My son who is 7 1/2 had adhd,odd,ptsd,dyslexia anyway he is thin I can see all his ribs I try to make him eat but its sometimes a fight with him . I need to put weight on him and dont know how . I've even tried everything I can think of. Anyone eles having htis problem or had this oproblem with there child ? I need to at least get him to a normal weight and to eat more.


He just took his very first med tonight we got him on strattera. Which could make him lose eevn more weight

Have you discussed the weight issue with his doctor? It's true that many ADD meds can cause weight loss. Does he like smoothies? Maybe you could make him a fruit smoothie and sneak a can of Ensure into it. (That's a nutritional supplement drink. It's good for you, but if he's a picky eater he might object to the texture if you don't hide it in something else. ;) ) I'd ask the doc to suggest some foods that are high-calorie but basically healthy (peanut butter?). ADD docs are used to dealing with weight issues, so yours should be able to give you some good ideas.

If you want weight on him you need to sit him down and start talking to him. And if he decides to go with it buy some weight gainer 2200 from GNC and additional 5,000 calories each day.
Now I just started taking STrattera and its great. My doctor said to eat a huge breakfast before taking it in the morning. Now I did that and now i have no nausea and I still have a decent appetitte on STrattera versus Concerta:mad:. Now that he is starrting the STrattera I think you should feed him a big meal and than take the strattera and than follow through out the whole day with a big lunch and dinner.
And if that doesnt work get in touch with the doctor because itll only get worst.

Wouldn't 5,000 extra calories be a bit much for a 7-y.o.? I'd check with the doc before giving him supplements. Is he actually underweight by medical standards, or just thin?

he is under weight .. he actually was 80 lbs and now he dropped down to 70 in the last 2 months for some strange reason. he is 4 foot and 5inchs tall .

wooo hoo he didnt get into trouble today at school

Today is a odd day .. Hubby is at the emergency room cus he still isnt feeling any better from when he got food posioning last thursday. And then I just won a toy for my 6 week old off another chat board .lol what a day .. Maybe I need to play the lotto

I am having the same problem with my Son. He's going to be 14 in a few weeks and he is 4'10 and weighs 80 lbs. He is the most picky eater I have ever seen - which probably has something to do with his OCD, and I have tried everything! We just had a visit with the Endocrinologist who agrees that the reason he's not growning normally is the fact that he is not gaining weight. The Endo says that if he doesn't start putting on weight FAST and stays on the same growth track he will only be about 5'5 when he is fully grown. Our next step is a nutricianist, which we are getting all the paperwork done to see now. I am really worried about this. My Son's height is something that REALLY bothers him, yet knowing he needs to eat more to grow has not changed his super picky eating habits. I am wondering if this is some kind of eating disorder. I will let you know what I find out.
Summer

Summer,
Yes he is definitely underweight for 14 years of age. Id suggest going to see the Nutrionalist and they will give you a regimen of what he should be eating to achieve his essential body weight. But keep in mind it takes time and you have to keep on pushing him. Now another thing thatll help is weight gainer from GNC add that to his meals and thatll definitely help with his weight. Remember he needs to be eating at least 5000 calories a day to gain some weight in a bout a couple weeks. 6000 calories = 1lb.

Summer, I'll be curious to hear what the nutritionist says. For his height, he's not really underweight ... he has a BMI of 16.8, which would be considered healthy for his age. You're doing the right thing by having him checked out thoroughly. It could be that he's destined to be small, or is going to have a late growth spurt. I hope you can get some answers soon.

I checked out the BMI calculator for your son too, Stephensmom, and got this result:

A 7 year and 6 month old (male) child who is 70.0 pounds and 4 feet and 5 inches tall, has a body mass index of 17.6, which is at the 84.0th percentile and is considered to be a healthy weight.

As always, check all of this out with your own doctor ... but it looks as if he does not have a weight problem right now.

I also wanted to reiterate that weight-gaining products manufactured for adult bodybuilders are not necessarily safe for children. Talk any supplementation over with your doctor first.

