My challenging adhdlike son was diagnosed with anxiety!

amother

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 7:57 pm

My 6 year old was always very challenging. He is completely ok with new situations rarely gets worried or nervous. He appears very much like ADHD, impulsive, aggressive, unable to focus.. surprisingly the professional diagnosed him with anxiety and said that floortime therapy should help (NOT OT). What has helped your highly anxious child? I am currently getting floortime and have yet to see significant progress.

amother

Honeysuckle

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:11 pm

amother OP wrote:

A diagnosis is just a label it literally means nothing. Another clinician could come up with something else technically. Treat the symptoms not the label.

amother

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:16 pm

amother Honeysuckle wrote:

A diagnosis is just a label it literally means nothing. Another clinician could come up with something else technically. Treat the symptoms not the label.

Not necessarily it depends what the symptoms are stemming from jf you target the root of the issue then you see progress with the symptoms.

amother

Cappuccino

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:41 pm

amother OP wrote:

Not necessarily it depends what the symptoms are stemming from jf you target the root of the issue then you see progress with the symptoms.

Yes but the professional is guessing what's at the root of the behaviors. It's not like he's running blood tests. Did he explain his reasoning?

amother

Offwhite

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:45 pm

I don't know but my ADHD meds helped my anxiety go away (whenever I was medicated). Meaning my anxiety was directly a result of my ADHD and treating the source was way better for me than taking anxiety meds which take longer to know if they're working and are generally considered stronger than ADHD meds.

amother

Arcticblue

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:55 pm

amother Offwhite wrote:

Same for my husband. ADHD and anxiety often go together, I wouldn’t write off the adhd just yet. 6 is a bit young for a full eval, I find that by age 7/8 years more symptoms often come out - especially in a school setting as the demands increase!

For my dh, adhd meds really helped control his anxiety. For my dd9 who has the same diagnoses, the meds helped with her ADHD symptoms and she is doing talk therapy and CBT for the anxiety. Bh we have seen real improvements

amother

Burntblack

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 2:43 am

amother Arcticblue wrote:

what type of professional diagnosed him?

amother

Pink

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 5:52 am

My son with ADHD has anxiety symptoms and my son with anxiety has some ADHD symptoms. I think it’s very common to go hand in hand.

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 7:54 am

amother Pink wrote:

My son with ADHD has anxiety symptoms and my son with anxiety has some ADHD symptoms. I think it’s very common to go hand in hand.

Was going to write the same
Get him a good play therapist
He may need medication if that alone doesn’t work
And most important you (and your husband) need to go to therapy to learn how to talk to him and help him and not feed into his anxieties

amother

Indigo

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 8:00 am

When my son was 5 I was told that he has only anxiety and not adhd. I pushed for a better evaluation and was diagnosed with adhd. He had symptoms from age 2. He also was anxious but this was because of his adhd. He has been on adhd meds and therapy and doing for 3 years and is doing amazing.
I

amother

Burntblack

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 8:01 am

what type of professional diagnosed him?
you mention he rarely gets nervous or worried, so where do you see the anxiety manifesting itself?
what makes him anxious (nervous, worried)?
does he have triggers? what are they?
it is a bit confusing to be diagnosed with anxiety if he rarely gets nervous or worried.
he was diagnosed with anxiety and not adhd?

I am sorry for all the questions, I am trying to more understand the situation, I do have lots of personal experience that may be helpful.. but I am not really clear on the situation.

floortime can be very helpful if it is not adhd. the therapist if experienced, can teach him to regulate himself and teach him to focus properly. with a good therapist you should start seeing some improvement within a month or two.

amother

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 8:05 am

Thanks. We've been on a long journey with multiple adhd diagnosis. We just went to Dr Mandelman. He's known to be spot on. He defined the anxiety as an internal dysregulation. We've been through lots and lots of therapies w him... currently getting floortime not seeing any significant progress.

amother

Burntblack

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 10:05 am

amother OP wrote:

what type of dr is dr mandelman? what is causing the internal dysregulation? did he say?

amother

NeonBlue

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 10:56 am

amother OP wrote:

Did he say why not to do OT? Treating anxiety is one of their specialties.

Also what does his therapist say about adhd vs anxiety? I actually went through this same thing with my son at 6.