Aggression

[Michael]

Hello, my son is 4 yrs old, he was admitted into a phyciatric hospital for his difficulties with ADHD and aggression. There he was diognosed with ADHD and for his tempertantrums and his persistance at things they gave him a diognosis of mood disorder nos, he is taking 5 mg of Ritalin 2 x daily, Risperdal 1 mg 2 X daily, and clonidine .05 mg @ 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. he has only been on the clonidine a lil over a week but he is still having problems with aggression, got a call from his preschool saying he assaulted one of the staff... I just don't know what to do. what other medications are used to help with aggression and mood as in tatrums cause when he has these tantrums he is aggressive...

[rosyred45]

Hi Michael, first and foremost ((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))) to you.

I am sory that you have dealt with what you have.

I also feel bad because I can' t answer any med question, you might want to look at the meds section. I do recall some people having very drastic mood swings with their children when they didnt' have the right combination of medications.

Just to give you a little back ground: I used to work at a day care center. I was given all of the children that threw fits. And I don't mean the run of the mill stomp your feet because they didn't get their way. It didn't and still doesn't bother me. I would wait it out until I know that the child is listening to me. I have had to sit with kids in my lap for more that a half hour because they were in such a tantrum they were going to hurt themselves.

Since I have been with school age kids for the past 12 years, I have followed kids around that where about to run away....they didn't know where, they just knew they didn't want to be where they were getting yelled at when they didn't understand it.

I think that is a big key. Being on the same ground as your child. It might be hard, but if you put yourself in your childs shoes, then it might help to see where they are coming from. With something as drastic as your situation, I'm not sure if that is the right thing to say, but it a good place to start.

Ca n I ask what mood disorder they have diagnosed your boy with?

(((((((((((((more HUGS))))))))))))

[Michael]

hello, the phyciatrist diognosed my son with mood disorder nos thats all cause of his temper tantrums he has when he doesn't get his way. and diognosed him with ADHD

[AnneM]

Hi Michael and a big welcome! ... I hope that our "home" here can give you as much help as it has to so many of us already ....

ADHD can be accompanied by such a diverse group of "other" disorders. In your son's case this is a mood disorder which in turn sounds like it is triggering aggression. In my own 16 year old son's case it was adolescent onset depression ... for others it is dyslexia, bipolar, ODD, OCD to name just a few ... Certainly from what I have seen and learned and also from the diagnostic criteria, adhd itself does not include aggression ... BUT it is often found along with adhd because of these all too common various comorbid conditions. You might want to take a look through the "Common Disorders associated with adhd" which does mention mood disorders on many occasions.

Turning to clonodine I am not personally familiar with it ... BUT it might be worth bringing this up in the Medication Section because I know some of our members are indeed familar with this medication. I am sorry however to read that the clonodine doesn't seem at present to have knocked the aggression on the head!

Please keep us posted on how your little guy is doing ... and ask, ask, ask away on ANY queries you might have ...