Anyone have kids with ADHD or ODD?

b00b0084

i think the pharmaceuticals are in control of the doctors in us.. instead of looking for an alternative they go the easy way and prescribe drugs... oh you feel sad? anti depressant. you have this symptom? medication. instead of looking at other remedies, cognitive therapy, counseling, herbal medicine. change of environment or life style etc.

its part of a nature for children to be young free happy overly excited. (obviously if its within normal range, if it gets to the point where no one can do anything then medication is the option, or locked up in the basement hehe <sarcasm>)

i know when i was out of line my mom send me to a corner or slapped me in the butt and i learned not to do it again. and im not saying i was a angel either. obviously i have no room to talk about raising children since i have none. but i think the worst that can be done is to spoil the child, let him have anything he wants and then when he demands for more give into it... then you see the problems coming along.
i know this because i can now compare myself to my cousin who was spoiled while i was not.

just a rant/ opinion.

i just think medications are overprescribed 100%. and the worst part is doctors and pharma companies are prescribing these medications without knowing the full side effects/affects, especially when it comes to mental health.


i give the most respect to parents who have to deal with insubordinate children or ones who do have actual ADD/ADHD, you are angels walking this earth

I completely get where you are coming from. I feel the same way. I was medicated for bi-polar as a teenager when i didn't even have it. I was just a seriously pissed off teen. My son, however, has done a complete 180 in school since being on his medication. Without his ADHD medication he cannot sit still, keep quiet while in school, stay out of trouble, or even function. He loves that he can get good grades in school now and gets upset when he has a bad day, like if I forget his meds one day.

b00b0084

My son was just diagnosed with ADHD and ODD and they are wanting me to put him on Ritalin and Concerta. I am nervous and have my reservation about putting my son on drugs such as those. Anyone here have similar childrens issues?

What is ODD? Do you mean OCD? I'm not trying to be cheeky by asking. I think medication for OCD is a good idea. I've been taking it for two years and no longer have any symptoms.

ODD - Oppositional defiant disorder

OCD - Obsessive compulsive disorder.

ODD is a little more controversial - some mental health practitioners believe it's just a label to put on someone who stands up for what they believe in.

I have a kid that stands up for what he believes in. I would never medicate him for it - I would rather focus on him learning acceptable social rules but always standing up for what he believes is right. The trick is to make sure that he's good at heart and believes in the right things.

There is a difference in standing up for what you believe in and beating the s**t out of me because I said something as simple as get ready for bed.

Exactly! My son wasn't standing up for what he believed in, he was out for blood because the ODD makes it harder for his brain to switch gears. A normal kid- get ready for bed means its done within 5 minutes or so. ODD kid- get ready for bed means total melt down because its too much to process and some react violently, as my son did before I decided to give him the medication.

RelativeChaos00

My little brother was diagnosed with both ADHD and ODD as a young child. The Drs only wanted to push drugs on him, Ritalin in particular. It was one of the worst things my parents ever did with him when they agreed to put him on it, they've said as much several times. It turned him into a zombie, he didn't eat, he barely talked, and as at least a partial result he stopped learning in school. When he was older the Drs realized he was not ADHD, which I'm quite certain anyone who lived with him could have told them, and that the problem was just ODD. They had taken him off the medicine some time earlier and he gained almost 50 pounds. Now, at 21 years old, he is still trying to get rid of that weight.

What my brother needed was not medication, it was counseling. He has sought that out on his own since he was about 17. He needed stability, patience, and a united front. None of these things were my parents able to supply. They would rather disagree with each other than give him one answer. As a result he never had any clear cut rules and as I'm certain you already know, ODD kids have a hard come coming to grips with the thought that rules apply to them. Having grown up with the mess he was, and seeing him still trying to sort it out as an adult, I am vehemently against medicating an ODD child, except as a last resort. My younger sister is studying for her Masters in Counseling right now and explained that counseling and medication need to go hand in hand. Getting mental health drugs from a primary care physician is like getting a resistance training plan from a marathon runner; while they may be great at exercise that just isn't their specialty so be certain the person offering the prescription is someone best qualified. I really believe in trying everything else first, behavior modification, therapy, what have you, but first and foremost you need to be willing and able to be that child's rock. They need something that will be stable and dependable while still caring. Clear cut rules were very very important, as were very predictable consequences for breaking those rules.

The Drs didn't know much about ODD when my brother was diagnosed, I am hopeful they know more now but I cannot say for certain. If you haven't yet, try counseling. Find an actual counselor, not a psychologist or a psychiatrist as they are less drug happy and more likely to work on a real solution rather than the easy answer of drugging our children. I would give a whole lot to change the way I watched my brother grow up and he would give even more to change the consequences of his mistakes since then, I wish he'd been given a fair shot but drugs were all the Drs wanted to give him.

RelativeChaos00

I just saw some of your last posts (sorry, I've skimmed a bit since I should really be in bed right now and my brother was violent as a child too. He didn't hurt himself, he hit myself and my little sister. His teachers pretty much just wrote him off as a jerk and we just dealt with it as best we could. Not the easiest thing to do as he was not a small child post-ritalin. At 21 he is 6'4" and 200 something pounds, he's a big guy. As he got older and learned more about what he was doing, that it was hurting people, he began (on his own) to be able to restrain himself better. He didn't want to hurt us, so he tried not to. He was still very angry and easy to set off. Counseling as an adolescent helped immensely with this. He is still angry when faced with stressful situations and things he doesn't want to deal with but he can control it now. This was HUGE for him!

