You must make up your mind and decide for yourself what is best for your son. I have felt your pain and confusion for four years. Dr. Maria Hammill in Greenbelt is the best doctor for helping your child in this area. She is very patient, educational, not one to push them on meds, suggests other ways to help and will assist you in working with the school system.
My son has been diagnosed with ADHD with a focus on inattention disorder. We realized that even at 3 years old there was something "wrong". We went through a very long time of dealing with it and being very patient. He is not a disruptive, mean or overly hyper child. He has a very difficult time focusing on things. The best way to describe him at most times was in "la-la land".
We are parents that are always involved in everything and believe in disciplining our children. As far as this being lazy parents, if it were not for me he would not have made it through Kindergarten and First Grade. I read with him on a daily basis, did all of his work with him, did extra work with him and sat for extended periods every night trying to help him get through. We had to push the school on a constant basis to get him help and this is a Title 1 school. We are not low income whatsoever and his problem is not excessively disruptive....basically he was lost.
We had him tested three times, reviewed by the school many times, attended meetings, worked with him extensively at home, etc, etc. We still have not gotten alot of help from the school but he did go into a specialized reading program the last two months of school that was WONDERFUL!
In the past four years, we changed his diet many times, took out processed foods, only gave him baked goods from home, no soda, not red dye, no caffeine, then added caffeine because we read quite a few times that caffeine is a main component in Ritalin and has an opposite affect on ADHD children. We did many other things but just giving you an idea that we went through the whole route with anything we could find, research, etc.
We were COMPLETELY against medication but we could tell by the things he would even say he was lost and knew it even at his age. Finally, three months ago, we decided to "break down" and try it with the thought that this was not a miracle cure, if there were negative differences or not much of a difference he would immediately be taken off of it. You can give them the medicine for shorter time periods and also not medicate them on weekends. I do not give it to him as much during the summer. I have learned to deal with him for 7 years now and I can continue.
You can see a major difference when he is not on it.
Short synopsis of our past three months since this post is getting too long....he was able to read at level on his own after taking it and focusing better for approx. four weeks, he focuses amazingly well, he has retained things all these years we didn't know he had, he holds intelligent conversations, he enjoys his sports and is excelling in those also and I could go on. I would continue to give it to him for his academics and he is happier that he "does good and doesn't get in trouble" in his own words.
Negative effects, he has no appetite and is loosing weight. I don't have my happy "cooky" child that I enjoy on a daily basis. He seems to be moodier at times on the medication and very serious.
We don't advertise this but I felt I needed to respond. It is not a secret with any of our friends, family or him. He knows everything about it but we choose not to advertise it and allow him to tell those that he wants to or not.
See if you have this in your family history as it is usually hereditary.
My best advice because although I have seen improvement in him it is not perfect, research ANYTHING you personally can get your hands on, try other options and then decide.
Best of luck to you!!!
