My son got diagnoses, now what

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lucyhar2003
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
My son got diagnoses, now what
3
 Tue, 04-01-2003 - 5:53pm
Hey, I posted earlier this week, about taking my 13 year old for testing. No surprise, he has add. The doctor was very good, said his panic attacks and anxiety were also related to his anger issues. He started him on depakote for these. Added the C drug, but a very loew dose. He said he was concerned if Henry got too focused too fast, he might just learn to better focus his anger and violence. Is anger and voilence common with these kids? Henry got angry last night and threatebned to burn the house down while I slept. Is this normal, will the drugs work to stop this. I have so many questions. There are no support groups where I live (very rural Smoky Mt. area) so I feel very isolated in dealing with all this. any ideas or suggestions? Thanks, Lucy
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keke0116
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: lucyhar2003
My son got diagnoses, now what
 Thu, 04-03-2003 - 12:27pm
Did the doc mention the possibility of ODD in addition to the ADHD? I think that anger, violence and rages are more common as a trait of ODD instead of ADD/ADHD, and many kids with one do have the other. My DS was actually originally diagnosed with ODD alone primarily because of the rages and such ... and it was years later that ADHD label was added. Are you familiar with this at all? If not, check out my website: http://pages.ivillage.com/keke0116/ See the "What Is ODD?" section and see if this 'fits.'

Nancy

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kathy_in_ga
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: lucyhar2003
My son got diagnoses, now what
 Wed, 04-02-2003 - 4:39pm
Depakote can be used as a mood stabilizer. My son (7 1/2) takes it. He takes 250 in AM & 325 in PM. He has blood drawn every 2 months to make sure his blood levels are up enough. Also his liver enzymes are checked at that time too. Depakote can affect the liver & needs to be monitored correctly. When my son was first put on depakote it was by a pediatrician, he did no blood levels & my sons dose was way too low. The pediatrician found us a child psychiatrist (after some horrid weeks) & she now monitors my sons meds. Depakote can also cause weight gain, but my son has never had that problem. I think because he also takes adderall, wich can supress eating.

Also, when my son was placed on Ritalin (he was 4) he had horrid rages in the evening. His rebounds were awful, and the med just made him very angry. When we added depakote to the ritalin, he was like a live wire, rolling all over the classroom floor. We changed to adderall, which helped. My son has been DXed as Bipolar/ADHD, of course there is much more to his symptoms than anger. Not saying your son is BP, he has the hormones raging and is at a very hard age, poor kid & poor mom. I hope the depakote helps him.

mitford64
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: lucyhar2003
My son got diagnoses, now what
 Wed, 04-02-2003 - 10:04am
I think it is common, though not frequent. I had a cousin who went into rages. He hurt his father more than once. He was violent toward his girlfriend. He refused medication because he was afraid it would stunt his growth...he was an athlete. Played football and was a star on the wrestling team.

This was very hard on the family. His mother never gave up on him and bailed him out of more situations than we thought reasonable. Today he is 26 years old. He is a college graduate and living independently in another state. Things are far from perfect, but he is alive, didn't kill anyone and lives independently.

My son (9) is different. Not violent. But he does have temper tantrums and overly strong reactions to things. Today he had a crying fit over putting allergy eye drops in his eyes. I know that people have lost limbs and not hollered that loud.

I think understanding ADHD is absolutely the first step. One of the best books about ADHD is Driven to Distraction. You can find it on Amazon.com.

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