, it is like someone has pointed the sun directly at her and her whole life improves. Please concider what your child may need. My daughter does get along with peers better and and make better grades and all of this plays into self esteem. I love seeing her happy. I make sure her health is constantly monitered and she knows she has to tell me how she feels on different meds. There are some she doesn't like. I believe you can open Focalin and Adderall to put them on a spoonful of pudding, ask your doctor about administration... I am no Doctor.

We have a 7 & 9 yr old on meds for adhd..our sons are both on ritalin..the ritalin has it's good and bad points about it! For the 9 yr old it has increased his appetite, helped him focus more in school, and he takes piano lessons(we were told the music therapy is a very good thing for children with adhd). Our 7 yr old has no interest as of yet for music, but hopefully he will one day! The ritalin hasn't done anything for his appetite either for he never had a large appetite. I have always heard aweful things about ritalin before our son's were on it, and now they are on it..it's a totally different story. Just like any medication it will react differently to everyone's body!

At first we tried many alternatives like diet, fish oil, behavior mod and nothing worked. We finallly started him on Focalin XR he is 9. 5 mg the lowest dose. He did GREAT for 2 weeks then decided he didn't want to take the pills. No side effects or anything, just does not want them. But I agonized for months over this decision, and feel now that it was the best.

ok so I replied 2x's I guess I feel strongly about giving meds a chance. I did not have them growing up and they would have made a world of difference.

Hi

I too was apprehensive about putting my (then Kindergarten-Grade 1) child on meds for his ADHD. You hear so many stories. However, after a few attempts at finding the right med, we did find one that works for him. It certainly does make a difference for him. He can sit and do his school work easier, he can carry on a conversation and doesn't appear to be in "another world", he isn't as impulsive in his decision making (which tends to keep him from making poor choices), and he seems happier in general. Prior to meds, he would tend to get into more fights, be very oppositional, have more meltdowns, etc.... I haven't seen any side effects that would trigger me to stop the meds. Good luck with your decision.
Kathy

Thanks all I got some good info just off this post.
We are raising out grand daughter now 7 and her therpist adn teacher and I all agree we think she needs to be tested. Teacher and I think ADD.
One thing I did find out from her therpist is there is a patch.
Maybe your son could use it if he doesn't like the pills.
I have concerns about the med's also.
But my Grand son started on the meds last year and the difference is amazing. He is now 11 yrs. He even feels and see's the differnence, which in return makes him want to take his med's.
I was just wondering when they are not in school if they have to stay on the medicine? Like the weekends?
My concern there is she goes to her mom's every other weekend,a nd thye are really bad about giving her her med's, and taking them there self. Her mom is an x meth head.

I feel the same way as a lot of the posts on here. I was against meds at first too. I think it is best to use natural methods if that's possible. For us, nothing worked. I finally decided to try the meds when she began getting into trouble in Kindergarten and also had no friends. I had begun to notice a huge difference between her and her peers. As I would say to my family, "Line her up on the side of the road with her friends and cousins her age and she would be the only one to run in the middle of the street when a car was coming!" She had also walked away from me several times to follow strangers because she was "interested in what they were doing". Now that was scarry! She has been on the Daytrana Patch for 4 months and it works wonders! We tried Vyvanse for a month but it didn't work well for her. So far I don't see any side effects except that the area where the patch is gets red from the adhesive being on her all day. We can deal with that though! I do want to say that it is amazing to me the difference between when she is on the meds and when she isn't. I have come to realize that she truly has a disablility when she isn't on her meds.

I'm afraid of putting my son on the meds too. he starts treatment soon. I had her explain to me what would happen. i told her I did not want my son to become a zombie. she said he wouldn't, but as with any treatment, dosage adjustment and possible med changes would be made.

My son is medicated.
It makes him the beautiful person that I know he can be!
Without it, he is not himself anymore.
If you had a heart condition that required medication to make you better, you wouldnt think twice about taking it - would you?
I know I certainly wouldnt.
It isnt the end of the world for your son, think of it as the beginning.
Best of luck.

If you see a child that is a zombie do to his meds for ADD / ADHD he/she is on to much.
My grand son doesn't take the full amount he could take but he is doing so well on the smaller amount they don't want to raise it any. They started him out slowly with the meds.
It all made be a strong beleiver in the meds after seeing the difference with him. Put away your fears, I have.AS someone said if it was his/her heart.........