Hi, my son (7 years) is diagnosed ADHD without hyperactivity. From my point of view the symptoms are mild (maybe because for me its “normal”). My wife and I now have to decide wether we want to treat his symptoms with methylphenidat. My question: Can someone with medium strength adhd who gets medicated in his/her childhood write their experience in retrospective?
Thanks for reading, sorry for my English.
I have ADHD. I also have a daughter with ADHD. I think being able to see it from the point of personal experience and from a parents perspective has been helpful in some ways. I was officially diagnosed at 28. I wish I had been diagnosed as a child. I have never been outwardly hyperactive but aside from that, the signs were clearly there.
Instead of outward physical hyperactivity, I have what I have heard called “inner restlessness”. It feels like an inability to relax. I can’t just sit and do nothing. It’s an insatiable need to constantly feel like I’m doing something productive, every waking minute of every day. It doesn’t sound that bad but in reality it’s a tremendous source of misery. Humans aren’t built to work constantly without rest but my ADHD brain will not let me turn it off. Meds help with this a lot.
One of the challenging things about having a child (or even maybe being a child) with ADHD is that physicians often like to focus on school performance as the primary barometer of “success”. In fairness, that’s somewhat understandable when kids are young and lack the self-awareness to analyze how they’re feeling, much less communicate their feelings in a meaningful way.
The goal should be to help the child have a happy and fulfilling life with school performance as a component of that.
People with ADHD are significantly more likely to experience mental health issues throughout their lives, especially if they’re untreated. That can often lead to “self medicating” (AKA substance abuse). As someone who experienced severe difficulty regulating their own emotions – often a symptom of ADHD – from an early age, and spent most of his 20’s binge drinking as a form of self medication, I wish someone would have asked if I needed meds when I was a kid.
ADHD symptoms can change as the brain develops. It’s perfectly normal to make adjustments to medications to deal with that and keep everything dialed in.
I think what’s really important is teaching your son the importance of looking after his mental health and that having an ongoing dialogue with his doctor about his disorder is a positive thing.
Thank you!