I started with a Psychologist before my daughter was diagnosed.  He helped me figure out the diagnoses for my daughter and gave me herbal supplements to try (unfortunately its a lot of trying one supplement, giving it some time, if that doesn’t help then moving on to another).  Out of all the frustrations, I will tell you that she is on two herbal supplements (which help her tremendously) and one prescription med.  In the beginning I was 100% against medication.  I was adamant that my daughter was not going on meds for these issues.  Eventually, after a few years of only herbal supplements, she still was not doing well in school.  So, I had no other options left but to try medication.  I didn’t want to hinder my daughter’s abilities because “I” did not want the stigma of meds.  Now, a few years after she started the meds, she is getting all A’s in school (she is in 3rd grade now) and I’m glad I chose to do everything in my power for her to succeed.  It wasn’t only good for her grades but it was good for her self esteem because she isn’t constantly struggling.  She still has her days and her issues from ADD that are not just wiped away because of any meds or supplements but that are very managemeable.  Someone once told me when I was trying to make the decision of whether or not to put her on meds, “that if your child could not see, wouldn’t you give them glasses?  Meds for ADD is the same thing.”  Your doctor can help you find the right option for your daughter to remain the same sweet girl that she is.  Hope this helps!

S.

I couldn’t say it much better than Syndilou.  I highly recommend the book “Understanding Girls with AD/HD” by Kathleen Nadeau.  It covers everything in a wonderful manner.  This website and the message boards are a great support.  Meds can be scary, because it sometimes takes a little trial and error to find the right one, but the right one for most children only allows your child to truly express even better their loving selves, their creativity, and their intelligence.  If a med seems to blunt any of this, then often it will be the wrong one.

Along with medicine, as vital and important to our daughters “treatment” is daily exercise and plenty of sleep.

My daughter has been taking meds for 9 years.  In all that time, she has only seemed spaced out once.  That was the very first day she took any meds and it lasted less than an hour.  Since that was probably one of the few times I saw her sit completely still, it freaked me out.  I later realized that she was acting the same way I did when I first got eyeglasses.  Meds have not been a trap for her, they’ve opened the world up to her.  As I write this, she and our dog are racing around my bedroom and she is laughing up a storm.  There are definitely no zombies here!!!!

Unfortunatelly,my daughter was not diagnosed until age eighteen,inatentive ADD.This affected her high school years and she was also anxious and depressed. Once diagnosis was made,meds were started and worked within hours. Anxiety was alleviated within days,so med worked great for her and she is now able to focus better. She also entered into therapy to learn more about ADD and develope coping mechanisms .My daughters behaviors are improving along with her self esteem,which was greately damaged.

Thanks for asking this question, as I posted the same question in another discussion.  What medication should I ask for?  My Dr. told me I could choose, so I asked around and other parents said Strattera, a non stimulant.  I have the prescription filled, but I’m scared to give it to her as the side affects are suicidal or manic thoughts, possible liver damage…even sudden death,  I also don’t want these meds to take away from her sweet personality.  Can you go into detail what meds you give your daughters, what side affects they have experienced and the difference between stimulants and non stimulants, thank you!!  Thank you for posting this!

(LONG POST ALERT!)  I don’t want to give you reason to doubt your physician, because having faith in your provider is important… but I wonder why he/she seemed to have so little opinion or recommendation that they “let you choose”?  We did discuss the choice of meds at length with our physician, but he feels strongly about starting with stimulants with most kids unless the child has a medical reason that predisposes them against it, like a heart condition.  He believes that in most cases that stimulants have a longer proven track record in dealing with ADD symptoms than non-stimulants and have a tendency to have fewer side effects with a greater positive effect.  That being said, as with other posts, it takes trial and error to find the right stimulant and dose to get it right, and those two things are usually tweaked over time.

My DD (11) was diagnosed 11 months ago, and in that length of time, we have either been back for a consult or on the phone six times.  Four times resulted in a medication change, one time resulted in no medication change, but we all agreed that DD and family will benefit from counseling and something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy- a form of therapy that helps a person identify off base thinking (noone likes me, I am stupid, my day is ruined b/c my shoes are wet) and reframe their thoughts more constructively.  Hopefully will help with some underlying anxiety… because our doc warned that most people with ADD suffer from a secondary disorder like anxiety, depression, Oppositional (ODD), etc.  He would rather (as would I) see if we can treat the anxiety through counseling before we add another med at this point in time, but we would add another med in the future if the anxiety continued to increase. 

He and I both know that puberty is just around the corner and we are aware that there may be a time we need more/different meds.

