Please tell me about your daughters journey with ADHD

amother

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 7:33 am

6 year old girl- creative, talented, a leader. Aggressive, impulsive, lacks emotional regulation (screaming, tantruming, hitting). Mediocre school performance. Struggling to sit with practicing reading and kriyah. ADHD runs in the family. Yes weve been to counseling.
Looking into medications.
Please tell me what worked for your daughter regarding medications and what age you started and what behaviors clued you in to the diagnosis.
Thank you so much for all your help.

amother

Mintcream

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 8:56 am

My daughter was diagnosed at 6 years old. She was very impulsive and couldn't focus in school. She reacted badly to many of the medications and it took years to find the right medication and a reasonable balance between ADHD control and side effects. The only way for her school function/behavior to be perfect was to have her personality completely zapped.
It is critical to have an excellent psychiatrist who can find the right medication for your child.

amother

Valerian

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 3:46 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

OP, I’m in the same boat with my DD6. No advice, but following..

amother

Starflower

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 4:32 pm

Dd now 9 was diagnosed at 7 in first grade. She’s gifted as well so keeps up academically but has a hard time sitting in class, following rules, emotional regulation, and being socially appropriate.
It’s been an uphill battle trying to work with the school and her, making sure she follows along while at the same time trying to not make her feel defective.
I’ve had lots of conversations with her teachers explaining and suggesting and listening.

amother

Cerise

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 4:35 pm

amother [ Starflower ] wrote:

my daughter is the same as yours!! I don’t want to medicate because she’s fine in general, great academically, just a bad fit for a typical classroom. (Would do great for example with Montessori style) what are you doing about this?

amother

Starflower

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 4:44 pm

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

Taking it day by day year by year. Fielding lots of phone calls and ignorance.
Giving her a ton of independence, acceptance, and room to be herself at home. Summer is her time! Interestingly enough she does way better socially when out of a school setting. Maybe because there’s less pent up energy and pressure.
Even if I do have to give her meds sometime in the future I’d like to push as much as I can.
I gave her CBD oil at some point which helped but she complained it made her tired.

amother

Sienna

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 5:21 pm

My teen Dd was officially diagnosed at 8. I'm upset with myself for ignoring a Kindergarten teacher who saw it. This could have avoided so many of the social problems. We did not make the same mistake with two of our other adhd children. They are doing so much better socially because kids and parents never got to see her wild behavior.
My teen was like your 6 yr old. We medicated starting with quillivant. We switched to vyvanse and intuniv. It's been raised over the years but the best combination.
She was seeing a therapist at 8 who she bonded with. That therapist moved and finding another therapist was a disaster. We tried after school activities, social skills groups, buying books to talk about.
She was/is very self conscious about it. She tries to act like nothing bothers her but she is in the outs socially. It breaks my heart.
Her new dr. Tested her for depression. She was very depressed but very good at hiding it. She takes anti depressants along with her adhd medications. Game changer!!
She still struggles in ways that really people can not understand how much of a disability it is. She does have a 504 plan for school which we renew every year, since intellectually she never qualified for an IEP.

She is super independent. Has a wonderful personality. Kind. Caring. And BH currently seeing a therapist she bonded with.
It's still a challenge trying to figure out when to step back. Biggest mistake we made was coddling her too much. She relied on us to fix her mistakes. A book left at home that we ran over to school. A test not studied for and last min scrambling. Phone calls to teachers if she needed something. Best move has been letting her make mistakes and natrual consequences.
The therapist said to say yes to 8/10 requests, but it can be responed to with strings.
Like Mom can I go to so an so house. Yes, but please have your room cleaned before you leave and I would like you to be hone by xyz time.
Hope this helps!

amother

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 5:41 pm

Thank you so much. This is so helpful to me. Really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Can I ask what were the things that the teacher picked up on in kindergarten? My daughter's teachers didn't notice anything major except some social things, but I know that ADHD presents differently in boys than girls and if often overlooked in girls. Thanks...if anyone has any thing else that helped please share.
Where do you get kosher CBD oil for kids?
Thanks so much!

amother

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 6:44 pm

amother [ Powderblue ] wrote:

9.5yr old DD. On concerta and so far bH working. Was prescribed by pediatrician for lack of focus in school and unable to sit by her desk. Was on adderal but made her very tired. I only give the medicine on school DayS.

Thank you. Did you notice any lack of focus at a younger age or any other acting out behaviors, sensitive, intense etc?

amother

Sienna

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 7:06 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

my daughter was always calling out and interrupting. She had trouble not talking when the morah was teaching. She had trouble taking turns. She was bossy to her friends.
My other child had more of a combo. Less hyperactive and more. inattentive. And my 3rd child definitely similar to my oldest. And we started her on medication middle of 1st grade. As soon as we started noticing less and less requests for playdates. She tells us that she feels better on the medication. She can control herself and the kids and morah's don't get so mad at her.

amother

Powderblue

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 7:06 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Thank you. Did you notice any lack of focus at a younger age or any other acting out behaviors, sensitive, intense etc?

Yes she was always very active and very emotionally expressive, got complaints from teachers from early on. Dh was/isn’t into giving meds so that’s why we pushed it off but now I see that she’s doing so much better on it in school and is able to feel good abt herself! I regret not getting her help when she was younger such as aba therapy etc....but I feel like we’re in a good place for now.

amother

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:51 am

amother [ Tomato ] wrote:

We’ve seen tremendous improvements in aggression, impulsivity, focus, executive function, emotional regulation, rage, and even social skills by working on gut health and treating strep, parasites and yeast overgrowth.

Thank you! I am open to this but would have no idea where to start. Please tell me how you worked.on these areas. Specific products? Practitioners?

Thank you

amother

Tomato

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 6:01 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Thank you! I am open to this but would have no idea where to start. Please tell me how you worked.on these areas. Specific products? Practitioners?

Thank you

We started with the protocol in this book https://www.amazon.com/Finally.....r=8-1 it gave us some good gains but I wanted more. We saw an integrative pediatrician who helped us treat strep, yeast and parasites (which we found on a stool test) and the results were amazing. We eliminated inflammatory foods as per the book, and then the dr guided us in adding in probiotics and fermented foods. I would start by reading the book and seeing what you could implement on your own. We didn’t use this, but bioray has a great line of herbal products Formulated for kids that help with gut dysbiosis, yeast, parasites and so on. Very gentle.

gootlfriends

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 12:42 pm

We started guanfacine 2 weeks before 2nd grade. It took that long for her to adjust to medication. It helped a ton. We adjust the dose as we go. She is 10. We have tried stimulants but its usually a disaster. She is in a special ed program as well. We got an adhd diagnosis recently but it was quite obvious she had/has it. The medicine doesn't make all the issues go away and often, there are side effects. The first year she was a bit of a robot and constipated. After a year her playful side came back.