Need help with son with severe ADHD!!!!?!
Question: My son is 9 years old and has been on meds for 4 years, he has had all the physical and mental tests to prove that he is only ADHD and nothing else exists. We get up around 5:45 in the morning and i give him his meds about 6 so he can get on the school bus at 6:30. well the meds he is on only lasts 12 hours (its Adderall XR 30 mg). anyhow my problem is this morning and every other morning he gets up extremely early , i am not even sure he is going to sleep at all, well he gets into things he goes outside (he is very sneaky) This morning i woke to the smell of matches, he had gotten into a collection of matches that my husband inherieted from his deceased granny he lit 3 books of matches he lit some in my daughters room near her bed!!! these behaviors do not surprise me although they do scare me, anyhow he is extremely out of control and this was the last straw!! I was thinking of inpatient care any one have any other suggestions (he does get punished by the way i dont wanna hear that)
Answers: My son is 9 years old and has been on meds for 4 years, he has had all the physical and mental tests to prove that he is only ADHD and nothing else exists. We get up around 5:45 in the morning and i give him his meds about 6 so he can get on the school bus at 6:30. well the meds he is on only lasts 12 hours (its Adderall XR 30 mg). anyhow my problem is this morning and every other morning he gets up extremely early , i am not even sure he is going to sleep at all, well he gets into things he goes outside (he is very sneaky) This morning i woke to the smell of matches, he had gotten into a collection of matches that my husband inherieted from his deceased granny he lit 3 books of matches he lit some in my daughters room near her bed!!! these behaviors do not surprise me although they do scare me, anyhow he is extremely out of control and this was the last straw!! I was thinking of inpatient care any one have any other suggestions (he does get punished by the way i dont wanna hear that)
You must seek professional help Madam.
I would say you must be a person with multiple endowment of patience in raisng your son. I hope some one near helps you.
Take him off the meds and teach him right from wrong.
You need to adjust his medication.
Try a different one.
My oldest is on Concerta 54mg.
He has been on this for sometime now and it works very well.
Though, he does have trouble sleeping at night and the Dr. told us to give him Benadryl to help him. But, that is on occasion.
Try a different brand. It took us about 4 different types until we found one that just work for him.
He is doing great on it, A-B honor student where as if he wasn't on it, he would be D-F's.
Don't listen to other's if they tell you he shouldn't be on medications. Sometimes they need a little help.
We tried everything before resorting to medication.
And I mean everything.
wow... i have an ADHD sister but she isn't anywhere near that bad. um, i would check into a sleeping pill or something to help adjust him, but won't interact with his existing meds... at least this will help with the immediate problem.
They make sensors for doors that make a loud beeping sound so you will know when he is leaving his room. I think that you should maybe have him talk to a child counselor. He is old enough to know better, but a lot of times children with ADHD need attention no matter what kind of attention it is. I know my step son has done similar things in the past like setting the carpet on fire. He is 13 now and....well he still has a lot of problems.
As for punishment...have you tried "black out". A counselor told us about it. When he behaves like this tell him you only have to provide the necessary things for him...food, clothing and shelter and if he chooses to behave like this you will take everything else away and I mean EVERY THING!! Toys, TV anything he enjoys. Boy, my step son was MAD, but it did get his attention.