adhd

[sharon01]

I have 4 Children 3 boys and a daughter two of my boys have ADHD, both are on perscribed Ritalin. What are peoples view on Ritalin

[Chessman]

I have a friend who was prescribed Ritalin to calm her son, he also suffers from fits, it sent him absolutely crazy, she had to take him off it, ask your gp or consultant about side effects.

[ursula62]

I have a friend whose son was put on this at about 14 - he's now 19. He doesn't like taking it as he says it makes him tired. She doesn't like him taking it as it makes him very hungry - he can eat 6 eggs and a whole pack of bacon and still stuff in toast and sweets afterwards without putting on an ounce in weight.

There are reported side effects - mainly to do with the heart and circulation. But if a doctor has prescribed it then why not try it for a while and see if it works.

[Chessman]

Go along with ursula's suggestion, if prescribed, try it, and moniter their reactions.

[mimififi]

I'm guessing that if you are down the ritilin route, then you have already tried everything else. But just in case you haven't, have you tried, monitoring diet, elimiating ALL colours, preservatives, added ingredients, only cooking from base ingredients, even following an elimination diet for natural foods to see if it benefits him. Also, have you tried supplementing with a really good omega 3 and 5(I think). Available from good health food shops, not your numark own brand...(highernature.com is a good source, they also have consultants you can go see who will prescribe you a supplement course for different problems, uk based tho)

Also, have you tried making sure he has enough sleep, same to bed every day, same day up every day, making sure that he gets LOTS of physical exercise even on weekends? cutting down TV, the flashing lights can aggrevate ADD sufferers' symptoms. Embarking on new activities eg, learning a musical instrument, a foreign language etc. Also, try to keep noise levels down to a complete minimum wherever possible, add sufferers react badly to high stress and noise levels.

I have taught in school, and what I have seen ritilin do to some of my charges is horrible. Go with your doctor, obviously, as I'm not one, but I don't think I would ever give my son Ritalin. It really isn't a pill fix. I believe, I read a few years ago too, that it is now being linked to depression in older teens and young 20 yr olds. I have to say, I do worry about its use and in some cases overuse.

[mimififi]

And that is it's use by doctors, not the parents that use it under doctors' supervision...I am not critical of the parents at all, I just think that it is a disorder which is best managed holistically rather than chemically.

My son was a border line case for ADD. He has many many allergies too, which I do not feel is a coincidence, his skin suffers terribly and he has nearly permanant Urticaria (though that is much improved) My HV wanted to have him assessed by an ed Psych when he was about 3-4. She wondered about add and also Autistic spectrum. I declined the consultation and decided to Home educate instead as I was home edding my daughter already.

I haven't looked back really. A classroom would have destroyed him. He spends most of his day working his science and math books and the rest of the day practising piano (he is 7). The funny thing is he is exactly how my MIL says my husband was at the same age and he did really badly in school and was on the disruptive scale, but IMO, I think we were busier in school in those days, than kids are today.

[mimififi]

I'm sorry to digress so, and I probably am not answering your question, but I do feel so passionately about this subject.

From my own observations of kids in schools (and I am not medical/psychological prof), I think that ADD affects so many more boys than girls, and I don't think that it is a coincidence that the rise we have seen in ADD is not wholly to do with the rise in awareness, it is also to do with the reduction in physical activitiy (kids don't generally walk to school anymore, and schools don't have time to provide the same level of sports.) Boys thrive on physical activity. I send my son out to do a half hour hard bike riding 3-4 times a day. He settles much better right after into his work. It also has a big deal to do with the removal of competition also. Schools are no longer competitive here in UK. no one is a winner so that no one becomes a loser. they do not compete in sports, works, arts or for qualities. They have no special niche into which they are placed, they are intended to assume complete equality with each other all of the time. This is completely different to real life where we all play to our strengths. Public schools do so well, esp boys puclic schools because their standards are based in competition. Boys/men are natuarally competitive on the whole, look at the way they follow they football. The NC in primary schools in a girls curriculum, the GCSE syllabus is a girls method of learning (generally). i think this is why we have seen a reall improvement in Girls' education (which is great) over recent years, but a real reduction in boys education and an increase in dissaffection amoung pre teen and teen boys. Much of the dissaffection is diagnosed as ADD.

[mimififi]

My son when enaged in a task (and it really can be any task from the tudors to volcanoes), he is fine. He needs constant mental stimulation, and lots of physical activity. He needs a high level of motivation to work, either working for 'payment' (movie time/ bike time/ music time/ biscuits/stickers/pocket money etc) or working to be the fastest, the biggests, the best etc. He has 4 sisters, and often they are even aware that he is competing with them, because they don't give a monkeys, but he needs to do that.