They just put my son on Risperdal for his anger problems .. one of the side effects is weight gain lol

My ds is very skinny too. He worries me alot. And now he is having stomach aches when he eats, so I will be calling his doc today. He is also very picky, I feel like losing my mind sometimes. I dont know if teens could drink it, I dont see why not, but mil and I buy those Pedialyte drinks for ds. He likes them and they seem to be helping him gain some weight. He had been to the doc in December when he changed to Strattera. Last week we switced him back to Rit and he had lost 10 lbs since.

Ginger

A teenager might be more comfortable with the adult products such as Boost or Ensure, they might even be cheaper. Tip for all who use these nutritional drinks: Make sure it is well chilled, shake really well, pour in a tall glass over ice and serve it with a straw. It goes down easier if you can feel like you are having a milkshake or smoothie instead of some weird medical thing your mom or doctor makes you drink.

My almost 8 year old son, is 4' 3" and weighs only 48 lbs. The only time he eats well is when his meds start wearing off and it's a sign they need to be upped. Then the loss of appetite starts all over again. Currently is on strattera and adderall rx.

He too is very picky and eats no dairy products, except pizza. Is the weight gainer 2000 from GNC a powder? Also I hear Ensure or the kids version, has a new Orange Cream flavor. I might get that down him.

Vanessa

coopersmom, I think he needs to start taking ensure but im not sure. He maybe too young to take weight gainer. But please do ask a tech at gnc.:)

The GNC Weight 2000 stuff has gurana as one of the ingrediants. That probably would not be good for him. This morning we tried a orange cream pediasure with some orange cream yogurt mixed in and some vanilla protien powder. He did not like it so tomorrow we will try it with out the pediasure (ensure's drink for kids).

He is so picky, all he wants for breakfast is waffles or toast. I can usually get a little more down him but then I don't think he eats much at lunch, a small snack after school and a very small dinner.

When he started on meds in April of 2003 he weighed 50 lbs and was in the first grade. Now at the end of second grade he weighs 48 lbs. I am getting a little worried about him. But I am going to keep trying to find something fattening that he likes, besides french fries and pizza.

Vanessa

gurana
what is this?

It's a stimulant, similar to caffeine. Probably not something good for ADHD kids. ;)

its a very small serving.

Quick observation for the concerned mom's from a grown man that grew up with ADD.

As a boy, I had two sizes. Husky, and underweight. My weight cycled and the doctors were always telling my mother I was either underweight, or on one or two occasions that I was a couple of pounds on the heavy side (I usually grew a couple of inches within the next few months of these weight gains and then went back to being underweight for a while). These cycles continued into adolesence and even adulthood with my highs and lows going into more normal ranges. My higher weights would involve putting on muscle and then I would lighten up again. Stress aggravated it.

It could be due to thyroid issues which are hard to detect sometimes, it can sometimes take several tests to catch it in the act, one commander I worked with had to be tested 7 times. They never did determine what caused mine though the constant sustained heart rate of GAD and other anxiety issues I had may have played a factor, so too might an undetected thyroid issue I was only ever tested once as an adult and never as a child.

In boot camp eating three nourishing meals a day practically force fed to me I lost 35 lbs in two weeks. Most everyone else gained weight. I was 197 lbs going in right out of high school wrestling under ten percent body fat and in some of the best shape of my young life. I actually left boot camp in worse shape because the ultra-fast weight loss made me weak.

Point is, I wasn't medicated back then. So, it may not be the meds doing it. Also your body adjusts to them within a short period so any med induced appetite suppression should be short lived. Metabolic increases should also be compensated for by the body within a short period, especially with children. Have their thyroid checked, and keep in mind you may have to have it done several times. Your doctor should have an idea how many times are appropriate over what time period. If he tells you one test is enough though, QUESTION IT.

E-Boy the appetite supression is short termed, but when he starts eating again, he is getting in trouble again. Before he was on meds last year, he could eat a whole pizza at age six. Now on meds he will eat a couple of slices.

This summer I am going to decreased the meds and hopefully get some weight on him.

Thanks so much for all your thoughts!
Vanessa

To increase weight, I would also suggest slimfast. I am underweight, and I know that I need to gain (I'm trying to build a lot of muscle) but I don't eat a lot and I hate the taste of things like boost or ensure.

