Seeking Other Moms with Children with ADHD

My son has ADHD and I have battled with should I or shouldn't I put him on medicine.......well, I decided to not put him on cause I don't want it to change him in anyway. It is a challenge some days but for the most part I wouldn't chage anything Im doing. His most difficult time he has is in school .....he can't sit still, plays with his pencil, and just spaces sometimes....he has to write everything down in his agenda at school....he's very intelligent but very average student....he just gets by...I think he gets bored or uninterested.....but he's managing and so am I

hi,D.!
I have a son who is going to be 7 next month who has ADHD. He also has PDD(which is on the autistic spectrum.) We have tried meds with my son, but nothing worked, so we do no meds. he does pretty well. He goes to a regualr elementry school, but is in an Autistic support class. There is only 7 kids in the class including him with 4 teachers.(1 main teacher and 3 assistants) The structure is really good for him. I will admit that we have our issues with acting out, but nothing major. If there is anything that you wanna ask or any way that I might be able to help,let me know.
Hope to hear from you soon.
~A.

I do not have a child with ADHD, but know that nutrition plays a huge role it. I suggest getting the book "Little Sugar Addicts" by Kathleen DesMaisons. I have just started reading it to prevent food issues in my 1 yo. I like it's practices.
-Good Luck. W.

My oldest was never dionosed but he shows signs of ADD and ASHD. His fater has ADHD and acted the same way as my son did when he was three. I took my son off of all food coloring it is hard but it can be done the food just is a little more expencive and some quick meals like hamberger helper i cant make. But he is like a whole different kid with put all that dye i also heard fish oil which you can find in a health food store works real well and its all natural but works better than some meds.

D., I have an 11 year old that I tried to take off of meds and try a natural approach - it is not working. I now have a great therapist who has told me that meds without therapy is useless - we will be starting the meds/therapy next week and will see

Hello there. I'm hoping my reply can give some SOME kind of comfort. I have an 8 year-old who has ADHD and I've never put him on meds because I've gone down that road myself when I was younger. He has had trouble with teachers and such in school, but his father and I have put him in structured programs (that are either free or affordable) that give him the opportunity to develop his creativity. I'm trying to keep my child very active and am always trying to find ways for him to like learning so that he won't have that urge to act out or let his mind wander. Motivation helped my son, maybe it'll help your child as well.

My son was never on meds. He's almost 19 and attending college at our local community college now. He's doing great, but it's always been a lot of work from the time he was little. We had to ALWAYS be consistent, schedule things, write things down. We had a buzz phrase, "Use your references!" He kept a journal of things that had to be done. And I mean it was detailed! It had everything written in it from "Project due on Friday" to "Change your underwear"! He was always a very intelligent child but an average student. I had a lot of pressure to put him on meds because so many of his teachers thought he could be an A student. I wanted him to find ways to compensate for his ADHD, if at all possible. We managed to give him a lot of tools to do that, and now that he's older, he thanks us for that, and feels empowered when it comes to dealing with ADHD. He told me today, in fact, that he was thrilled to find that his physics class now cushioned swivel seats in the classroom. It's a three hour class, and the simple physical motion of turning slightly in the chair back and forth, back and forth, helps him to concentrate. (He made sure he chose a quiet chair!)
If you're going to do this, you have to spend lots and lots of time educating yourself about non-medicated ways to deal with ADHD. We never did herbal remedies, we did eliminate a lot of "bad" foods, too. I don't know if it helped with ADHD, but hey, getting rid of refined sugars and food additives is good for everyone! Learn and work hard!

My 9 year old son also has ADHD and I took him off of the meds because he wasn't sleeping at night and he wasn't eating and he is thin to begin with. I found that other than being patient and the teachers understanding that he has ADHD and them being patient with him there really isn't much you can do because I tried the vitamin approach and that didn't work either. I know it is really hard but I give him a list every morning of what he has to do for the day and he checks it off as it gets done because I noticed that he thinks about so much that he forgets the little things that are normal daily things for him to do and with the list he is getting better at remembering the little things he needs to do everyday so we are starting to leave things off of it. The key is to keep them busy, my son cannot have any time where he is sitting there doing nothing, whether it is reading a book or even watching a movie he has to have something in his hands while he is watching the movie or he can't sit through it. For the most part, if you talk with his teachers they are pretty understanding and will help out with as much as they can while he is in school, our doctors have been great with giving me ideas in how to control it also. I hope this helps, but I do understand what you are going through and how tough it is because there are days that I feel like I can't do it but you will notice a progress as time goes on.

hi and yes my daughter is now 19 but they did to give her med i did not like the way my daughter was looking,she would not eat ,sleep all the time.but when i took her off she gave me hell.not saying this would happen to u,but talk to the school or doctor and let them know how you fill about the med and see what other treatment they can help you with.i did a lot of looking for other program .but that med will make them sick i stay at the hospital a lot take your child off.

i tryed it for me it didnt work
i have my daughter on a patch and when shes off it she cant do well in school and she dont listen