ADD / ADHD Kid's? MEDICATION QUESTION...?

Question

MY 9 year old's teachers and I took the survey to help DR decide if my child has ADD as her mom I can say ....she dose.I am concerned though about giving her any MEDs my friend gave her ADHD daughter meds and she is doing great except the huge weight loss..did your child loose alot of weight taking these meds for ADD (not ADHD)? Any advise on the meds will be appreciated..

Oh and no need for med critics or bad comments... I have not decided to put her on anything yet!I am here for suggestions and advise only!

Answer 1

i am ADHD cotrolling wat your child eats and srinks plays a big part.. you need to which sugar makes you hapyer  and unable to foucs it always happens to me. i dint hear nothin the teahcer is sayin bacause i am out in another world....

Answer 2

They treat ADD and ADHD with the same medication.

My son did lose weight when he was on Ritalin. But now they put him on a new pill called Focalin.He takes a lower dose of the Focalin than he did the Ritalin and it works great. He has not lost any weight on it at all.

Also if your child is put on medication there are ways to help keep her weight up. such as feeding her more ofter on giving her a milk shake before bed every night. helps.

But you should talk t her doctor about your concern about the weight there are a lot of different medications to treat ADD/ADHD. and your doctor should work with you to find the best medication for your child. good luck

Answer 3

I can only tell you as a parent  that we all want the best for our children.We want them to reach their fullest potential and be happy in their life.If it is felt that meds will help your child then you should at least keep an open mind on the subject.I commend you for not closing that door .Like I said as parents we want what is best for our children.Keep in mind it sometimes takes trial and error to find the meds and dose that works best for your child.Your doctor can also give you other strategies that may help your daughter to live a "normal" life.Good luck to you both.

Answer 4

My son was on a couple different meds before we found 2 that worked for him he was taking one in the morning and one in the afternoon to help get him through homework time. I can't remember the names of either one. He took them for a couple years before we stopped them. His appetite was affected but I just made up for that by making sure that when he did eat, it was healthy stuff full of vitamins and i made him start taking a daily vitamin. My problem with the meds was that they kinda took the light out of him. The longer he was on them the more I noticed it. He had always had a bubbly happy personality but on the meds, even tho they helped him focus, they made him feel blah. So if you put your daughter on them, just keep an eye on the personality changes and make yur decisions accordingly. He is in 8th grade now and has a great team of teachers and we all work together to help him achieve his goals. You can email me if you have any questions.

Answer 5

my only recommendation would be...before medicating for ADD (she very well may have it) is have her sleep and diet checked.  I dont say this sarcastically at all - my son was diagnosed with ADHD and the docs wanted to medicate...i took it a step further and changed his diet (no high fructose corn syrups, additives, MSG, caffeine, artificial colors/flavors).  I was shocked at the change.  Some kids too are VERY effected by gluten as well.   I also had him go through a sleep study. turns out his sleep patterns were horrible - he was asleep but wasnt getting any restful sleep.  Through natural vitamins and iron supplements - precribed by a doctor - he is a different child.  Able to focus, gets along with others etc



i realize this might not be your daughters case, but it cant hurt to exhaust all causes of behavior before medicating.  Good luck with everything!

Answer 6

There are certain benefits and drawbacks to going the medication route with children.  On the plus side if your child does have ADD/ADHD medications such as Concerta or Ritalin can greatly improve your child's ability to focus.  I would agree that jumping right into doing medications should be your last choice.  These medications although affective can have side affects and often it will take a number of tries to find the right one at the right dosage for your child.  Many times the side affects are mild and will dissipate once child becomes use to the medication.  However if your child is sensitive to med's or has had any allergic reactions to medications you need to be careful which med's are given and be sure to start them off at the lowest dosage possible and work your way up.  All too often the doctor will just start a child at the recommended dosage for their age and weight and not realize they don't need that high a dosage or it's too strong with them.  My child takes regular Ritalin because he can not take extended release tablets so we have to give him precisely time dosages throughout the day.   One benefit of doing individual dosages is that we can choose to give or not to give him medications in the afternoon.  More often than not after school hours we do not.  One major side affect to ADD drugs is that they impact a child's growth pattern and will act as an appetite suppressant.  My son is very small for his age and normally only eats well at dinner due to the medications during the day.  Parents need to be ever so vigilant that their child sits and eats an appropriate amount because their bodies don't think they are hungry.  

We just had a current evaluation done for my son with a developmental pediatrician.  He recommended that we put him on a multivitamin with iron and Omega 3(DHA).  He said that establishing appropriate levels of both DHA and Iron can have the same impact as medications for a child with ADD symptoms.  It can several months for the levels to raise to appropriate levels before results will be seen.  Often these kids won't need meds at all or can reduce their amounts significantly.  This would be my recommendation to try first. I've done a lot of checking and we're going to try Nordic Naturals for kids.  It's a fish oil chewable for kids.  Adult versions found at most stores are too high of a dosage for them.  Nordic's can be found at GNC stores.  I wish you the best of luck

Answer 7

It would depend on the drugs prescribed. My son was prescribed a drug that one of the side effects was that he might gain weight. He has but we are not sure if it's because he is going through puberty or the medication.

