Dear JoJos mom,

My sons too had problems with stimulant medications (facial tics and compulsive peeling of the skin around his fingernails until they bled!) Over the summer I found an excellent psychiatrist and we began using Strattera, the nonstimulant medication. It has helped alot, although it does take up to 4 weeks to notice a difference. HE no longer has any facial tics and doesn't destroy his fingers anymore. The only "side effect", if you can call it that, is that he has become more anxious/emotional. The dr. is watching this carefully and we have increased his antianxiety medication a bit to offset this. Normally, I would object to increasing a medication to offset a negative side effect of something, but the fact that he is now having "green" days in school and able to get his homework/schoolwork done without as much difficulty is worth it.

One of the things i have learned over the past three years is to find the best doctor that you can. While I love our pediatrician and trust me, she spent alot of time with us trying different medications, I honestly think a psychiatrist has more experience, more time and a better understanding of how all of these medications work than the pediatrician.

On another note, have you considered what benefits your son will truly gain from being in a gifted program? Sometimes the added pressure to an ADHD child is not worth it. A highly intelligent child can still learn and grow in a regular classroom environment. You can even provide him with more stimulating projects at home when he's not in school. I'm not criticizing the program, simply a thought. Hope this helps.

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Hi JoJosMom:

Welcome to the ADDitude forums! How wonderful that your son is enjoying school and beginning to thrive in the classroom and on the playground. The switch of ADHD medication will have some impact, but you should take comfort in knowing that the success he's already experience with his "green" days will boost your son's confidence and likely motivate him to keep excelling.

Non-stimulant medications are certainly an option worth looking into. But there are also some things you can try immediately: alternative ADHD treatments like fish oil, behavior therapy, special diet and exercise programs, etc.

ADDitude has a great, free booklet all about these non-medical treatment alternatives that I would recommend: Alternative ADHD Treatment Report

Also, have you set up accommodations for him at school? Here is a free chapter about accommodations from ADDitude's new ADHD at School eBook.

I hope this helps!

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Hi.... My name is Heather and my son's name is Alec......He is 10 years old and has entered the hardest year of his life.....10 should not be the hardest year. Alec has always been very intelligent and was tested into the gifted program at the age of 5. Last year we moved and Alec had to start a new school. The type of school that focused only on information retention, organization and state standard test scores.....kind of jamming the information into the children's brain hoping that some of it would stick. Well, after all the years of Alec feeling very smart it all ended in one year... he felt like he was literally retarded. He actually said that to me several times. After watching my child almost have several nervous breakdowns I took him to a doctor who did a battery of tests on him only to find out that he had ADD. Now I always thought that he might have ADD because of his lack of focus, concentration and organization. For several years I was able to get around it somewhat by changing his diet. I also never wanted to put my child on medication because my brother growing up was diagnosed with ADHD and my Mom had him on many medications that made him catatonic and I believe stunted his growth. I am a big proponent of natural remedies, so when I found out about ADD-care I was really excited to see the results. It helped my son right away. He was much calmer, much more focused, able to do his homework and schoolwork.....which was a blessing. He was also able to get back in touch with his emotions and seemed more connected to reality. My mother passed away a year ago and he never cried. He was very close to my mom and a few weeks after taking ADD-Care he found my mother's sunglasses in the car and it triggered her memory. That little boy sobbed for 20mins straight. It finally hit him because he was connected. I am grateful to have found ADD-Care and have already recommended it to a lot of my friends I hope this helps. .....Heather ......Heather@180tohealth.com

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