Sounds like my son, to the tee. He is officially diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, Anxiety disorder, and a Mood Disorder. He takes 30mg Focalin XR in the morning and again in the afternoon. At night he takes Risperidone and Clonodine.

The Focalin is to control his impluse/hyper/lack of attention. The Risperidone is to control his mood swings and anger issues. The Clonodine is to help him sleep. A major side effect of the Focalin is sleeplessness, the Clonodine helps! You might ask about Intuniv. We tried it and it was great, but he was falling asleep at the dinner table with the dose that controlled his symptoms the best.

I hate that he has to take so many medications, but we've tried several times with behavior modification. He is just hardwired differently. The other thing we have done that helps is staying very active. He is organized sports year round from swimming, to soccer, to football, etc. Anything, he has to have a physical outlet. He is above average in all subjects at school, and requires to be challenged or is bored. Thankfully we don't have problems with him at school. He seems to respect authority and complies with the rules when his meds are working.

Before meds were regulated we had all the same problems you decribed. The mood swings were out of control, we had to get him help for his sake and the rest of our family. Is it perfect now? No, but it is better. He is able to express himself, and is accepting consequences easier. It's never going to be easy but we go day by day.

Good luck, I know how helpless it feels.

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