Slimfast sounds like it wouldn't be good for gaining weight, but instaed of using the shakes as a meal replacement, use them as a snack between meals. The flavors are MUCH better than boost or ensure (I recommend banana cream) and it's 220 calories per can. So if you add one or two a day in addition to meals, it can really help.

Good idea with the slim fast! I might have to start carrying those around. I used them on the ship because I kept forgetting to eat. They helped a lot then. Don't have 'em on the grocery list for home... Running like I do, bad idea to forget to eat and then try to run like usual... BAD BAD BAD.

Coopersmom,

The appetite suppression will disappear on it's own. Lowering your son's dose may not be a good idea. Of course, if his doctor has already cleared I hesitate to intrude.

It is just that, the current trend is already to undermedicate kids. Typically pediatricians dose stimulants for ADD by treating to "first positive response" and stopping the dose right there. If that's where your son is at, and you lower it... Well you see what I mean? Of course, your provider might be one of the few, in the know who is actually up to date on the current studies released on standard of care practices. ADDers do not build up tolerances to stimulants. In fact, over time they work better. It isn't the stimulant action of the drug producing the therapuetic effect. Over time the body does get used to the presence of the stimulants. What heart rate increases there are and weight loss there is usually pass and normalize within a few weeks without dosage change needed.

A lot of ADD symptomology gets blamed on stimulant medication side effects though. Another typical ADD response to stimulant meds is that we react to them paradoxically. IE they calm us down. On a good stimulant dose we should be able to take a nap, not be kept awake, and I mean within an hour of taking the pill. What's more kids who have difficulty sleeping may well not be having it because of stimulant meds. Or at least not because they are under the continued influence of them. I take 30 milligrams of adderall right before bed and I haven't had the typical pattern sleep disturbance since I started.

Oh, I meant to mention that when pediatricians stop at "first positive response" of the medication dosage, they often lose as much as fifty percent of the potential benefit of the drug to the patient. There is just so much negative press that people think of this stuff as cocaine. I have never seen a single junkie strung out on adderall. EVER.

Anyway, I always worry about the undermedication trend because of the scare tactics in the press. They never bother to mention that unmedicated ADD children have a 400% increase in accidents involving hospital treatment. They don't talk about the fact that the medications routinely improve grades by two letter grades when the dose is properly tuned.

The scare tactics do more harm than good.

I would follow EMT's advice, and through in some good vitamin supplements. If there has been a weight issue prior to meds or his weight has been border line low, or markedly changed often (beyond normal growth) I would still highly recommend a thyroid hormone test. Simple blood test. Easy to treat if there is a problem.

Oh, and thyroid issues are sometimes associated with ADD and ADD-like symptomology.

Vanessa,

Worked a 66 hour week that week. I think I was a little punchy when I wrote all that. All true, but also unasked for from you.

You are obviously a very devoted mother. I certainly didn't intend anything I wrote to seem like I was second guessing you. Thank you, by the way, for your kind response to my earlier post.

E-Boy, no problem, I love reading your thoughts. I guess I thought that if I lowered his meds over the summer he would eat more like he used to before he was on meds.

Because it has only been a year that we have been having this experience I always fear that some day he will reach the top limit on the meds and then where do we go from there? I would rather see him being cured! A mom can dream.

Vanessa

Ouch... Well, I can understand your fear. If the stimulants are not working properly though I would seriously consider the fact that there may be more going on that just ADD. ADDers do not except in extremely rare cases develop tolerances to stimulant medications. At least not insofar as the therapuetic effect of the medication goes.

There are a number of disorders that have symtomatic overlap with or even mimic ADD symptoms. Treating them with stimulants would be ineffective. Also ADD is commonly accompanied by co-morbid conditions. Mine has several anxiety disorders and Major depressive disorder co-morbid with it (all of which can, on their own mimic ADD symptoms). Having co-morbid conditions can complicate treatment. Failure to treat one of the co-morbid conditions can reduce effectiveness in treating the ADD or reduce responsiveness to treatment, and the reverse is also true, failure to treat ADD when treating a co-morbid condition of it can result in little or no response to the treatment for the co-morbid condition.

