Second opinion by a Psychiatrist for son's possible ADHD

[worriedmom]

In December 2003 my 7 year olds Pediatrician diagnosed my son with ADD and put him on Adderall xr 15 mg. I would like to have a Psy. give a second opinion. I would like for him to see the un medicated Jared to determine if he does need the medication or if we can decrease the dosage. Would it be okay to not give him the medication the day of his appointment with the Dr.?

[Trooper Keith]

I wouldn't, simply because there is then the risk of withdrawal effects making Jared behave abnormally, especially if he's been on the Adderal for a while. Give him the medicine, but make sure the doctor knows that he is medicated when you go in.

The doctor will attempt to figure it out mostly based on answers to questions about history anyways. In this case, Psy. will probably ask a lot of questions like "before he was medicated, did he behave like ______." Any ADHD Diagnosis is based on history, and not solely on the behavior of the person at the time.

[worriedmom]

We just feel that he is too medicated and after telling the pediatrician several months in a row that he does not want to play with his friends, doesn't want to leave the house, speaks very softly or will not speak to you at all, we think it is time to move his care to someone else. Maybe it is a good idea to give him the medication to let the Psy. dr. see how sedated he is and what is opinion is. Thanks for the advice.

[Alexa]

I would call the Dr. and ask him! I'm also surprised that he/she has not given you any 'history' information sheets to fill out and some questionnaires for his teachers to complete as well. When I had the psychological evaluation done on my 10 1/2 yr old daughter in May there was quite a bit of that, in addition to the written and verbal exercises she did during the testing (which took about 4 hrs). Right now, you give me a given situation and I (yep...I've got it too) may respond 2 totally different ways. One way ON meds, and a completely different way OFF. I'de definately check with the Dr.

[Sc@tterBr@in_UK]

There shouldn't be any "withdrawal" unless he has been SERIOUSLY overdosed... Why not try him without meds one day to make sure he is not going to have any severe reaction... but really the only "withdrawal" with these short-acting meds is the rebound in the evenings... there really shouldn't be any of it left in his body by next morning, to be sure wait 2 days maybe? (I notice when I stop for a day then I am usually OK but mroe than 1 day and anxiety attacks etc. return)

To be sure ask the Dr. what he wants... many do need to see the child without meds... to be able to assess all aspects... at least at the first meeting. There may be other tests where meds would be OK or even needed to be able to complete them, but he needs to get an impression of what the kid is like *as is*.

[worriedmom]

The pediatrician did give myself and the teacher a questionaire to fill out. He determined by what she said that he is having trouble at school. She must have really gave him a bad review, which we were unaware that she felt he was that bad. The Dr. would not elaborate on what she said. She had only said to us that he was fidgety and had problems completing his class work ontime. If the child is bored he is going to be fidgety no matter if he/she is ADD or not. We never really had a problem with him at home. The only thing that would get under my skin is him not answering when I would call his name. His hearing is fine, he tunes me out very, very well while he is watching t.v. or playing his game boy. Just like his dad does.

I am still waiting for the Psy. Dr. to call me back and advise if they will accept him as a new patient or not. I will ask if I should give his medication to him the day of the appointment or not. I will keep you posted. Thanks:>

[mctavish23]

The best rating scale(s) are the Conners.It's based on comparing the child to other same age(s) group kids being considered "at risk " for possible ADHD.If you have a question about either checklist (regardless of which one was used ) then by all means ask doc to please explain the results.

[LoveMyGirls]

Originally Posted by Sc@tterBr@in_UK

There shouldn't be any "withdrawal" unless he has been SERIOUSLY overdosed... *.

It's not so much withdrawal as your brain getting used to not having the medicine to help focus--kind of like a prolonged rebound affect. With my daughter, I notice that if she stops taking her meds for whatever reason, she has a period of three to four days where she's worse (more hyper and unfocused) than if she hadn't been on meds. After that period of time, she's back to her old self. She also goes through slight rebound after the meds wear off at the end of the day, so perhaps others who don't experience rebound wouldn't need the 3-4 days to get back to their 'normal' unmedicated self. So, if you do decide to have a doctor examine your child unmedicated, you might be better off stopping the meds a few days in advance--especially if he experiences rebound after the meds wear off.

I have heard from parents on other message boards that their children seem to experience this too, but I'm not sure how common it is.

Maureen