My 6 year old son is taking Adderall and Zoloft ?

Question

My 6 year old son was diagnosed by a child neuropsychologist and a child psychiatrist with sensory integration issues, severe ADHD (impulsivity control type), and an unspecified mood/anxiety/anger disorder. He hurts people sometimes and at 4 years of age had to leave his preschool because he hurt other children and sometimes adults. We did not want to medicate him, and cried many tears deliberating, but he was becoming more and more out-of-control and aggresive and hurting his twin brother multiple times a day, as well as doing sometime dangerous things because of his total lack of impulse control. We first treated him for the aggression with Zoloft, which worked immediately. He went the entire first day w/o hurting anyone. Since he was not in school yet, we did not feel the need to treat the ADHD. He got through Kindergarten with the help of a wonderful and very understanding teacher, but team sports, play dates and group situations have been really difficult for him. Academically he did great and he is very creative. Since he was going to start first grade this year and have to be in school an additional 3 hours per day, along with the extra homework we made the decision to try to treat the ADHD. We tried a few meds, but did not like what they did to him. Currently he is taking Adderallrx in a pretty low dose and it calms him down after about an hour - just enough so that he can focus and not be in trouble constantly. It doesn't "dumb him down" at all at this dose and he is still very creative and expressive- - just more able to concentrate on things and focus on whatever is in front of him. Some days though he seems to be a little more easily agitated or stubborn since starting the Adderall. The 3rd day of school he ran away from his teacher to another building and hid and refused to come to her and the principal had to be called. I am also very worried about having him on these very strong and controversial medications at such a young age. His doctor thinks that he is in more danger psychologically if he is out-of-control at school and gets labeled by the other kids, parents and teachers as a trouble maker. I agree with that, but just want to know that there's not a better way. He's a sweet boy and wants to do the right things - he just can't do it on his own. We also make sure he eats right, gets protein at every meal. I also give him high grade Fish Oil and zinc. I almost forgot - the Adderall was keeping him awake until 10:30 at night (he said his brain would not go to sleep), even though we were giving him the Adderall at 6 a.m., so he now is taking yet another drug, Trazadone to "shut his brain down" so he can fall asleep. I believe in holistic medicine to a point. That's if it works. He has such an extreme case that I don't know if anything natural will work for him. I've read mixed reviews on some herbal/natural formulas such as Attend and Natures Remedies. I'm thinking about trying St. John's Wort with 5-HTp, Kava, and even SAM-e. Sometimes, I just feel like he's a little guinea pig. But he has some serious problems and it's way beyond just being a boy. I know because he has a twin brother who is all boy and this is a whole different ballgame. We don't want to cause him any health issues down the road by medicating him, but we also don't want to cause him serious psychological damage and have him hate school & feel like a failure if we don't. Any advice? Any true life success stories to share? (Please no sermons about how you'd never medicate your child or how boys will be boys) We do not take this lightly. We just want to help our child.

Answer 1

I'm sorry your doctor gave you Zoloft for your 6yr son. I understand it helped with his aggression but this is a hard core drug that I wouldn't have thought they would have wanted to give to a 6yr old. In my opinion no child should be on Zoloft (but that's just mu opinion and own experience). Now my heart goes out to you I don't know how you feel but my family has been through a similar thing with my nephew. My sister in-law in constantly on call with their school because my nephew has either hurt some one or has threatened to hurt some one. have you tried changing his diet (one would think you would have done that before the meds) We did and then when it didn't work she went to the meds. My nephew is on half dosage just so (like your son) he can concentrate better. We find giving him virtually no run free (he has structure all the time) we have less problems with him. He does have really bad days and when they are there it is really hard to say you have been a good parent or this is all your fault. You need to remember on the bad days you just have to fight your way through it and make sure you keep to your routine and he needs to know the boundaries. Also it might help to take him to see a child physiologist. Get him into martail arts or a sout group or something similar where he will learndisciplinen out side the family and it might also help him tochannell hisaggressionn.

I knowI'mm not a parent of your child, but these where just things we did with my nephew and yes there are still days when he gets into a lot of trouble but it is no where as bad as when he didnt have his meds.

i begg you if you son is still on Zoloft please reconsider giving him something different. its not a nice drug to be on and can be very adicitive even  in small doezes. Speaking from experiance.

Answer 2

My heart goes out to you and anybody else who has to make the decision to medicate or not to medicate.  I am awaiting an appointment to have my son tested for ADHD and anxiety.  