Answer 8

Well, I have ADD and have tried many different meds.

Conserta- This gave me no apatite

Welbetruin- Made me dizzy

Stretra- Stomach Issues

Addral- Too Short of a time period

Patch (don't now what it is called)- I hatted the patch

Addral XR- I am using it now and it worked great!

Weight loss can only happen if the meds curve appetite. Aral ZR has worked great.

I would recommend putting her on meds. You will see a drastic change, but I am not a doctor

Hope This Helps

Answer 9

I think they use many of the same meds for ADD and ADHD...the experience I have is with ADHD drugs.

On some meds kids don't necessarily LOSE  weight---but they do have less of an appetitite. That means the parents have to make sure the kids eat at meal times even if they are not feeling hungry.

IMPORTANT: when some meds wear off late in the day the kid can get VERY hungry. This would hit my son around bed time. I got in the most awful row with the grandparents because they thought he was saying he was hungry just so he could stay up---but he really was hungry.

Give the meds as early as you can in the morning and they still might not be worn off at supper time and the kid won't eat a great deal---SO you should have a healthy, hearty snack ready before bed time so they can fill up before going to sleep. I think this helps keep weight on.

My son will eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich  with a glass of milk, usually an apple or other fruit and a bowl of ice cream just a short time before bed----and this is the kid who was "full" at dinner just an hour before!

My son is weighed and measured every three months to keep an eye on his growth. He is naturally slender so this was a worry for me---but it has been fine....of course I do make sure he fills up at night and he has a good breakfast in the morning and snack when he gets home from school. (I send in good stuff to school but I'm not there to watch him eat it :)

Talk to your doctor, but I know a few people who do what I do about food and their kids are healthy and a good weight.

Best of luck!

Answer 10

I'm not a med critic ... for some kids it works wonders.  But I just thought I'd chime in to say I know a couple of kids who had ADD symptoms who turned out actually to have sleep apnea.  Their behavioral symptoms were actually being caused by not getting quality sleep.  They ended up having their tonsils taken out which stopped the sleep apnea, which in turn drastically improved their behavior.  

Of course, that's not the solution for all ADD kids ... but it's something to raise with your doctor before deciding on the medication route, especially if you've noticed that your child snores.

Answer 11

I'm a senior in high school, and I have taken meds since 3rd grade for ADHD. I am normal and healthy--very fit and athletic. I was pretty skinny I guess in elementary and middle school, but that was because I swam 5 days per week year-round and played soccer year-round, too. And they are both under the name ADHD now. They just have different types: ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive, ADHD-Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive, and ADHD-Combined type, which means having both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. I have the combined type. I am glad I am on medication--what it does is help correct the chemical imbalance/smaller frontal lobe in the brain, which is what ADHD is caused by. I still struggle with it, but the medicine has helped so much. It's not going to fix everything--you need to combine different types of treatment in order to optimize success for your daughter--at home, at school, etc. I have only had the medicine, but I luckily had nice teachers who made accommodations for me along the way and a wonderful mother who has it herself and who is my greatest advocate. Different medications affect the appetite in different ways. Talk to your child's pediatrician about what would be best for your daughter. If you have questions about the different ones, I can give you some info about them, but you should talk to her docter first.

Answer 12

Depends on the medication, amphetamine based meds will cause weight loss and others such as Strattera can cause weight gain.

If your 9 year old is healthy and not underdeveloped prior to medication, I would not be concerned. When you have a definitive diagnosis and medications are prescribed then you will need to monitor her closely. If it is a drug that causes weight loss then the best thing is to get a good breakfast in her before the med kicks in, lunch will be a wash, she will probably eat little to nothing at school and then you can monitor dinner. High protein is good for ADHD, keeps blood sugar stabilized and helps with mood swings. Normally with the amphetamine based drugs the child will drop a lot of weight right away 5-10 lbs on the first 3 weeks then as the body gets adjusted to the med the weight stabilizes provided the parent is monitoring breakfast and dinner.

Answer 13

one of my boys did and one did not.  meds will affect each child differently.

Answer 14

well my son is 6  and in frist grade he takes meds for his ADHD. It was are last resort i thought he is young but in kinder he was kick out of shool twice for disrupting the class all day long . It was hard but i felt i had to help him to sit still and give him the chance to learn, and play like regular kid would do. dont get me wrong iam not saying i want him to normal because there is no normal kid. i new he was a smart kid i just wanted him to be able to show it to every body and prave to him self. :) just my advise