Give your son or daughter something to drink that has high levels of caffeine in it (like JOLT cola, Mountain Dew) and watch how it reacts in him. If he gets sleepy, or has no trouble sleeping afterwards, he likely has ADHD. ADHD is slow brain processing, the drugs prescribed are stimulants that rev the brain up so it functions normally. It "calms" down the body while it speeds up the brain. I know it sounds looney but thats how it works.

Since a caffeinated drink is less harmful than "drugs" it should give you a fairly easy way to test out your hypothesis. If he ends up bouncing off the walls, then he does not likely have ADHD but something else...

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There are two answers to that... 1 - ADHD is suppossed to be diagnosed through a comprehensive battery of assessments that through a diagnisis of exclusion, establishes signs/symptoms, impairments across environments, existed before the age of 7, and systematically rules out alternative explanations.

2 - With that said, it seems that more and more practitioners feel free to diagnose after a 15 minute conversation.

Please, please, PLEASE... don't listen to the caffeine advice or the slow brain functioning.

In addition to being wrong on an academic level, I can tell you that I am extremely ADHD and caffeine works... well, like caffeine for me.

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The caffeine advice is actually sound no matter what Dr. Eric says. The overwhelming majority of adults with ADD self medicate with coffee or a caffeinated soda, until they get diagnosed. People who cannot do drugs to handle their ADD symptoms often have another handicap. For instance, someone who is bipolar cannot do stimulant drugs because they become manic.

While the caffeine idea is NOT a full proof test, it can (notice I said can) be a simple way to check out possible ADD before making an expensive Dr.'s appointment.

BTW Dr. Eric, my psychiatrist says the caffeine test is a good simple check...

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There are a number of assessment tools that are utilized to diagnose ADD/ADHD.

See these helpful guides:

How ADHD Is Diagnosed: http://www.add-treatment.com/adhd-diagnosis.html

Free ADHD Test: http://www.add-treatment.com/adhd-test.html

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It is not that caffeine does not work, it just does not work conclusively.

Folks with undiagnosed ADHD are 6 times more likely to self-medicate with Cocaine. So I do not find that argument compelling.

Medical doctors are more comfortable with reverse engineering diagnosis based off of response to medication than I am... especially ADHD because of the overlap with other disorders. I have an issue with not doing enough prep before saying, "Let's give this a try and hope it does not trigger a manic episode (or panic attack, or high-blood pressure, etc.) I have seen diagnosis and treatment of hyperthyroidism delayed one year because of this.

This is different than a self-test for Lactose Intolerance (Go 2 weeks without any dairy and see if you feel better, then eat a half-gallon of ice cream. You will be pretty close to anything a doctor will be able to tell you.) Although uncomfortable, the risk-benefit equation is more favorable.

Medicating ADHD is a very individualized response. In the perfect world, a medication gives a therapeutic benefit at a very low dose while side-effects do not kick-in until a much higher dose.

For many people, normal doses of caffeine do not provide a therapeutic benefit... the amount needs to be much higher. Therefore, no response to caffeine is inconclusive.

In that case, the higher doses - for some - side-effects come into the equation especially in how you ingest the caffeine. Furthermore, the perception of attentiveness or productivity may (or may not be) merely perception. Therefore, feeling like it works may be inconclusive.

http://askdreric-schoolpsychologist.blogspot.com/ In summary, someone may have ADHD == =or it may be something else instead, or in addition to. If caffeine does not work, it may mean you do not have ADHD... but you cannot conclusively say. If caffeine works, well then you may have ADHD, in which case you may only need caffeine. Again, you cannot conclusively say, and no one is helping you monitor side-effects or potential negative reactions. Of course, you may also have a more serious comorbid condition that will go undiagnosed. If you have a doctor that prefers trial-and-error of medications, you may get quicker and cheaper results if you both are right. If not, there may be serious.. albeit rare... medical repercussions.

So I see a minimal benefit, but a lot of serious potential negative consequences. That is not a risk that I would personally take with myself or my children.

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scrapeuse said: The caffeine advice is actually sound no matter what Dr. Eric says. The overwhelming majority of adults with ADD self medicate with coffee or a caffeinated soda, until they get diagnosed. People who cannot do drugs to handle their ADD symptoms often have another handicap. For instance, someone who is bipolar cannot do stimulant drugs because they become manic.

While the caffeine idea is NOT a full proof test, it can (notice I said can) be a simple way to check out possible ADD before making an expensive Dr.'s appointment.

BTW Dr. Eric, my psychiatrist says the caffeine test is a good simple check...

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I forgot that the research shows that caffeine improves the focus of people without ADHD. Therefore, if the caffeine makes things better... that is inconclusive too.

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What type of advice is that, Scrapeuse? Pump up w/ caffeine to diagnose ADD/ADHD?? Wow, how did we survive without your 'sound' recommendations? You're an idiot.

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So your psychiatrist agrees that the caffeine test is a "good" simple test..... sounds like he's rendering himself obsolete, or perhaps you just need to find another psychiatrist...

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