If it turns out that mine is high anxiety (which often goes hand in hand with ADHD, as does aggression) and worries about everything all the time, then I will not hesitate to treat him (with medication).  I will probably forego treating the ADHD (as he does well in school but does have trouble focusing) because he's "functional".  But I do not want him to suffer any social or psychological consequences and want him to just relax and enjoy life.  If you said the medication was making a difference for his aggression, then it sounds like it was helping him to relax - something a child should be doing at this young age.  

I lost a sibling last year who self-medicated (drugs and alcohol) for anxiety and depression and who was also ADHD.  When you don't get the problem treated, anxiety and depression often result.  Alcohol and drug abuse are common amongst people who suffer with these afflictions.  

Life is meant to be enjoyed.  There is no sense going through it with agression, anxiety, ADHD, and/or depression when there are medications proven to help.  If they are helping him, then I would keep him on them.  

When I was younger, I used to get headaches and would not so much as take an aspirin.  Now, at the slightest twinge of a headache, I take something to make it go away.  Why suffer through it?

I would rather live a good, quality of life on meds - than suffer all those problems without them.  Thank goodness for modern medicine, in my opinion.  

Best of luck to you and your child and I hope you both don't have any more sleepless nights. =)

Answer 3

My daughter was diagnossed with Depression, Anxiety and ADHD (without hyperactivit) at age 7, she is 10 years old now.  The decision to medicate was extremely hard, and I cried too.  She was not aggressive at all, quite the opposite actually, she sat in school with her hands folded on her desk, never spoke, and never picked up a pencil.  In general, she was just sad.  I don't have to explain the ADD.  She started taking Zoloft and Strattera.  The Zoloft worked wonders just like you said.  I think that after about a year and a half I realized that the medicines weren't working any more, and she was slipping back into her old routines.  We switched to Wellbutrin for the depression, and Vyvance for the ADD.  The Vyvance is a newer medication and doesn't have to be given every day, so she doesn't have to take it if I don't want her to, like for the summer.  I do give it to her, because if she doesn't take it, I am yelling at her all day to do what she is told, and I don't think that is fair.  Just like with adults, all medicines are not the same, and they don't all work.  My daughters doctors explained to me that it is really a trial and error system when you are treating kids because they can't tell you "what is wrong".  You are his advocate, so if you are not comftorable, you have to say so.  I did have to switch doctors for insurance reasons, and didn't like the doctor I was sent to (he just said "what is she taking" and wrote the perscriptions, never even gave it a second thought if they were the right medicines for her).  Just remember that you are the only person who can tell what he needs and doesn't.  Stay on top of the doctors and school until you think he is acting right.  Also, check out this website www.nami.org for help and support.

Answer 4

I can't write a long answer at the moment, but if you feel like he is being a guinea pig, trust YOUR intuition and your son's intuition--not the people who make money from your son being on addictive medication.....he is so young, too young to be on uppers and downers, and that is pretty much what those drugs are.  adderall is amphetamine---it makes people aggressive.  

Your doctor expresses worry about "danger psychologically if he is out-of-control at school and gets labeled by the other kids, parents and teachers as a trouble maker."

Your son is sweet, he is creative, he is an individual.  other people labeling your son (as your doctor has with this categorical diagnosis) reflects THEIR failings, not your son's (and not yours---you obviously are very aware and involved in your son's life).  Your son wants to do the right things...can he tell you what the right things FOR HIM, rather than "the system" are?  How can the two mesh?  Maybe he senses anxiety about the school treadmill.....depends on what he may see on TV.

If you haven't had a chance yet, let him pick out books, collect things in nature that catch his eye outside (even if you think it's junk)---let him explore who he is, his senses are probably very acute; perhaps he becomes easily overwhelmed with the amount of stimulation that a crowd entails.

My advice:  tell the doctor you don't want the drugs.  tell her you want off of them NOW because the longer he takes them the worse his withdrawal will be.  if the doctor says that he / she can't "help" your son until and unless his "chemistry" changes, find another doctor.  Heck, avoid taking your son to doctors and environments that suggest there is something about him that needs to be "fixed" as much as possible.

there's probably nothing "wrong" with your son so much as there is with society, which can innundate a person with  more (useless, agitating) stimulation in a day than human beings for centuries received over periods of many months.  

I know I do not walk in your shoes or those of your son, but I really believe NEITHER of you need these drugs to dictate your lives or how your son perceives himself.  Best of luck to you.