All that to say this… The discussion about meds is just beginning.  You need to be comfortable enough with your doc to be able to call or get an appointment anytime and say “this is what has changed” and know that he/she will respect your thoughts and listen to you AND YOUR CHILD and know when to increase/decrease or change altogether.

We started with vyvanse (not my docs favorite stimulant) because it was one of the few that could be sprinkled when my DD couldn’t swallow a pill.  before too long we realized the dose was too strong and causing the undesirable mood swings.  Dose change #1.  It didn’t work and we still had undesirable mood swings and other undesirable side effects, even though we liked the overall behavior changes.  Med change #1 to Concerta b/c fortunately she learned to swallow a pill.  We liked the behavior, and there were no side effects.  When the new school year started, though, it wasn’t lasting through the day anymore.  Concerta increase #1.  However by November we noticed the increase in anxiety.  So now we have kept the same dose, but will be adding the therapy.  I have come to realize that I just have to trust my intuition and what my DD tells me is going on with her, and our doc listens when we take our concerns to him.

Hang in there and know you are not alone.  Trust your MOM instincts and your child and do a little research. This site is great and there are some great, easy to understand books out there that help explain about the choices in meds, too.

klsmidwestmom, to answer your basic questions, some of the main side effects you’ll hear mentioned about ANY of the meds, they include loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping as two of the most common.  As you see, there are lots of suggestions on the boards about what to do about these.

The ones that we tend to tell the doc about are moodiness, extreme moodiness, change in personality type of stuff.  Before the meds, my daughter occasionally would have a meltdown.  After being on the Vyvanse a few weeks, she had a “nuclear meltdown”.  I knew that was not a normal reaction for my daughter, so I called the doc.

My DD is a social child, but she has always had some anxiety.  However now she is getting where her anxiety is keeping her from wanting to go to birthday parties and her Sunday School Class at church.  She is more anxious than usual about certain school functions.  Generally it is not impairing her functionality, but it is a change, so I brought it up to him and he agreed we need to address it now before it gets worse.

Like I alluded to in the above post, you know your child better than anyone, so it’s up to you to recognize changes- good and bad- and report those to the doc, so they can help recommend any meds and med changes in the future.

Thank you for the advice.  I just can’t make myself give her the Strattera.  We have an appt. for the 23rd of this month, so I will discuss other medications. I just don’t know if I can watch my daughter suffer through these side affects.  She is already an asthmatic and takes alot of inhalers and allergy medications, she is very tiny and eats like a bird anyway, so Im extremely nervous and cautious aboout all these meds, my eye dr. told me his child was very depressed when on Strattera, and I feel so much pressure in trying to pick the right think for my daughter….
The stimulants make me feel like Im giving my daughter a narcotic!  It just makes me so stressed out about this!

One bit of good news with the stimulants… they have a very short “half life”.  They work through the system very quickly.  You know within a few hours if they are going to work.  If at some point they develop negative side effects, then simply stopping the medication also generally stops the (worst) side effects in most cases.  Poof.  overnite.  That has been our experience.

Stopping the vyvance has since stopped the nuclear meltdowns.

Literally within 45 minutes of the first time she took a stimulant she stated that she could think more clearly and focus.  She also is able to better understand her friends and perceive their emotions and jokes.  she used to think no one liked her…. seriously.

On the otherhand, many of the other meds like straterra take time to build up.  I personally am on Straterra (guess where my DD’s ADD comes from?). 

It took almost two months for the dose to build up in my system.  I am improved on it, but nowhere to the extent that my daughter is.

PLEASE don’t think that I think Stimulants are the only option.  I have no idea the best choice for you and your child.  I have done a good bit of research on it though, and do not feel anyone should have a problem starting with Stimulants if their physician thinks it’s a good idea.

I think that I might ask for a stimulant to give it a try, it kinda sounds like a horror story trying to figur out what meds and what dosage works for your child…Im not looking forward to this, BUT…I know I have to do something for her to make her as successful as she can be in all areas, I will be coming back here for support, thank you!!

What type of symptoms does your daughter have that led them to the diagnosis of ADHD?  I know for my daughter it was affecting her academically, socially, emotionally, etc., etc., etc.

I did NOT want to put her on medication, EVER!  She had such a horrible time in the classroom that we had no other choice.  We had exhausted all other help (Occupational Therapy strategies in class/ Speech therapy/ child psychologist).  Amazingly, a very small dose eliminated much of her anxiety.  It does have side effects but they can be managed.  I tend to feel psychiatrist tend to start the meds out at WAY too high doses for these little ones.  Or at least for mine.

It is a difficult slow process.  My prayers go out to you.