Does DS8 need adhd medication?

[londongirl12]

I would appreciate any feedback on this as don’t really know much about it.

DS8 started primary school this September (was in infant school previously). Has adhd and infant school knew processes to put in place and were great. but his new teacher and senco has said he’s struggling in class to sit still and do his work. Which he’s always struggled to sit still but I think maybe more noticeable now in Year 3 as there’s more desk work than movement time in infant school. They both suggested speaking to the doctor about adhd medication. I said no to start with, as he was still in the first term of starting a new school so still settling etc. however I’m watching him now at football practise, and yes he’s listening and participating, but when he needs to stand to the side and wait his turn, he’s waving his arms, jumping around, literally cannot stand still! The group are now sitting down listening to the coach, whereas he is standing dancing around! 🤦🏻‍♀️

But I feel like I need more research on adhd medication. Am i doing him a disservice by not putting him on it due to my naivety on it? I just didn’t like how his teacher and senco seemed to really push for it, when they’d only really known him a couple of months. But when I spoke to his teacher on Friday, she said nothing has changed with how he is in class.

so just looking for advice really as I don’t know what to do for the best. I obviously don’t see him in school so it’s hard to judge. Thank you!!

Was it the NHS paediatrician who diagnosed him originally @londongirl12 ?

It’s a tricky one but honestly op Ive spoken to adults who have said its absolutely life changing and are really sad they went through so much of their life without it. If the teachers are actually suggesting it id give your poor boy a chance on it.

A pretty in depth assessment

How does that differentiate between someone who has ADHD and someone who has all the traits but doesn’t have ADHD?

eg question 1. Does your child get distracted? Answer with ADHD - yes. Answer without ADHD but with the same traits - yes.

Can I just clarify here that I am not trying to be goady - I would be very happy if she doesn’t have it, and it can thus be managed by diet.

my question is simply - how does anyone know? Is there some kind of brain wiring test they can do?

@londongirl12 , if you had a private diagnosis, you will probably have to go back to GP to get a CAMHS referral. Your child needs to be under the supervision of a psychiatrist for the first 6 months of being on meds, so a private diagnosis means private prescriptions and even then many GPS won't accept a shared care agreement from a private doctor.

If he was diagnosed by a CAMHS psychiatrist, you can probably get an appointment to ask for medication. Once the psychiatrist is happy with how your DS is responding to the meds, he/she will set up a shared care agreement with your GP, who will then be able to continue to prescribe. I know it probably sounds like a lot of faff, but it is so worth it.

My DD went from being a child who found school challenging to getting a 1st from an RG uni and this would never have happened without meds. She was diagnosed at 12, after being in constant detentions at secondary school (had managed OK at primary). She was struggling, not getting great grades, feeling very inferior to her academic brother, always late or missing homework, not understanding the work because she wasn't able to focus. Because she was struggling and felt bad about herself, the behaviour at home was awful too. Getting used to the meds was not easy; she complained of headaches, dry mouth and not feeling like her usual (very) chatty self. The meds do wonders for focus, and better grades and lots of praise really boost self-confidence.

I was unsure about medicating DS. He was diagnosed at the end of year 6 and put on medication just before he started senior school. It’s made a massive difference. I used to dread parents evening in primary school for him but he’s like a different kid now, all his teachers love him and can’t understand why I’m so relieved when they talk so highly of him because they’d never seen him when his symptoms were bad and can’t picture him like that. I only wish he was diagnosed earlier (not through lack of trying!) so he could have enjoyed primary school more.

@londongirl12 dd was diagnosed at 17. So many pieces fell into place. Her psychiatrist recommended she try methylphenidate; she now takes medikinet, aged 27, and has for a few years. It has been an absolute game changer.

However, ADHD meds are serious drugs and I cannot believe that a recommendation to take them should ever arise from a school teacher. Presumably your ds is under CAMHS clinicians? Please be guided by properly qualified clinicians in relation to medication.

Yes, nhs paediatrician. We were lucky we got in before the wait times went crazy!!

I think you'd need a new referral to whichever service does the medication for ADHD in your area.
DS sees the same doctor for his ADHD meds in the child development clinic and then in the hospital for his epilepsy meds (except he just changes anything that needs changing at both types of appointments).

