Are you giving your son fish oils daily and removing artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives from his diet?

What does your doctor recommend given his depression?  Why are you “afraid” of medication?

There is no disputing the studies that say the most effective treatment for ADHD is a behavior plan and medication.

Don’t be afraid of meds.  They may help.  How about an antidepressant?

Thanks for comments. I haven’t tried fish oil and diet modifications. I just worry about side effects from medication.

Well, there are several different types of meds for ADD. Your best bet is to see a child psychiatrist who specializes in ADD so they will be familiar with all the meds and their effects. Believe me pediatricians can’t keep up so end up prescribing whatever one they know about.

I too was worried until I saw the improvement in mood and attitude. My daughter was at risk of retention!  Then in second grade - on meds - she was able to pay attention, caught up and did really well. 

Don’t be afraid, just ask lots of questions, pay attention to your son’s reaction, start low dose. It will all work out.

Trust in the ADHD medications. There are many that are very good. Start slow and modify as needed through your psychiatrist. Don’t use a general pedicatirican. My daughter started taking medication at age six for depression and anger. It helped her so much that she started to enjoy school. Ask questions if you are concerned about certain medications.

There are other meds that are used for ADHD that are not stimulants.  Intuniv is one.  Ask your doctor and research them.  Guanfacine I believe is what Intuniv is made up of.  Kapvay may be another.  Sometimes antidepressants such as Zoloft are used.  Every child is different and you may just have to try some medications to see what works best.  The good thing with stimulants is that you can stop them if you want.  They do not need to build up in your body like Strattera (non-stimulant) or Intuniv, Zoloft, etc.  If you don’t like the way it is working, you can stop.  Most side effects go away after a time.  Sleep issues can usually be worked on with some other modifications like melatonin.  Loss of appetite is hard.  Just ask your doctor and really read up on this site about different types of treatment.

iv just found out my son has adhd he shows all the signs before i found out my son has adhd i tried all sorts of health tablets including fish oils and some new products but he didnt like the taste.
but i started to do my own cooking and i have found a change in my sons behaviour, i also found the health products in coles and woolworths anit what they are meant to be as i did a 2 week diet for my son and found my sons behaviour went sky rocket.
i’v been baking for a month for my son he has been eating less and i know whats in the foods and his behaviour has droped but my son does show the angry and not knowing the difference between right and wrong which my son will need to go on the meds.

Meds aren’t so bad. I know what you mean. I agonized over meds for over a year, but getting my child, who is also ADD and HD, on the right dose of the right meds has made a huge difference in his school performance and even his reading ability. Believe it or not, the outcome for kids on meds is actually better than kids who forego them. If you don’t believe me, check out the MTA study conducted by the National Institute of Health.

I hope this is helpful to you.
Susan

There is so much more to do than simply meds. Meds help generally, but they need to be used in conjunction with therapy and so much more. For example, these are things I’ve done:
1. Changed diet to a plant based diet. This removed dairy, which was a trigger food for him, and all processed foods. This has made a huge difference.
2. Took parenting classes to understand what I was doing wrong and what I could do right.
3. Got the school involved and now he has a 504.
4. Started therapy to help him and me learn to deal with this more effectively.
In the fall, he will join a group to learn social skills. I will also use techniques to help him stay organized for school. We also use exercise as a treatment and that helps as well. Good luck.

There are a variety of simple relaxed concentration exercises and seated yoga exercises that you can try with or without medication that include breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, self massage. PS, medication which is passive only helps but does not solve the issue. You also need active strategies.  With this, there are also accelerated learning study strategies your child can use to help with the classroom work like learning memory techniques and speed reading. You should also consider biofeedback.  Streaming download video on Amazon.com are ” Being In Control: Natural Solutions for ADHD , Dyslexia, and Test Anxiety; ” has relaxed concentration exercises with different study strategies, and” Zen for ADD, ADHD”  a relaxation video of nature scenes and exercises like focusing with a liquid timer or listening to a metronome and more. More info and synopsis are at http://www.jasonalster.com

What about bioneurofeedback? Also, natural remedies take a lot of discipline and consistency, which I struggle with. When I started my son of meds, I had failed at keeping a log of foods and symptoms, getting my son to eat the recipes recommended (I think it was the Goldman diet), yoga and meditation, you name it.

