| Grant Conrad 2003-03-26, 5:23 pm |
| In regard to the Ritalin we followed up on that and were=20
told by his doctor that it isn't unusual for it to have=20
the opposite effect in higher dosages. It is quite common.
David underwent some very thorough testing intact we=20
surprised at the extent.=20
When we first spoke to a "doctor" about David's behavior=20
we sat and talked and he came to the conclusion that David=20
was "mildly" ADHD probably a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. 10=20
being the worst.
=20
We had relocated shortly after that and it was probably=20
about a year later when we spoke to his new doctor about=20
the previous doctors statements. She was shocked. She=20
stated that ADD/ADHD is NOT something a general doctor can=20
just "label" some one as. She promptly set us up with a=20
facility that studies and tests for this and other=20
disorders.
David went through a full 8+ hour day of testing. Where=20
they placed him in different settings with different=20
distractions and gave him explicit instructions and then=20
monitored him through 1-way mirrors. Things like sit here=20
in this room with toys sitting to the side and do these=20
math problems. Don't play with the toys and will be back=20
in a few little while to check on you. The noted things=20
like his fidgeting in his chair and eventually wonder off=20
to play with the toys. They give a score based off=20
statistical research where "normal" children would be at=20
and where they found David to be. They also evaluated his=20
intelligence at the same time. Like you pointed out with=20
Zach, David was in second grade at the time of the tests=20
and was considered by these tests to be at a 4th grade=20
level for math. Reading he was a little behind (We had=20
been working on that. Many thanks go to the school for=20
that one. He was WAY behind earlier in the year.) And of=20
course they did the logical tests and well I don't even=20
remember all that he had to do. We were not allowed to be=20
present for the tests. I'm sure they went through=20
the "does your daddy hit you" BS as well. Then they=20
interviewed us (the parents) as well and during the=20
interview with us David did some other things that were=20
added to his chart even when we were the ones be=20
questioned.
He makes off-the-wall statements that make absolutely no=20
sense some times, like one hundred thousand seven million=20
or "I'll be like 10 when the babies are 5" some of this=20
can be chalked up as just normal "kid talk" but some of it=20
makes even some of his younger friends stare at him oddly.=20
In fact this is one of the other tests that he was put=20
through. A language processing disorder. He has this to a=20
slight degree as well. Basically and I'm still not sure I=20
understand this real well yet either, What he hears is not=20
always interpreted the way we intend it. In fact it is=20
probably a lot like reading these messages. Sometimes your=20
not sure if someone is joking or mad. But then there is=20
another disorder call Central Auditory Processing=20
Disorder, which a friend of the family who works with the=20
hearing impaired brought to our attention, which also=20
creates some of the same symptoms and is often=20
misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD. Although this is truly supposed=20
to be tested by a hearing specialists. The doctors did not=20
think this was the case with David.
After the initial eval was completed then came the trial=20
drug analysis. He took the medication for a week and then=20
went back in to the doctor once a week at the end of the=20
week for re-evaluation. Although these re-visits were not=20
as long as the initial ones they were long visits. Plus we=20
had to have evals from his teachers, daycare and us and=20
anyone else who had constant contact with him filled out.=20
This went on for the remaining three weeks for each dose=20
of medication.=20
Everyone is pretty sure he is ADHD. Thankfully the doctor=20
keeps up on this constantly and we are going to be=20
speaking to her again and filling out more evals. Concerta=20
does seem to work the best for him and doesn't seem to=20
have the Moody side effects. Ritalin also does work but in=20
a little smaller dose.
So we are hopeful we are doing the right thing and that=20
the doctor's know what they are doing. I think they have=20
shown real concern and a genuine desire to help. I do know=20
that there are many children being misdiagnosed with ADHD=20
but I do not believe David is one of them.
G
>-----Original Message-----
>"Grant Conrad" <gconrad@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:3fdb01c2f3dc$62f540f0$a40
1280a@phx.gbl...
>Actually I am at work right now and should be doing that
>as opposed to this but.... Here I am.
>Since I am at work I am posting these through the HTML
>version of the group. However I haven't been in a lot of
>news groups in the past and have very limited use with the
>newsreaders so I am not sure I would be doing what you
>mentioned. QP But I will look into it. Thanks for the tip.
>What exactly does it do?
>
>Quoted Printable is a format you can use in Outlook=20
Express that apparently
>does a bit of a different word wrap logic in that you can=20
post a long URL
>without it breaking. The problem, though, it is is much=20
like when you are
>posting in HTML, it doesn't allow quoting properly, which=20
is ironic because
>of its name.
