ADD Child

Add medication is usually a stimulant. My son is taking adderal which has helped him tremendously. I've asked him about how he feels about taking it, he's in the 8th grade and has been medicated since the 4th grade. He chooses to take it because he knows that it helps him focus. He doesn't have people yelling at him to get his attention or talking down to him because he can't focus on specific tasks.
As a part time teacher, I have seen benefits of caffeine in a childs morning diet. He has a cup of coffee in the morning and can stay on task. We have experimented with him and he does not do well at school when he doesn't have the coffee.

What you are calling ADD is ADHD, inattentive type, there is no longer an ADD diagnosis. If your appointment is with your regular pediatrician, you really need to get a referal to a developmental pediatrician for a full evaluation, or go to a board certified Child psychiatrst and get an evaluation from a neurspychologist to back that up. Also, write, do not call, your school district and ask for an evaluation because you think your child has a disablity. He needs exetensive theraputic interventions, cognative behaviroal therapy, social skills classes, probably speech and lagnage therapy, Occupational therapy, and educational and behavioral interventions at home and school. He should get medical care from a specialist who can treat his medical problem.

Herbal supplements are not helpful, and some, are down right dangerous. If your son is one of the people with ADHD that is serious enough to need medication, he needs and deserves to have the right one that will help him benefit from all the therapy he needs. Medication alone is never the right thing, medication is a tool to help all his therapy work better and to give him the ablity to attend to everyday life in a reliable way. Right now, he can't count on his processing skills. Find out exactly what he needs by getting a full neurpsychological evaluation, educational evaluation, and psychological evaluation.

M.

My son also has "AD/HD - primarily inattentive" which is what you mean when you say just ADD. The actual diagnosis will be called AD/HD and then your son will be assigned a subtype of primarily inattentive, primarily hyperactive, or combined. So that's just an FYI so that you are familiar with the terminology.

Onto your question...we do not medicate my son right now (he's 12 and was diagnosed almost 5 years ago) but we are open to trying it if he wants to when he's older. We do see a nutritionist and he takes some whole-food supplements (basically, vitamins and other nutrients derived from real food, not synthesized in a lab). Chief among these is fish oil - we use Nordic Naturals Pro-DHA, which is strawberry-flavored capsule. All of my kids like it. However, I didn't really notice a difference until adding in other supplements that help support the adrenals and other parts of the body that are generally taxed in people with ADHD. These are not a cure, but they do help him function better and are part of our overall approach to treatment, which includes an accommodation plan at school, a lot of organization support at home, good nutrition, and lots of physical activity. Hockey 8 months a year has been a godsend.

If your son is diagnosed with ADHD, that counts as a health impairment and should qualify him for a 504 accommodation plan at school (this will get him things like preferential seating, non-verbal reminders from teachers, and additional support with his assignment book). If you haven't already done so, request an educational evaluation at school to see if he also has learning disabilities. There is a high correlation between LDs and AD/HD. An LD diagnosis will get him and IEP, which is more valuable than a 504 plan and can help him get specialized instruction, things like OT (a lot of AD/HD kids have terrible handwriting that OT can help), reductions in things like spelling test words (15 words instead of 20 for example), and extended time on tests. I would think that with failing grades your child's school has already addressed this but in case they haven't, please request the eval ASAP. If he was tested more than 3 years ago you can request another eval now.

I am very "into" integrative approaches to health and wellness and have not heard of that supplement (so I don't have an opinion).

Before I started any supplements (besides standard vitamins and essential fatty acids), I would want a complete pscyo-educational evaluation of my child (I would prefer to do it privately but some parents do it through school) so that I could discern whether he has one or more learning disorders or other problems.

I would also want an evaluation to determine the likelihood of ADD/ADHD or any other neurological impairment.

I would want a complete work-up of my child's health status too - blood work, food allergies, vitamin D level, cholesterol levels, etc.

In other words, I would try to get as complete a picture possible of my child's physical, mental and intellectual status.

Once I had that information I would carefully consider all approaches to treatment, including an integrative approach. I particularly liked this book: "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics - Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies" by Kenneth Bock, MD and Cameron Stauth (perhaps from the library?).

Good luck - sounds like your little guy needs some intervention. Praying for him and your family . . .

You sound like a good mother that needs a pat on the back. I hope that your doctors visit is helpful. You as a mother are given a power to know what is the best for your child...I know you will be given the insights needed to make the right choice for him. :)

Listen to Riley!
Riley is VERY wise!

With what you described, I would also recommend a complete educational evaulation. He may also have a learning disability that will not be helped with ADHD treatment. The school should be willing to test him since he is failing all his classes. Send a written request to the special education department on his campus and make sure it is dated and signed.

I do have one child with ADHD and did not try herbal remedies so I can't give you info. there. I just wanted to make sure you don't overlook something else that might be going on as that happens often when a parent suspects ADHD.

While it is of course possible for him to have primarily inattentive ADHD, it is not all that common in young boys. Most boys with ADHD have the hyperactivity component as well.

One more thing...when did he start failing?? Was it recently or has he always had that much trouble in school?

the herbal remedies do not work, I asked the same question for my adhd child. I have had a little improvement with giving him Omega3 supplements along with his vitamins every morning.

You need to work with a medical specialist to get a correct diagnosis and then discuss treatment options. Herbal "remedies" are scams and not regulated. Companies peddling these prey on parents hoping to avoid regulated medications and they're making a bundle.

Our son takes Concerta, an FDA-regulated medication prescribed by a specialist and administered through a pharmacy. It's a medication that targets the area of the brain affected by ADHD and "connects the dots." Our son's regularly monitored for how he's doing on it. The results have been dramatic and wonderful. No side effects, other than a dip in appetite when we have to boost the dosage (but this goes away over time). He is the same child, just with normal behavior and focus. You wouldn't know he has ADHD and his case is extreme, which says a lot for the medication. We use medication in conjunction with behavioral therapy. Most people don't just use medication alone and see great results when combined with various forms of therapy.

Get in with a specialist such as a child psychiatrist or neuropsychologist to get an accurate diagnosis before attempting to put anything in your child's system. You really want to be treating the condition (if he has it) with the guidance of medical experts. This is a serious medical condition.

Good luck!