Hi. If i didnt know any better I would think you were talking about my 8 year daughter. I have everyone of these exact same issues. I need answers also. I have tried everything I know to do. She is on the samemedicine also! Same mg and everything. She sees her docter every three months.Please if you have any answers let me know/.

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Hello :) Wow! What a coincidence! I've often wondered if we need to up her dosage, but she seems do well in school...she struggles with math but reads really well...she likes to talk a lot-what 8 year old girl doesn't! She doesn't have outburts in school like she does at home which we believe is b/c her meds wear off by the time she gets home...that's where the struggle begins. My hubby usually works 7 days a week..I'm at home with my daughter and our 2 year old son trying to help her through her homework (which most of the time takes an hour) and get dinner fixed...by the time my hubby gets home, I'm pretty stressed. Not all days are like that-but it's pretty consistent. We usually send her to her room as discipline because nothing else works-our pediatrician recommended we do that and breathe for as long as needed to calm down, then talk to her when she's calm. That's helped for the most part-the only problem is when we're out in public and she has a tantrum, it's a lot harder to do that! There are two sides to this coin...On one side, It's nice to know we're not alone and on the other side, I'm sorry you're going through the same issues we are. I wish you the best of luck and if I get any advice, I'll let you know :)

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Hello :) Wow! What a coincidence! I've often wondered if we need to up her dosage, but she seems do well in school...she struggles with math but reads really well...she likes to talk a lot-what 8 year old girl doesn't! She doesn't have outburts in school like she does at home which we believe is b/c her meds wear off by the time she gets home...that's where the struggle begins. My hubby usually works 7 days a week..I'm at home with my daughter and our 2 year old son trying to help her through her homework (which most of the time takes an hour) and get dinner fixed...by the time my hubby gets home, I'm pretty stressed. Not all days are like that-but it's pretty consistent. We usually send her to her room as discipline because nothing else works-our pediatrician recommended we do that and breathe for as long as needed to calm down, then talk to her when she's calm. That's helped for the most part-the only problem is when we're out in public and she has a tantrum, it's a lot harder to do that! There are two sides to this coin...On one side, It's nice to know we're not alone and on the other side, I'm sorry you're going through the same issues we are. I wish you the best of luck and if I get any advice, I'll let you know :)

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Hello :) Wow! What a coincidence! I've often wondered if we need to up her dosage, but she seems do well in school...she struggles with math but reads really well...she likes to talk a lot-what 8 year old girl doesn't! She doesn't have outburts in school like she does at home which we believe is b/c her meds wear off by the time she gets home...that's where the struggle begins. My hubby usually works 7 days a week..I'm at home with my daughter and our 2 year old son trying to help her through her homework (which most of the time takes an hour) and get dinner fixed...by the time my hubby gets home, I'm pretty stressed. Not all days are like that-but it's pretty consistent. We usually send her to her room as discipline because nothing else works-our pediatrician recommended we do that and breathe for as long as needed to calm down, then talk to her when she's calm. That's helped for the most part-the only problem is when we're out in public and she has a tantrum, it's a lot harder to do that! There are two sides to this coin...On one side, It's nice to know we're not alone and on the other side, I'm sorry you're going through the same issues we are. I wish you the best of luck and if I get any advice, I'll let you know :)

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We had the same problems with our daughter and eventually added an after school med. She is 7 and takes Medadate CD 20mg to get her through the school day. Then she comes home gets a good snack and takes Methylin 10mg. While I struggled with given her another med, I decided I was being selfish by not allowing her to have the stability that medication brings. She wants to do homework now and quite often does it with no assistance, seriously, and she is pleasant and enjoyable. Our pediatrician told us that the rages as we call them are caused by the medication wearing off. Every once in awhile on a weekend we will get off of the afternoon med schedule and we very quickly remember what we forgot! By the time we get her the med we are all physically and emotionally drained. I understand what your going through, I look back now and wonder how I kept my sanity so long prior to medication. Our family and home is truly different now.

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Thank you for the advice :) We go back to the pediatrician soon for her check up. We're going to talk to her teacher and ask her to record behavior and grades for a couple of weeks so we can take it with us to the doc. We did this last year when she was diagnosed and it helped a lot. We're also trying 'quiet time' with her. When she goes into a 'rage' or gets so hyper we're spinning in circles, we take her to her room and talk to her and let her know she's not being punnished, but she needs some time to calm down. She can read, color or draw if she wants to. We've tried this over the weekend and it seems to help-we're taking her out of the situation and giving her a chance to try to calm herself down. It doesn't help that she has a 2 year old brother who is easily influenced! So, we not only have her running circles around us-both of them do! Another thing we're concerned about is she's constantly putting things in her mouth...if she's wearing a necklace it's in her mouth, she bites her nails to the quick, she'll watch tv and chew her toe nails (i know it sounds really gross but I can't seem to keep her from doing it!), toys, the tv remote....I could go on and on...her brother doesn't even put that much in his mouth and he's a toddler! Have ya'll had the same problem with your kiddos? It makes me wonder if it has to do with her ADD...

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HI, I'm a mother of two with ADHD who are now 19 and 15. I too have ADHD that was diagnosed as an adult. I've spent my children's lifetime looking for answers and finally have some. Here's some suggestions to discuss with your childs physician: 1. A dose of short acting focalin after school will help with homework and help the rebound effect of coming off the long acting. I notice myself having increase in symptoms and take a short acting dose at 3PM to slowly taper the effects and get through the after school hours. My son's psychologist gave it to him for after school and he uses concerta during the day. 2. Hang in there and recognize that you cannot teach her self control in the hours that her focalin is worn off. 3. Meltdowns are part of the ADHD'er's inability to control their environment. Irritability for reasons outside their understanding or their control. Learn to step back and evaluate the situation, why the meltdown occurred and what you can do to change your behavior. It is thru changing our behavior as the parent that we can diffuse these situations before they occur. 4. Read the book "The Explosive Child" It was recommended to me by a former psychologist of my sons who gave me the best advice ever. You have to learn to parent a child with ADHD and thru you changing they will change. The book has been the greatest thing I've ever read and it works. Finally, Remember: She has spent the day exerting more energy than you can imagine trying to focus and stay on task at school When she gets home her brain isexhausted. Let her run around for thirty minutes, (I have my son takethe short acting then go skateboard for 20mins til the medicine kicks in) It is not a matter of not wanting to do but a matter of feeling so overwhelmed that they don't know what or how to begin and are embarrassed about it. Good Luck

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Thank you so much for the advice! I read your post to my husband too :) I plan on purchasing the book you mentioned...the short acting medication sounds like it could really make a difference for our family, but more importantly, for our daughter. I'll mention it to her pediatrician the next time we see him. I can't tell you how much better I felt after reading what you said. It makes complete sense and we've never really thought of it that way. We love our daughter very much and want to be able to help her in any way we can. Hopefully the book you mentioned will help us understand more of what she's going through and will teach us how we can better ourselves as parents for her (and her brother who doesn't understand what's going on). Again, thank you

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