Well it's not ADHA

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-16-2006
Well it's not ADHA
5
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 3:13pm

Well we saw the psych doc and he totally agrees with his PDD dx--no crap right? LOL
Well he feels Adam's "symptoms" are all part of his PDD and not in additon to him having ADHD.
So we have him on Adderall RX .5mg 1x per day.

So girls we will see what happens.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 3:36pm

Nora,


Well, now you know. It is good to cover all bases and have additional "stuff" ruled out.


It is also good that they are trying the Adderall. I know it has helped some kids.

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-10-2006
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 3:57pm

Hi!


Good for you for giving it a shot!

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Christine

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-16-2006
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 7:56pm

Thanks girls.
He is on the extended time release type. He got his 1st dose today and the doc said by the weekend we should see something.
Today was a good day anyhow.
Doc warned me the reverse affects could be him being more hyper (just what I need) and his appetite could be down (yet again, not what I need kid is skinny enought) and he could be constipated.

He clinically doesn't have ADHD but w/PDD it can mimmic ADHD traits---go figure.

Trial and error. I am nervous about drugging him and what the long term affects.
I don't want to hurt him or endanger him either.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 8:30pm

It is extremely common for kids with ASD to have ADHD symptoms and actually symptoms of many different disorder and it is really their expression of their ASD. In fact, according to the DSM they should pick which ONE diagnosis most accurately discribes the child and then treat all the other symptoms but that is their diagnosis. The comorbid thing confuses me but it is my understanding that it shouldn't be diagnosed unless it is a completely separate entity which needs separate treatment. (For instance, Cait has a comorbid seizure disorder). Since PDD and ADHD are under the same "axis" typically it isn't neccessary to dx both since the vast majority of ASD kids will have some trouble with attending, etc.

Mike meets all the criteria for ADHD, he also meets the criteria for tourettes, OCD, anxiety disorder, etc. However, the reason he has all those symptoms and criteria is because of his autism, kwim? If he wasn't autistic then he wouldn't have the ADHD symptoms or the tourettes, etc. We still have to use approaches that we would use for a kid with ADHD or OCD so knowing this information is helpful.

We had this big diagnostic group come out through the schools this last year. This is their findings and I had it confirmed by 2 other completely separate diagnosticians and they agreed.

I guess my point is that just because he doesn't have a separate ADHD diagnosis doesn't mean he doesn't have those challenges that need to be addressed. using those strategies will still help and hopefully the medication will as well.
Hopefully the medication does work for you. We were never able to find medication that worked for Mike at all so thus he doesn't take any. Does better without it and with behavior modification and accomodations.

Also, check into

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
Fri, 07-27-2007 - 8:32am

Hey Nora~

I just wanted you to know that our son had a really good response to Adderall XR for quite a while. In the end, we had to switch meds- but I thought you should know that there was a least one mom out there who had success with it! :-)

Good luck...it's hard. I cried for days the first time we put Noah on medicine. But in the end, we had to do it. He simply couldn't function without it. Now that he's 10, he doesn't like to be without his medicine because he hates, as he puts it, not being able to "control his brain". Pretty perceptive, huh?

Hugs to you and Adam!

Amy

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