Vanessa, there is sooo much stuff that so many doctors, even specialists in ADD don't know, that they should know right now it's a little scary.

The good news is, the information you need is out there, and many doctors are finally getting caught up to the present standards of care. Trying looking up some of the studies published on ADD in the late nineties. You can look in places like the American psychiatric associations website. They have a news link. Just do a google search. Look up the recent NIMH studies at the NIMH.gov site. Don't be afraid when you learn about this stuff to see if your doctors are familiar with it. If not and they are willing to look into it, great. If they basically tell you to butt out, then they aren't any doctor you want to have anyway.

The information is out there, but a lot of the health professionals are thirty years or more out of date with their knowledge of the disorder. Be proactive and your own advocates. Agressively research this stuff because I learned the hard way, having a medical degree doesn't always mean they know what they are doing.

oops, I noticed I said Pedialyte in an earlier post. I think I was really tired that day. I meant Pedia SURE. Sorry about that. I doubt Pedialyte would do anyone much good. My ds likes the vanilla and constantly reminds me when we are out so I do not forget to get more. He lost ten pounds between December and March that he REALLY did not need to lose.

I enjoyed your info E-Boy. I think I read somewhere and tell me if this is wrong, that add/adhd'ers who are not given the proper treatment are more likely to "self-medicate"(drug and/or alcohol abuse)

Ginger

You are very right Ginger. In fact, the rate of alcohol and drug abuse in non-medicated ADDers once they hit adolescence is fifty percent greater than in the general population. When they are properly medicated the risk of drug abuse and dependance falls to normal. So, the scare tactics published in the press about ritalin turning kids into junkies is not only absolute crap, it is probably responsible for creating more junkies by keeping kids off meds who needed them. Just like these people who go on about how ADD is a nuisance illness and we shouldn't medicate our children don't bother to publish the treatment statistics from the emergency rooms that show a four hundred percent increase of rate of injury for non medicated ADD diagnosed children as compared to non- ADD children. So, am I the only one that sees a problem with this? I won't mention the mortality rates. They are just SAD. Personally, I think a bunch of ADDers need to get together and sue the living crap out of the press organizations most responsible for spreading this crap because they really are killing people.

Heh, sometimes I feel so angry when people try to tell me that there is no such thing as adhd. I feel like sending my son to live with them for a few days, without his meds. Nuisance my butt. It is more than a nuisance for my son who has to deal with the social consequences in public and school. Yuck. SOrry, this attitude just makes me so mad. Peole think I am drugging my kid so I do not have to bother with him. Again, sorry about my rant.

Ginger

hahahahahah Ginger Oh how I know that feeling ... They always say too well if you were more hard on them or if you spanked them more or this or that ... its like hell we have tried everything .. its not like we said WOOO HOO lets drug up our kids and have a drug party

I was one of those people that thought there was no such thing as adhd ...ok well there might be a few kids but most just had parents who didnt want to deal with it . We'll I was wrong boy was I ever ... Guess it had to kick me in the butt to prove there is a such thing .

Nothing at all wrong with being angry about this. Nothing at all. In fact, this anger can be a very useful friend. Especially when it drives you to action. Things like calling or writing editors of newspapers who provide unfair, or inaccurate coverage of ADD related issues. Taking action at and through the school system regarding ADD and the IDEA legislation. The republicans have taken chunks out of the funding, and the legislation was watered down some, but between IDEA, and the ADA there are a good many rights our children have in public schools that are often not addressed. This is very sad, but unfortunately true. I don't mean to paint schools as villains here because many teachers are true godsends working on this front from the inside. There are many people who really do care about children and learning in the school system. Somehow though, more administrators than I would care to count that I have encountered seem to have forgotten overall purposes and goals. Or simply subvert those goals in ways that meet their own narrow areas of interest or political agendas. Sound paranoid? It's not, that's beauracracy wherever you go. Fighting beauracracy is like swimming up river. It sucks the energy right out of you. That's why anger is such a precious friend to have. One white hot smoldering ember of anger can provide all the energy necessary to wade through everything necessary to right the wrongs you need to. There may even be a bit left over to spread around for the benefit of all. ;-)