ADHD: Please share your experiances here. I have concerns about ds aged 4.5.

[northerner]

He has always been boisterious/full of beans but today has made me realose there may be more to it then general 'bad behaviour'

He fisgets constantly, is never still
He is often aggressive and pushes/shoves/snatches
He shouts and screams if he does not get what he wants
He never eats dinner unless it is sandwiches
His teacher has spoken to me on mnay occassions about his behaviour at school - pushing people/disrepectful to equipment

This afternoon as soon as I collected him from school he started because I said it wasn't sweetie day (he gets sweets on a Friday) and it was pasta for tea and he didn't want it.

I remained calm but firm and sent him to his room. He screamed for 20 minutes, calling me an idiot, stupid mummy etc etc. He came down stairs and refused to go bcak to his room, so I tried to carry him upstairs. He bit me, scratched me and pulled my hair.

All of this aside he is bright and is learning at school. He enjoys books/readimg and doing basic sums. He is loving, gives big hugs and adores his mummy.

We have a cat and he is often nice to her, but also throws things at her, locks her in cupboards and pokes toys in her face.

I just feel, something is not quite right, and realised today, It is getting to the point where I can't handle him when he is this mood.

I will make an appt at GP's but would welcome any comments.

I have tried to teach him compassion, to be nice and well behaved, to no avail it would seem.
Tonight I feel like such a crap mother

Anniemac, what a lovely post. Thanks.

We need positive stories

How did it go with the GP, Northerner?

Hi mamama, thanks for asking

Gp was not too concerned about ADHD tbh. Partic as he is a good sleeper and is not impulsive (running out of teh house/accross roads etc) She has logged my visit and made a report, but to take it further she would like a written letter from his school voicing their concerns about his behaviour.

We had a very bad day yesterday with ds biting and punching me, though today he has been a different child. We had a lovely day today.

His tic is now concerning me most, this evening it was constant for 12 minutes whilst watching tv with his milk and cookies. He was very chilled and ralaxed but the tic was more prominent, which makes me wonder is it more of a comfort thing?

We met with friends in the park today and he ran around for hours, very excited, and not once did he do teh tic.

It has progressed from throat clearing to a more high pitched seal like sound now, and sometimes adds on a throat click type noise for good measure.

I've been researching on teh internet and am now panicing about Tourettes and all sorts. Information overload I think.

However, I have just discovered that dh had a number of strange tics in childhood too...

sorry haven't got time to read all replies but

yes have same concerns here. ds is 3.5 which is young to be "diagnosing"

BUT

also strong family history of ADHD, so I have seen kids growing up with it. Including me, to an extent.

I am really worried about this.

Ds displays a lot of classic signs, in particular impulsiveness in interaction, if that makes sense. But the two real alarm bells for me are that he is NOT consistantly like this. He is like this across situations but also not like this often enough that I can see that it is not just his personality.

AND that he can concentrate for very long stretches if interested. Which is a classic ADHD symptom, its not actually a lack of attention per se so much as an inability to concentrate a lot of the time.

A low Gi/high calorie/high protein diet has helped an awful lot with ds. If I give him eg "junk" he is absolutely, completely impossible.

4.5 is old enough for a diagnosis IIRC.

I'd look at diet if you can. For a lot of people there are dietary triggers. And also-there are things you can do to help him organise himself and learn to organise himself. good website somewhere...

Thanks for the update, Northerner.

Your ds sounds like a lovely little boy aside from his anger/ temper (is that what it is? Is it just directed at you?)

I don't know anything about tics so can't help (although I have taught children with Tourettes)... I don't know if you can grow out of them. I hope so...

Hope all is well with bobsmum too.

He is a lovely little boy. Very loving (always tells me he loves me, gives cuddles and hugs) much more so with me than ds. He is bright and has a wonderful imagination and loves entertaining others by putting on shows and pretending to be in the circus or a magician. But yes, his anger is always directed at me.

Never with anyone else.

Filly, that's interesting what you say bout ADHD kids being able to concentrate if they choose, my GP led me to believe otherwise....

I don't know if this link will be any good but it has some info on ADHD.

It also has some info on other disorders like tourettes.

There is a lot of text to wade through (which I found off-putting) and it is an American site so may not be much good to you. I thought I'd share it anyway!