Peace , love and fruit smoothies

I'll take that fruit smoothie in a strawberry/banana please and ty

My son is ADD, diagnosed in 2nd grade. I, too, chose not to medicate my child. My personal feeling is that for most kids with this condition, medication is a band-aid for the underlying problem, it masks it but doesn't solve it. I do extensive work with him, as do his teachers, change his diet as much as is practical and try to teach him ways around his problem. Most of the time, this works pretty well, though it's always a struggle. But, I think in the long run, it's the best solution for him. I don't want him to rely on medication for the rest of his life just to make it through his days. He may not always have access to medication (no insurance or whatever) so I want him to be able to rely on himself. He needs to learn self-discipline, structure, and organization in order to learn focus.

That, btw, is not a criticism of your choice, you have to do what you think is best for your child and your situation.

I don't take it as criticism in anyway. I applaud you for being able to take a different path with your child. Each child is unique and different and not the same approach works for every child. My oldest son also has the condition but not as severe as my 10 yr old and didn't need meds. A change in diet and behavior modification worked wonders for him.

My oldest son is now 19 yrs old and doing quite well in the US Army.

I have a son that is borderline adhd with anxiety issues. He used to get sick and throw up every day before school.

We have him on a mild anti-anxiety medicine and that stopped the vomiting. We still struggle with the attention, especially in the area of doing homework. He's also very combative (verbally) with his brother (I know, a lot of that is normal, but it a quite a problem). It's a constant battle, but as long as the vomiting is gone, we choose to deal with the attention issues without more meds.

I wish I knew better how to focus him. The only thing that really seems to work is to be intolerant of his inability to focus. Once it comes to a head and he has been told sternly (sometimes too sternly) that this will not be tolerated, and often after crying a bit, he will then be able to focus and get through it. But I hate that it so often comes to a serious scolding before he can get focused. Therapy has not helped that. We try to reinforce the positive behaviors, but it is a struggle.

Fortunately he is a very smart kid and such a neat kid too. We take it day by day and hope that it is enough.

Good for you. Often times (not always) people jump to meds for that "quick fix" and don't consider the long term effects of those drugs. Diet (especially elimnated SUGAR) can help the majority of illness today. Kids and adults.

for my daughter i think it was the Red dye in foods
ketchup, spagettios, any spagetti product in a can, certain cereals....
yet she could eat a regular candy bar and be fine

If your doctor is telling you sugar causes hyperactivity you need to find another doctor. If your child has food allergies that is not ADHD. If your child is truly ADHD it is a chemical imbalance in the brain and requires medication to balance. If your child is zoned out when taking the medication it is not the right prescription and you should immediately consult your physician.

My son is 23, he was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 10. We did biofeedback before resorting to medication. He took medication until he was in the 10th grade. He now lives in another city, attends college part-time and works full-time for a distribution company. Children with ADHD are often adults with ADHD, however most of them will learn to manage thier lives without medication.

Not a physician, Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology.

I have a question for you being that you work in the field. Do you find it not unusual for a child diagnosed with ADHD to later be diagnosed with Bipolar later as a young adult? This was something that was brought up in the cirriculum of a 6wk class I took sponsored by NAMI recently.

often bi-polar is misdiagnosed in youngsters as adhd. or they could have both.....

Can say that medication wasn't a brilliant idea. And the other option... well i learned to keep still, do my tasks. And i learned not to medicate a kid and not to ever use violence against a kid.
No more on that.


Yeah one does learn to live with it. Or even make something out of it. There's a cool book out there that gives a bit of a different perspective. I should have it somewhere...


First and foremost.. stop seeing ADHD as a disorder or problem. See it as an opportunity.

DDN122, I'm not tryin to sound rude but my question was directed to luckylucyd. However I do appreciate your input. I had directed the question to her because she had represented herself as someone who works in the field of psychology. If you do, then I apologize. But as I said I wished to hear the answer to my question from her.

