Is this as good as it gets?

[Zanesmom]

I'm pretty new here, although I've been reading for a while. It's been a great help, just knowing other people are walking the same road. I have a son, 7, who was diagnosed ADHD and very (very) mild aspergers. My husband thinks there's anxiety issues thrown in, too, and I think he might be right. One disorder at a time, I guess.

We have been working on this for years, through maybe auditory processing, maybe sensory integration disorder, to ADHD. He is inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive, but is usually a good kid. He has a huge heart but his body seems to get in the way of better judgement. He is on (heaven help us) adderallxr, zyprexa, and lexapro. He is now much, much better about focusing on work and controlling impulses. He is still having a hard time with rolling on the floor, hand and/or head shaking, and other verbal annoyances at school. We keep trying to work with behavior modification on the rolling and similar behaviors because his psychiatrist is hesitant to up or change and meds since he is doing much better than he was. I guess at this point I have to wonder if this is as good as we're going to get. He was on straterra for a couple of months but he was zombie child. I don't want to medicate him to the point that he isn't he wonderful, creative self. I guess I'm really just tired of all the wondering and second-guessing. I'm just plain tired.

Thanks for listening,

Lisa

[Dad2Brooke]

Lisa,

I've often wondered that myself. Just how far can we / should we go with medication. In a perfect world we would not need this stuff at all. But society expects certain actions and considerations and we try to bend our kids to what society expects.

Will they ever be perfect? No! But then nobody is.

Brooke has been on every major medicine since being diagnosed at age 3.5 and starting meds at age 4. Just this morning we are trying Straterra for the first time. She is 7 and we are 3 years into trying to find the "right medicine before starts kindergarden." Looks like we have missed that deadline by a year and a half.

I likewise am tired. I love my daughter. I will do whatever it takes to help her. But there are many days when I would like to tell her teachers, other parents, and all the people that look at Brooke like she is from another planet, to all go to he11.

You are not alone and this board is an excellent source of knowledge and support.

[catatonic]

Lisa -
I think we all wonder the exact same thing. There is no cure and it seems terrible sometimes to think about how difficult life is going to be for them and everyone around them.

If you're unhappy with your son's progress on the meds, why not check out the "Natural Alternatives" section for ideas? We use a modified diet and nutritional supplements and the change is remarkable. My son requires no meds at all. No, he's not perfect, he's not cured, but he's doing as well as any of the medicated kids are and who can complain about that?

Avoiding medication entirely is very important to me for two main reasons. Number one, there is NO research data on long-term safety. None. Period. And yet children remain on these medications for years. That frightens me. Number two, I simply can't make myself give my son a mind-altering drug.

I've reached that point of total helpless depressed frustration a number of times where I just don't know if I can face another day of dealing with it. There's nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed by an overwhelming situation. You're doing the best you can.

[Zanesmom]

Thanks for your words of support. I've been lucky that most of his teachers and our family have been very supportive and forgiving. Sometimes, though, I want to just throw all the medicine out the window. Fortunately, my husband keeps me grounded and reminds me how far we've come.

I hope you have good luck with the straterra. My son's doctor is toying with putting him back on a very low dose of straterra and combine it with the adderall. All of the physical stuff was competely gone while he was on straterra, so in that regard it worked well, but he still couldn't concentrate so we took him off. Once we took him off, we realized how doped up he seemed. Maybe a lower dose would be okay. I'm just hesitant to go there yet.

Thanks again,

Lisa

[Zanesmom]

Catatonic,

Thanks for the advice. Back when we throught we were dealing with SID, we tried some changes in his diet in case we were dealing with allergies. Nothing really seemed to help, although sometimes I wonder if I tried hard enough. I haven't really looked at herbs or natural alternatives, I guess I only had so much energy to deal with it all. It just seems to fill up my whole life, sometimes. I get bogged down in all the information. I guess everyone here has felt that way

Have a good day.

Lisa

[vickilyn32]

My DS has been on strattera because he became depressed with the adderall when he hit puberty. He has to take the strat at night because it makes him sleepy, maybe if you tried that or splitting the dose of the strat into 2 doses a day, it may help. I know others have said that they needed to split the strat dose to get the best results. Strat did not help my son with attention, so we are just starting adding the adderal xr each morning combined with the strat at night. Other postings have said that this worked for them, so Heres hoping for the best.