Parents of ADHD children - assemble!

[Saycheeseburgers]

A thread to share solidarity. Mine are 8 (diagnosed) and 5 (no diagnosis, I think possibly ASD rather than ADHD).

My biggest triggers from my 8 year old are his wind up behaviours. He tries to annoy DH and I, and he mercilessly teases his younger brother for a reaction. He also reacts very badly to being told off at all, which unfortunately is often.

He is very funny, both an appropriate and inappropriate times!

He drives us up the wall with his lack of listening even though we know the reason behind it.

He’s not taking any medicine but we are hoping to try some this year.

Hey @Saycheeseburgers time has flown! Sounds like a typical ADHD mixed bag doesn't it? They never like to let you relax!

DS is doing ok here. He's actually got a bit better at football and some of the friendships have deepened a bit. Still not many playdate requests but kids are happy to come here and he gets a few party invites which fills my heart with gratitude to all the kids and parents who give him a chance!

He was violent and physical when he was younger but is (generally) doing well getting on top of that now. Outbursts happen but he tends to come down quicker and to be very apologetic about it once he has. I feel like we might be in a window of relative maturity which might make life a bit easier until puberty kicks in - but I know never to count chickens!

I don't like that we medicate for school at all and I wish we didn't- but it does make a massive difference to his ability to cope with it all. Can you push someone for some more support? Or would you consider going private? You should have the option at the very least.

That’s good news @Ffsadhd ! How old is your DS now? DS used to be ok at reflecting and apologising when he was younger but I couldn’t tell you the last time he did off his own back in the last year.

I’ve been on to the clinic he’s under every week, it’s just not going anywhere. I’ve written to my local MP about it, no response but I live in hope that they will nudge them as they were pretty good back in 2021 when they’d taken us off the waiting list without telling us (having been on it since 2019) and got us seen. I’ve also looked into private but we can’t afford to medicate privately indefinitely, and the private clinic said there’s no guarantee that the NHS GPs will agree to take on shared care and fund medication.

Out of interest was your DS medicated immediately upon diagnosis? It works well for him in school though? What is it you don’t like about medicating, side effects? My DH is medicated as an adult and it’s honestly been life changing. I recently read that medication for ADHD works better than medication for any other condition (anxiety, depression etc).