Posted by kdg on May 18, 2003, at 0:44:50
In reply to Re: Straterra - No other takers?, posted by zenclear on January 15, 2003, at 21:40:31
I have an 7 yr old son who I thought was simply curious and maybe a little off the wall in some of his behaviors but I guess I didn't think he was that different from other boys. That is, until his teacher along with the school principal, cornered me last Friday and told me that my child had ADD and needed to be medicated if he had any chance of suceeding in school or for that matter life. His teacher told me he is doing things like daydreaming during class, to the point that she has to physically shake him to get his attention. She said when he is left unsupervised he becomes very destructive (ie. smearing soap on the bathroom mirrors, tearing his work up, throwing markers).
We have been aware of his focusing issues since his first year of school. We tried focus groups, counseling, and a strict diet consisting of zero sugars and low complex carbs (of course none of these things seemed to help).
So here we are, and this destructive behavior is a new thing that's accompanied by profuse lying (his teacher refered to it as progression of the ADD) I talked about these issues with my sons Dr. and he asked me if I wanted to medicate my child,possibly with Ritalin.
Well what do you say to that? No I don't want to medicate my child with anything. Especially not something as contraversial, & potientally dangerous as Ritalin. But at the same time I want my child back. We don't even feel as though he is a part of our family anymore because he is always grounded. Frankly, I don't like being around him because of his "always into something" behavior and lying.
So my question is two-part. Is this typical ADD behavior in a child? I mean could he be lying to me because he just can't explain why he does the things he does? Or is he just being an overactive 7 yr old in a school system that doesn't want to deal with it? Also I have read all of the other postings on the website, because a friend told me this drug maybe a better option for my son. However, I have not seen any postings on Straterra can even being administered on children. I am so afraid that my son is going to end up being my age (late twenties) with blood pressure problems because I wasn't informed about this critical decision, and possibly to quick to medicate. - help kdg
poster:kdg
thread:133458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030514/msgs/227346.html