My son was always struggling and getting into trouble with his ADHD. He meant well but had extreme difficulties controlling himself. He has been diagnosed with a critical case of ADHD. We began his therapy and medication management about 3 years ago. The constant hyperness was getting him in trouble every day at school. To top it off he was always so wound up that he wasn’t able to get to sleep on time and get the correct amount of sleep. Therefore we felt that we would have to begin to look further into his condition and get him help.
We originally began basic therapy in which taught our family a lot of helpful tactics in which to better assist my son with his ADHD symptoms. However although we all learned and applied these tools, daily phone calls from the school continued in the form of complaints. The therapy itself wasn’t enough for his extreme cases of ADHD. He continued to have issues with sitting still, focusing, rushing, waiting his turn and following directions,etc.
We began an IEP thru the school in which was designed for his needs. The IEP is an acronym for an Individualized Educational Plan. This is a structured plan tailored thru the school used to assist a child with difficulties for a more comfortable and controlled setting. Although he was in more of a controlled environment with more options available to keep him more occupied, his accompanied difficulties still remained. There was slow progress in this area. Still more was needed to help him.
He school educators and counselors began to discuss medications in which could help him. I was against medicating him for this rather I just wanted extra support and tools applied in order to better help in controlling himself. Time went by and he was not improving, this was now affecting his academical scores. He is a smart boy but was just rushing thru work to get it done or by doing it incorrectly by not following directions.
Therefore a referral was made by his therapist to begin medication management. Still I was mostly against it but I realized that it could help him, we decided to start with the weakest and least addicting medicine. He began with an anti stimulant called Stratera. This wasn’t helping him at all and through out time ended up being increased little by little until he was then at the maximum dosage for so. Since this was a failed attempt, he next had to try the stimulants. He then began these with no results as well. The same results occurred with having to increase dosages the whole way up to the maximum again. The last medication was Risperal and Concerta. Again the same results occurred. I became a very disgruntled mother. The dosage of these meds were enough to calm down an adult and even put some asleep. My boy was almost 40 pounds and on these high dosages with no improvement.
Needless to say, I stopped his medications by gradually taking him off. He was the same boy with the meds that he was off of them therefore there was no sense in jeopardizing his health. We continued our struggles with his ADHD. Meanwhile we visited several doctors and to get several opinions. My thought was that maybe he was misdiagnosed that is why none of the medications worked for him. However all of the diagnoses came back with the same opinions. No doctor supported my ideas of accompanying his ADHD with natural remedies such as natural herbs in which claim that the products help and can even cure ADHD symptoms.
Medication management then began again but I refused to put him on the previous drugs that was issued to him. As a new doctor for my son, he reviewed the family history and medical history for his ADHD. This doctor was able to logically understand how I felt and gave my son a different type of medicine. This medicines main use is not for ADHD but is also recommended for the condition. Immediately there were amazing results. This medicine is called Clonidine.
Clonidine, is used known as Catapres as the brand name. It is used for the treatment of high blood pressure.This medicine comes in a pill and as a patch. It is also used to treat ADHD, alcohol and nicotine withdrawing symptoms, menopause, menstrual cycles, etc. Prevention of strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems occur from using this medicine by lowering blood pressure. Taking this medication before bed can help those with ADHD to get to sleep. This is true for usage during the day as well therefore children may get drowsy and could fall asleep by using this medication if the dosage is too high. When this occurs you simply contact the doctors to approve lowering the dosage amount. The side effects from this medication are much less with less severity than those medications in which are mainly designed for the treatment of ADHD.
My family is pleased with the results from Clonidine. In the beginning we had to decrease his dosage due to that he would fall asleep in the middle of class. Since then he has been doing very well. He seldom gets into trouble. He is more responsible, functioning at a normal level, focusing better, and actually sleeping at night. We are very happy with the results and most of all our son feels better now that he can control his self and gets into less trouble. This defiantly has improved his self image and esteem. We all are so very thankful that we found a good supportive medication that helps with his ADHD symptoms.