Medication is not always the answer for every child. It should never be given lightly. It should be thought out, researched, and if the decision to use meds is made then the parent(s) need to realize it's goin to take some adjusting and readjusting to get the meds right for that child. Not every child has the same degree of ADHD. Not every child has the hyperactivity that comes with it. The most important thing to remember is that each child is different. As a parent you have to find the right doctor and therapists for your child. You have the final say in how your child will be treated for this condition. There's a wonderful national organization that helps parents of children with all kinds of Mental Illness. It's called NAMI. I'm not trying to push them on anyone put they're a great source of information. Every state has a chapter. There are tons of support groups on the internet. The best thing you can do for your child is to educate yourself. I've been dealing with this for over 10 yrs now with my 2 boys. You never stop learning.
I agree with sweetfoxdevil, this is not a problem. This is a challenge, yes, this is an opportunity, yes. I'm not bragging, but it's been my experience dealing with my 2 boys and other children with ADHD that they tend to be extremely bright and curious about the world around them. They simply need to have their intellect stimulated and kept busy. Nuture that.

If you find it, could you let me know the title and author? Also, I wouldn't mind finding a book written for teens, one that's encouraging and motivating. Don't know if it will help. My biggest problem is getting my son to understand that he's not stupid, far from it. He has a bigger challenge than some other kids in some areas (he's learning disabled as well) but he's far from stupid. But, if he doesn't get something right off the bat, he just gives up. He beats on his own self-esteem.

First it helps to find out what kind of learner he is. Most adhd kids I know (don't know many) including my son are visual learners. If I can get him focused AND give a visual picture (and repeat it 2 or 3 times) he has it forever.

My youngest son is ADHD and I beat myself up for not recognizing sooner instead focusing on my epileptic so hard.
It makes me feel like I let him down and believe me it caused my family more harm than good in not recognizing it.

This book is written well enough for teens to read as well. Encouraging, motivating... yes.
The Da Vinci Method by Garret LoPorto.
There's no perfect book, and i just don't get around to write one about all that stuff myself
And tell your son he's cool. Disabled is just a word for "different" and an excuse for teachers and co who simply can't handle it.
The hard part for you as a parent is to let him know that you support him no matter what. And that it's alright. In a way he can believe it.

My own childhood consisted of being misdiagnosed as adhd, and ultimately and correctly hospitalized for bipolar disorder (back then it was manic depression) in my teens. Other than the usual treatment on the part of psychiatrists, you may also want to explore his/her interests and see if there is a talent in any specific area. Odds are, there's a gift that comes with the curse of a given mental illness, and keeping a focus on a specific interest often becomes very theraputic and mitigates symptoms.

In schools I either scored exceptionally well or failed in any class I took. I was either extremely interested in a particular subject matter, and aced it, or was bored with it and didn't want to do anything. I am this way to this day, and fortunately for me, didn't have to suffer much in the way of consequences for it.

Lastly, and while differences make people different, and sometimes mocked for it, focusing on it as a 'problem' will likely make it worse. Focusing on the positive behaviors and more of a none response to negative behaviors will probably be more productive.

ADHD is very often used as a diagnosis erroneously. Bipolar disorder is difficult to diagnose in small children. I can't say ADHD later develops into bipolor, but as I stated earlier I believe ADHD is often used as a catch all diagnosis until the child begins to mature and a "true" diagnosis can be made.

As someone mentioned earlier their child is a visual learner, which is often not the case with ADHD children. Most of the are tactile learners, preferring to take something apart, touch things, feel things. We allowed my son to take a dryer apart when he was 10 (it was broken), he managed to use tools and dismantled it enough to fit into the garbage cans.

Please remember, as frustrated as you are as a parent, your child is twice as frustrated. ADHD is not something they can control without your help and in most cases the help of medication.

I would never give my son any kind of medication like that. He is only 22 months old, but I limit things in his diet and he has VERY limited amounts of sugar, and it's all organic. I think they over diagnose children with adhd. I mean it's all about money, and the big pharmacutical companies want your money. People trust the doctors, I do not. My sons doctor doesn't like me very much, I do my research on things and won't give my son meds I don't think he needs. It has worked out better for my son in the long run.