Just to clarify, we originally went to the GP who made a referral to the paedetrician team where he was diagnosed with ASD and ADHD. He was 5 at the time. Had a yearly follow up with paediatrician and all was going well at infant school so they said if we didn’t need to contact them within a year then they’ll discharge him from their care. Which is what happened as we had no issues at that point.
I don’t think things have changed so much as his environment has changed so things that maybe weren’t so much of an issue in infant school is now an issue at primary school (more desk time, less free play time etc).

Apologies, doing a shameless bump on this Sunday evening for any more advice 😊

.

When you say he's a night owl, does he get enough sleep overall? Is it about 10 hours or so a night? https://thesleepcharity.org.uk/how-much-sleep-does-my-child-need/

Because I think a worsening of symptoms can certainly correlate with, and is potentially caused by, insufficient sleep. And if that's the case, I'd probably want to have checked that route out first as stimulants can presumably also negatively impact sleep.

DS2 has ADHD and autism. We tried him on several types of stimulant medications and for all the side effects were too much. Yes he did have improved focus in school, but it also heavily affected his appetite (we had to battle just to get him to eat anything), and his mood became very low - alarmingly so. His autism has probably been the complicating factor here, plus the fact that he’s just made the transition to secondary school, which he’d spent the entire of year 6 having major anxiety about. We had to make the decision to take him off them, and get CBT for his anxiety. He has said for the time being he doesn’t want to go back on anything as he doesn’t like the way it made him feel. If that changes we can refer back to CAMHS.

CAMHS handle prescriptions for ADHD medications in our area - they monitor height, weight and blood pressure, and have shared care agreements with the GP for them to issue repeat prescriptions. Since you DS was diagnosed by a paediatric team, I’d start by calling them to ask about next steps. Just go k to it with an open mind - for some it’s like the magic bullet and works brilliantly, but that’s not the case for everyone and I suspect that like my DS it’s more complicated if they also have autism.

in the meantime speak to school and get some strategies in place. As for football, DH coaches a team and has 3 with ADHD, and he keeps them all on the move - there’s never any sitting down and listening to him speak, he’d have total chaos otherwise!

For ds (now 16) adhd meds have made a massive difference. He is still his bouncy self but he is able to focus enough that he can enjoy what he enjoys and mainly focus in school.

his adhd is quite severe so he takes two drugs and the combination for him right now is working brilliantly.

@Ineffable23 Stimulants wear off before bedtime and they don't stay in the body.

We have started me ds7 on meds and in his words he can focus now. We were unsure especially my husband but it has helped him a lot. The downside for us is he is has ASD and those traits have come out more but we are learning how to manage that. We used magnesium gummies and that seems to help with sleep as well. He seems to eat well too but we also don’t medicate on a Saturday to give him a break and that helps. We found more than one day not medicated though he now struggles

I am pro adhd meds so please dont read this as against them! They make a huge difference to people's lives.

But i just wondered whether the school were giving him movement breaks or doing anything else to support the adhd?

The medication needs to be for the child benefit not for a school ease. So i'd be much more confident using them thinking they had support in place and meds are still very necessary.

It's great if people don't have that side effect from it, but sleep disorders are listed as a common or very common side effect in the BNF:

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/methylphenidate-hydrochloride/

And it is mentioned in this article here:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3441938/

It may well be the case for many children the beneficial impact of stimulants outweighs side effects but I don't think it's unreasonable to flag that those side effects can exist.

OP, I think there is no harm in going to the GP and finding out the process. It may be a year or more, by which time things will be even clearer and you'll have had plenty of time to research everything.

I don’t think there’s any harm in trying the meds OP, there are several different types, lots of different dosages so you try and see what works for your son. Yes affecting sleep can be a side effect but it’s not a given and theoretically the drugs leave the system over the course of a few hours. My DH had issues with his meds and sleep, all ok now. Plus they don’t have to take them all the time, but your son might enjoy being able to focus, my DS doesn’t take regular meds they make him feel anxious so it’s swings and roundabouts but deffo worth a try.