I don't know if any of this is relevent to your or your boys, probably not, as my boy is a bit of a one-off! LOL, but the bottom line is, I would hold off the ritilin until I knew, absolutely that there was nothing else to do and this was the only way. I would be so so so wary of using ritilin. It does have many side effects and it can cause more problems than it cures especially on the come down. You don't want to depress your boys energy, you need to channel it. I truly believe that these boys we see today fighting for challenges and interests and just more of everything really are going to be tomorrows experts and tomorrows leaders, don't hold them back, help them find their area of expertise, take away the cage and let them soar.

High maintenance I know, but worth the effort.

[mimififi]

Some of the practical things I do with my son when he is not coping well:

1: He does his school work standing up instead of sitting down. By reducing equipment, and placing him on his feet, he is less able to fidget and move around.

2: If a task is going on and on and causing high stress levels, I take it away and change task completely. If we were doing nouns and verbs, I do baking instead, if we were doing timestable, I send him out to do bike riding.

3: I do scribe for him when he starts to show signs of losing me in the activity. My being his scribe he can give his full attention to his thoughts and not worry about his handwriting. His handwriting is a major source of poor self esteem with him. He is left handed and has perfectionism issues. By taking away that poor self image, he has more confidence to tackle the task.

4: Alternate challenging activities with ones easily accomplished. ADD children often have poor self esteem and so by giving him easily acomplishable tasks especially when begining something new, he is filled with confidence.

5: praise, praise, praise, praise praise, for the minutia of things done with great effort. And not changing them if he has made a great effort, but it's done rubbishly. I don't always assess by outcome.

6: try not to raise my voice (extremely hard I know). He is like an emotions mirror.

7: Provide a quiet, if not silent, place to work with no distractions.

8: Play concentration games, eg, fast snap, mirror image work, talk about pictures and ask him to find details, tiny details. Activitites such as spot the differences, dot to dots etc etc for any minute when he seems idle. He often does this standing at the worktop while I'm busy.

[mimififi]

9: practical tasks, fetching, carrying, tidying, folding washing, putting washing in the machine, carinf for pets etc. Things that make him feel like I need him

10: routines: Bedtimes particularly important. Every night, even when we have clubs after school; it has to be tea-tidy-bath-milk-story-bed. I don't skip any stages unless completlely unavoidable and it's quite rare, But when he previously had sleep issues, I had to reallytackle this. Now, when we have tea, his brain is already preparing for bed time. These actions are the signifiers for a future event which lead him into the right action. He likes to follow the process and doesn't react well when the process suddenly changes.

[mimififi]

I'm sorry, Sharon01, I know that this is all teaching you to suck eggs, and you are way more knowledagle on this subject as you have 2 boys who are sufferers.

I just wanted to give you my obs as a teacher and also as a parent. I don't know if it has helped, and I'm really sorry if it wasn't what you were looking for. There is tonnes of stuff on the net, just google for pros and cons for Ritalin and you'll find all the relevent info (tho I'm sure you have done that already too.)

I wish you and your boys well, and hope that the program you are on will be successful for you.

thinking of you

mimi

[sophieb]

My 8 year old son has DCD ( see answer on another post a few back) part of which is ADHD. He is not particularly Hyperactive due to removing anything that is not organic from his diet but his concentration is really bad. He was prescribed Equasym 18 mths ago and I was horrified at the thought. I asked for him only to be given it for school purposes and this has worked great for us. I wouldn't like him on it all the time and certainly don't see it as a quick fix. At the moment i feel his education is a priority and this means he does not get seperated from his friends. I would never home school him either as i feel it is important for him to remain in a structured school environment which builds his confidence.

[sharon01]

Both my boys are on Methylephenidate, my twleve year old son James is on the sustained release one (18mg tablet which lasts 8 hours) my other son Matthew is one 1 x 10mg tablet 3 times a day. I have tried everything and ritalin was my last chance. Both boys are under the CAMHs team (children and mental heath service). James is 12 years old and was statemented at 4 years old, and on ritalin since seven. He has just started secondary school in September this year and he has done extremly well 120 credits to date. Matthew on the other hand different kettle of fish, he is six, seven in December this year. His CAMHs doctor has to perscribe his ritalin because his doctor cannot perscribe it until the age of seven. Matthew is currently undergoing assessements for his statement for special needs.

Having your child take Ritalin is something you go into lightly, after going down every route possible It is the only way