Does your child have ADHD?

What medication did your doctor recommend?My son is 6? Is the med time release( last all day). My son has been diagnoised. With my oldest it took several meds

My daughter was 9 when she was diagnosed as having ADHD & ODD and Dyslexia, her pediatrician suggested Ritalin, I research as I much as I could about the side effects, spoke to others who had children on the medication.

We eventually decided to try her on the Ritalin, but I would only give it to her through the school week and term, not over the weekend, however if we had a special event such as a wedding over the weekend, we would give her the Ritalin.

We also used behaviour modification and diet, and a very strict routine. After a few days of our daughter being on the medication, we noticed a huge difference in her behaviour, and when asked by the pediatrician what she thought she said "it helps me think clearer, and the noise in my head has gone", needless to say I was shocked.

When she was 15 she asked if she could stop taking it, because she hated taking it.

I think that you need to know your child. Is your child sever enough for medication? My son was diagnosed as ADHD in 2nd grade, but we chose not to medicate because he was not hyper in all situations. It turned out later that he was not ADHD but was actually autistic. A lot of medications can cause other problems. We chose to use a behavior plan for my son instead of medications. Studies now show that ADHD medications do not have long term effect. They are only supposed to be used for a short period of time in order to put a behavior plan in place. When the medication's effectiveness wears off parents often up the dosage which is very dangerous. If you do decide to medicate, please consult a psychiatrist or psychologist that can work out a behavior plan. Get your child off the medication as soon as possible. Never just put a child on medication with no plan to take them off.

When we first thought my son had ADHD...actually age 6 too for us...his regular medical doctor put him on Concerta. Which did absolutely nothing. We found a good psychiatrist who then had him try Adderall XR...it was a miracle. So you might need to try a few different drugs...I strongly recommend a psychiatrist familiar with kids/adolescents with ADHD for prescriptions as they seem to know best.

over the years we have tried different meds Ritalin,Concerta Strattera etc; all had side effects the only one that did not affect my daughters appetite was Strattera but the whole year that she took it she did not grow no weight gain no height, finally I watched her diet and took her off High Fructose Corn Syrup, yeah I know the commercials all say its fine ( in moderation ) but believe me I have seen a BIG difference be forewarned though if you decide to try going HFCS free that stuff is in everything bread, hotdogs, cereals read your labels you will eventually figure out what is good and what is not