ADHD?! How to cope with it and how parents work through it.

So I have been noticing and researching ADHD and ADD....and I am almost 10000% sure Taiyo has ADHD. He exibits almost ALL the symptoms......forgetfulness, hyperactivity (jumping, running, playing karate for hours on end till he collapses of exhaustion) knocking things over without even noticing that the item is right in front of him......and most of all (and even his teachers see this) that he cant sit and concentrate or focus on activities unless its something that includes physical activity.

So on Monday I will be taking him to his pedi and have a talk with her and see what is a good course of action....the diagnosis and the treatment.

So to parents with ADD or ADHD children, how was the diagnosis? How long did it take and what was the course of treatment you took with your children?

Thank you!

How old is he?

try cutting gluten from his diet   a friend of mine at work thought her child was ADHD, adjusted his diet and saw amazing results... of course every child and case is different but it might be worth a shot.

<blockquote><b>Quoting runningmom:</b>" try cutting gluten from his diet   a friend of mine at work thought her child was ADHD, adjusted his ... [snip!] ... ADHD, adjusted his diet and saw amazing results... of course every child and case is different but it might be worth a shot."</blockquote>



  research ADHD diets. Actually Caffine will actually calm
Down an ADHD child. Also nothing with red dye. Some
People also cut out casein. So research a gluten/casein free diet.
Chewing gum while doing school work or putting a band for him to kick his leg on while doing his work can help. But I'd still like to know his age in order to give more age appropriate advise.

It took us a few months total just because of the massive amount of paperwork and availability of appointments. For us her school helped a lot, we had already began in school testing to see if she might have a learning disability. I had already made an appointment with her pedi when the school brought it up with me. I got a bunch of paperwork from the Dr I had to fill out about her medical history, home life, ect and there was a separate packet for her school. I took it back to the pedi a few days before out next app and they reviewed it before seeing us. At that appointment the Dr agreed with myself and her teachers that she had ADHD.

We decided to medicate, I was hesitant at first but decided it was worth a try. Her behavior was just so wild and she was failing miserably in school. We started on a low dose of Concerta, 18mgs. After a few weeks we increased it to 27mgs. The difference was amazing, within a week of starting the first dose I noticed small changes at home, she was less destructive, more aware of her surrounding and calmer in general but she still had her sparkle. Her teacher was amazed, she was sitting down to do her work instead of doodling and daydreaming. She started participating in group discussions and actually paying attention to what they were talking about. She wasn't hurting herself as much tripping or knocking into things. With the increased dose she was doing even better and we stopped there.

She's been on medication for almost two years now, since april/may 2010 and has been on the A-B honor roll since last year. She still has destructive tendencies but is more creative with it. She makes things out of whatever she breaks or tears apart. She writes a lot of short stories with pictures. She's still extremely active but it's not wild and out of control like before. She's also not as overly sensitive and dramatic as she was before. The down side is that it kills her appetite and she didn't eat much to begin with. Her Dr isn't happy about it and we are doing a special diet to try and get a few pounds on her. She's 49lbs and they want her up to at least 53lbs, preferably 55lbs.

Good luck with everything! Getting her diagnosed and on medication made a world of difference for us and I don't regret it at all but I know of other people have had great success with more natural remedies. There's a lot of options out there that work.