>
>We went through trials with David they had us get three
>different dosages 1 for each week. One week was a low
>dosage of Ritalin another was a high dosage of it and the
>other was a placebo. We were unaware of what dosage he was
>on for what week. Boy, we were surprised what we learned.
>Naturally we tried to guess what dosage he was on based on
>our expectations of what we thought the medication does. I
>mean we were under the same impression much of the
>uninformed world is under that he would be a zombie.
>Little did we know that Ritalin is basically a derivative
>of speed (stimulant as you stated) Well obviously the
>placebo changed nothing. The low dosage didn't seem to do
>much either, in fact he received the low dosage first and
>we were sure it was the placebo. Then came the high dose.
>WOW! It was like watching someone whose feet were on fire.
>I almost had to peel him off the ceiling. Complete
>opposite of what we expected. So after the results were in
>we tried Adderol this proved to be ineffective and created
>mood swings. Yuck, suddenly my son had mood swings about
>everything.
>
>It sounds like your son may not have ADD or ADHD at all=20
if that was the
>result of his taking Ritalin. I'm no doctor (but I play=20
one on USENET) but
>while Ritalin is a stimulant, it has the opposite effect=20
on people with
>ADD/ADHD, it calms them down. I don't know how much=20
research you've done on
>ADD but without medication, their minds are just running=20
in fast-forward.
>Their brains are not getting enough stimulation=20
chemically, so they have to
>stimulate themselves in other ways, usually in harmful or=20
annoying ways.
>The chemical allows them to finally relax, yet at the=20
same time, it
>interferes with sleep, so go figure. While Zach would=20
agree that being on
>the drug doesn't make him feel like "himself", he would=20
often want to take
>it anyway because he doesn't like being unmedicated any=20
more than the people
>around him like it when he's that way.
>
>He is now on Concerta 27mg which he (if we remind him 20-
>30 times) in the morning before school. This is supposed
>to be a once a day drug/dose. Now we know it is supposed
>to only last for maybe 8 hrs but the teacher reports that
>on some days it seems that it has worn off by noon. We
>have also been given a 10mg dosage of Ritalin to give him
>in the evenings. We try to avoid using this mainly because
>I do hate giving my son a bunch of drugs. I save it for
>when "I" am ready to blow up. He has an extremely high
>metabolism (no duh) but I truly think I could give him
>this dose a couple of hours before bed and he would still
>be able to fall asleep. This stuff is in and out of his
>system so fast.
>
>Zach had a high metabolism early on, too. Actually,=20
since he's been off the
>medication, he's gained a bit of weight. The kid eats=20
like a horse. He
>also drinks fluids almost non-stop. If I drank as much=20
soda as he did, I'd
>have to spend all day in the bathroom, I don't know how=20
he does it. I think
>his leg is hollow or something.
>
>One other big concern I have is "Drugs" in general. I have
>watched several documentary type shows on this subject and
>one of the problems is first the kids stop taking their
>meds because the don't like the way they make them feel
>then they turn to other drugs. Supposedly they are more
>prone to take other drugs. Now I don't mean to pry so you
>don't have to answer but has this become an issue you have
>had to deal with? Believe it or not my wife and I have
>NEVER taken any drugs, well we have both drank I mean lets
>not get stupid, but illegal drugs, NEVER. David is going
>to have a difficult enough time in life that he doesn't
>need the added problem drugs will cause.
>
>I tried drugs (pot) when I was in the USAF. Had one bad=20
experience, nothing
>major, but it was a wakeup call. I don't care for the=20
taste of alcohol, but
>forced myself to drink with friends in the military, just=20
so I could "fit
>in" My wife has never used any kind of drugs at all, but=20
enjoys beer,
>mostly because of the time she spent in Germany with her=20
ex-husband. She'll
>enjoy the occaisional beer these days is all. I do=20
smoke, have for half my
>life. Zach was caught at school a few months ago with=20
cigarettes. He
>wasn't actually caught, some kid heard Zach bragging=20
about smoking and
>turned him in. Funny because the boy rags on me=20
constantly for smoking
>(even today) and always swore he'd never smoke.
>
>OK! Break time over time to get back to work.
>
>Got any openings?
>
>I got a decent job offer just last week but had to turn=20
it down. Would have
>meant a huge raise in pay and benefits, but the location=20
sucked.
>
>
>--
>Fris "Professional Poster" bee=AE MCNGP #13
>
>http://www.mcngp.tk
>The MCNGP Team - We're here to help
>
>.
>
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