It took me a long time to actually believe that there was something wrong with him, that it was more than him just being a jerk. He disrespected my parents, any and all authority figures, his siblings, you name it. But he said he didn't want to be that way, and for a while I didn't believe him. I figured he would just change if he didn't want to be like that until one day my Dad made him mad. I watched his face as he went back and forth with himself. He didn't say a word, but you could see the battle he was fighting inside his head to be the man he wanted to be and not the man that came naturally. It took that for me to believe him, to believe IN him. He goes through something that I can't even understand at every stimulus. I learned to support him and love him, even though he still is a jerk sometimes. I still tell him when he's being a jerk, and won't stand around and listen to it, but I remind him often that I know he's capable of much better than that. I've seen it. He is loyal and loving and very thoughtful, that is the person my brother is and the person he wants to be and the person he fights every day to be.

b00b0084

I just saw some of your last posts (sorry, I've skimmed a bit since I should really be in bed right now and my brother was violent as a child too. He didn't hurt himself, he hit myself and my little sister. His teachers pretty much just wrote him off as a jerk and we just dealt with it as best we could. Not the easiest thing to do as he was not a small child post-ritalin. At 21 he is 6'4" and 200 something pounds, he's a big guy. As he got older and learned more about what he was doing, that it was hurting people, he began (on his own) to be able to restrain himself better. He didn't want to hurt us, so he tried not to. He was still very angry and easy to set off. Counseling as an adolescent helped immensely with this. He is still angry when faced with stressful situations and things he doesn't want to deal with but he can control it now. This was HUGE for him!

It took me a long time to actually believe that there was something wrong with him, that it was more than him just being a jerk. He disrespected my parents, any and all authority figures, his siblings, you name it. But he said he didn't want to be that way, and for a while I didn't believe him. I figured he would just change if he didn't want to be like that until one day my Dad made him mad. I watched his face as he went back and forth with himself. He didn't say a word, but you could see the battle he was fighting inside his head to be the man he wanted to be and not the man that came naturally. It took that for me to believe him, to believe IN him. He goes through something that I can't even understand at every stimulus. I learned to support him and love him, even though he still is a jerk sometimes. I still tell him when he's being a jerk, and won't stand around and listen to it, but I remind him often that I know he's capable of much better than that. I've seen it. He is loyal and loving and very thoughtful, that is the person my brother is and the person he wants to be and the person he fights every day to be.

It's amazing that your brother has come this far! Good on him! I could see the internal battle with my son before he started getting help. He would never physically attack me when another male was around but there was one day at the store with my dad (about 9 months ago or so) and my son got mad about something and he looked like he was about to snap then my dad caught his attention and it was like my son had an internal tug-o-war going on in his head. His instincts were telling him to start swinging at me, but the fear of what my dad might do was telling him something else. It was a weird and scary thing to watch.

dga226

my child was told he has adhd. He is very hyper and has a very big appetitie always hungry is that a sytmon of adhd. if any one has kids with adhd please add me or message me so we can chat

strangeone25

My son has autism and ADHD and he is on concerta. Concerta has by far been the best medication for him. He only takes it on days he has to be in school or somewhere he needs to pay attention. He takes the summers and most weekends off. It has been a real help to him educationally. We tried ritilin and concerta is much better.

pinkraynedropjacki

My son was diagnosed when he was 7.... he's now almost 20. He's ADHD & ODD... just like me :grumble: I'm 38 and unfortunately that's how he got it. All my fault :sad:

I take Guarana tablets to help my symptoms.... works with son as well. Ritalin, Dex.... you name it... never had any effect on him. I was diagnosed the same time he was .... I missed all my schooling because of that, teachers just thought I was lazy & didn't want to try. Was more that I could not process anything.

cwaters120

My 18 year old twins both have ADHD and both were on low doses of Concerta with great results. As someone else stated, their appetite during the day is barely there but they ate before school and always eat a great dinner.

I am 38 and have it as well, but I don't medicate anymore as I cut refined sugars and simple carbs (most processed food) and drink only minor amounts of caffine during the day. THis has helped me so much that when my boys were around 13 I started it with them. They no longer take medication as, between this and yoga, they have learned better ways of coping with situations and focusing.

ramda01

My eldest son now 18 has and has had since diagnosed at 5yrs old ADHD, ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) which is now on the spectrum. He has been on every medication there is (almost ), Riterlin was a complete disaster for him (it made him much worse!), everyone we have have talked to including manly specialist at Boston Children's hospital and Worcester UMAS said that he would have to constantly change meds, as he builds up resistance to each Med. He's currently on Bupropion Xl although this has a tendency to make him even more hyper active so we use it with caution.

He is unmotivated and we have tried diet changes and various form of exercise with no effect. Caffeine has held better than some meds they have prescribed if he is in a bad mood (be it coffee or soda).

Things eventually (slowly) gets better but there are still many problems some very difficult to deal with (special schools, if they don't have special ed students or a state mandate that they must send them to a specialist school) and the problems get very different over the years.

Also watch out for explosive outbursts, especially at school where he has trashed several rooms during the age 11-14.

Good Luck,