I decided that until I developed the discipline and tough love it takes to get my son to do all of that, meds had to be used because otherwise my son was going to have a lot of problems. He is an adult now, and I think my decision was a good one.

My son is 23 now, and when he was first diagnosed at age 8 I tried alternatives to meds also. Nothing really helped. The medications did. They weren’t a cure- there are many more battles i had to fight, such as constantly fighting the school over the years to comply with his 504 plan, but the meds wound up to be the least of the problems. I started him as low as possible - the md wanted to jump right into 3 times a day, but we found he did well at first just being medicated in the am. we did have to increase dosage and times gradually over the years, but listen to your child, listen to yourself, and don’t let anyone talk you into something you both don’t think is necessary.  Until his teens he would stop meds in the summer. He stopped all meds later in high school - not the best decision for him -  but he was adamant and he needed to try this for himself. he had some life lessons, but at 24 he doesn’t drink or do drugs, has a good full time job, and has become a very self sufficient person.

I have found that choosing to place a child on medication for ADHD is not an easy decision for any parent . . . and I speak from experience.  I did not want my son on anything that I thought would alter her personality/change his being.  Many, many tears were shed before finally facing the fact that doing so was the right decision, for him and for our family.  So, please try not to agonize and know that there are MANY other parents that know how you feel and have walked in your shoes.  I would suggest the following:  1) Start reading.  Read, read, and read some more.  Become knowledgeable on the subject as this is the only the beginning of your journey.  2) Make sure you have good doctors; pediatrician, psychologist, etc.  Your son is not “being fixed,” the doctor(s) are simplying working with your son, you, and your family as a team to help your son learn different strategies to better focus; one of which may be using meds.  3) Go into this knowing that if you choose to medicate, it may take several tries to find the right medication.  You know your child and will be able to tell fairly quick whether you have found the correct one.  4) Find the right people and speak with them . . . friends/family.  It will help you!  Be careful as everyone has an opinion and they may not agree with yours.  Good luck on your journey.

As a doctor who treats ADHD, and as the mother of a son with ADHD, I have witnessed positive results in terms of relieving ADHD symptoms with these safer, all-natural dietary supplements:

http://www.add-treatment.com/add-natural-remedies.html

I have never tried neurofeedback but it sounds like its worth a try.  My son is 8 years old and has been on meds since he was 5 and what convinced me to try meds was his kindergarden teacher at the end of the year.  She said to me that if he had diabetes I wouldn’t hesitate to give him insulin and she believes he has ADHD which was later confirmed by his doctor and if I didn’t at least try it that I wasn’t being fair to him because he can’t help it, he has a disability which is preventing him from doing his best work.  Well I am happy to report that we found a med, Vyvanse that works very well for him and 3 years later I am happy to say he has had very little side affects which have now disappeared and his growth has kept him over the 90th percentile! His appetite is light during the day while on the med but he makes up for it at breakfast and dinner when the med is out of his system.  I also am very strict with his routine and with the food he eats but the medication for him is wonderful and he needs it!

I have a 9 year old son who was diagnosed with ADHD 2 years ago and I too did not want to medicate him.  I work for a child psychiatrist and I still do not want to medicate him.  I tried all the dietary suggestions but the thing that worked best for his attention issues was NEUROFEEDBACK…....it was a huge time commitment but we have seen great improvements in his ability to stay in his seat, finish his work and he feels like he has a chance to have a good day.  The neurofeedback did not improve his impulse issues very much so we are training again on different areas of the brain.  Neurofeedback has no side effects and it is being used by athletes, NASA and for many other conditions including depression, migraines….etc….Again, it is a huge commitment initially but once the training is done (usually 6 months) you will see the changes and not worry about all the side effects…...

The Neurofeedback program my son used was administered by a Psychologist and he used a system where electrodes were attached to my sons head (stuck on with vaseline) and would monitor the brain activity while he watched a movie.  When is brain got “busy and distracted” the picture on the movie would fade or shrink in size, the sound would drop.  When the brain focused again then the screen would return to normal size and the chair he set in would gently vibrate to reward the brain with stimulation.