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[SamuelsMa]

Hi all, I am sad to have to be here, but I am. First question is what does difficult child mean? I really tried to figure it out, but am at a loss.

Ok, on to the intro. I am the mom to Mel who is my daughter, 7yo and the only issue she has is asthma.

DS is 9 and has me at the very end of my rope. In January he was diagnosis ADHD combined by his psychologist. Recently, she also said she believes he is ODD. We have him on Ritalin LA 10mg. On tuesday we will be seeing a neurologist to hopefully get a more in depth exam and perhaps confirmation of these diagnosis or the correct one. Right now, the ritalin wears off at about 4pm and he is a nightmare without it. These last 3 days he is constantly nasty, defiant and just plain mean to everyone. Please, is there a light at the end of this tunnel because I'm really beginning to wonder.

Andrea

 

[busywend]

Welcome!!

Is it Concerta that is a slow release Ritalin? I think so. Have you tried this medication? Sometimes the slow release have less of an impact with the let down time.

difficult child = Gift From God (the child that brought you here).
easy child = Perfect Child (the children that did not bring you here LOL! We know none are perfect).

 

[TerryJ2]

Hi Andrea,
welcome.
I agree with-busywend, that time release medications are a good idea.
Also, have you done an elimination diet with-him? Take out eggs, milk, cheese, etc., as well as wheat (gluten) and just serve him baked meat (no breading, no Chic father in law-et), and potatoes and rice with-no butter for a mo. Then one by one, reintroduce them -- give him 3 huge meals with-lots of milk, for example.
Any history of neurological or mental illnesses in the family? (Alcoholism can be a form of self-medication for an underlying disorder, for ex.)

I'm glad you found us.

 

[DaisyFace]

Hello Andrea--

Welcome to the board! Hopefully your visit with the neurologist will help to point you in the right direction as far as correct medications or behavior modification. Meanwhile, a lot of the parents here swear by a book called "The Explosive Child" by Ross Greene. Check it out as a starting point...

--DaisyF

 

[BusynMember]

Welcome to the board, but sorry you had to come.

Did your son have any delays when he was a baby/toddler? How is his socializing and eye contact? Do you have any psychiatric problems OR substance abuse issues on either side of his genetic family tree?

What kind of testing did he have to determine ADHD? Has he had an intensive evaluation? Does he rage and break things? What are his triggers?

Welcome again

 

[helpangel]

Hi Andrea,
Welcome I'm still new here myself, I never really got the difficult child thing either cause in my opinion every child is a gift from God (and none of them are perfect).

I'm have a little knowledge about stimulant medications, all 3 of my kids have taken them in the past. It sounds like the Ritalin LA is working well for your child it's just the rebound (when it wears off) that is causing the problems. This is what we experienced with my oldest and what worked well for him was he would take the extended release Ritalin in the morning and a small dose of regular Ritalin afterschool. Besides adjusting doses my son did wonderfully on just that one medication. Someone here mentioned Concerta it's basically the same medication as the Ritalin LA but Concerta you get 10-12 hours where I believe Ritalin LA is more like 6-8 hours. Consider if wanted to switch what kind of prescription coverage you have as Concerta isn't available in generic and it is more expensive then Ritalin.

Almost forgot to ask is he sleeping at night? Some kids have problems sleeping when taking stimulant medication if that's an issue (double check with prescribing doctor) but Melatonin is over the counter and helps my youngest a lot (it was suggested by the doctor who was prescribing her Depakote & Concerta at the time so it shouldn't have bad interaction with the Ritalin)

 

[SamuelsMa]

I am so sorry I disappeared! I was waiting for my message to get approved and didn't stop back.

Ok, I'll try to answer some questions asked of me. He was diagnosed by the psychologist per the DSM manual. She's been seeing him since 7/08. I don't know what other kind of testing there would be.

Family history: I did have postpartem depression after his birth. Took prozac and was fine. I was on it for a couple years as I did battle some depression in my teen years. My father's entire side of the family all have some sort of mental illness-bipolar (his sister) and most are undiagnosed self medicating with drugs or alcohol.

We did go to the neuro appointment 2 days ago and it was such a waste of time. He told us this is a complicated case and said to go find a psychiatrist. 4 hours in the car to a big name kids hospital and that's all I got. I'm so irritated.

As far as diet, I haven't been stringent with it, but I have cut down on dyes. I haven't removed anything else from his diet.

Delays-I took him to the child study team at 3.5 years old and they didn't see any delays, but they were there. Speech in particular. He is still in speech therapy as he may seem to understand what is being said, but doesn't always-especially non-literal language. He is in Special Education for math and has an aide most of the day, but especially for reading.

Geez, hope I covered everything. Please, any advice or questions, ask away! Thanks!!

 

[Marguerite]

Have you got a detailed report from the Speecch Pathologist? Any records of his progress, especially progress reports showing how far he has come, should be shown to the psychologist he is seeing. I would also suggest you visit www.childbrain.com and look for their online Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) questionnaire. You can't use it to diagnose because only an expert can do that, but you can do the survey anyway, print the results and take it to an expert for their opinioon,. It can help crystallise areas of concern for you.

The problems you describe - it could be due to rebound (changing stims can help sometimes) or it could be a combination of the underlying disorder coupled with our usual technique of trying to use strictness and control to deal with difficult behaviours. With 'normal' kids, clamping down on control will give us more compliance; with a lot of difficult children, it causes an increase in explosive behaviour and the appearance of what looks like ODD.

Either way, it's fixable. But not without some help and professional input.

First - read "Explosive Child" by Ross Greene. It helps, in most cases. And no, we don't get royalties on purchases, although I wish we did, we recommend it so much!

Second - stick around, help is here. At the very least, you can dump on us because we've been there.

Welcome!

Marg