ADHD and extreme defiance in 5 year old. I NEED HELP!

[HadAnna]

Hi emmy I came across this sight on accident because i was looking for adhd sights, and this came up and I see you haven't posted in awhile and i would like to know how things are going with your little guy. My son is 12 and in the 7th grade he has been on Aderall xr since the 3rd grade and now since in middle school take a 5mg dextroamphet in the afternoon for focus at practice. He sees a specialist from Vanderbilt medical center who has explained ADHD to us wonderfully His name is Dr. Walter Harrison. and from the way you have described your little ones meltdowns to me it sounds like something more than ADHD. ADHD is a focusing disease distracted easily can't sit still, driven by a motor. Dr. Harrison has told us many childen are diagnosed with ADHD and they are do not truely have ADHD, ADHD does not include anger, melt down and trantrums, You have said that depressions runs on both sides, this is something to look into, I strongly advise taking him to a specialist, I took my son to a specialist because his pediatrician first diagnosed him but in my mind I was not educated in ADHD and my son was not violent, he was not throwing fits he was not difiant, he was having trouble staying on task. so I didn't believe them so I took him to a specialist who explained to me what adhd was and that truely diagnosed adhd kids are not what everyone thinks they are they have focusing issues because they are trying to multi task too much of what they can control. I don't know where you live but take the long drive to a specialist and see what they can tell you.

 

[Malika]

I found your post interesting, HadAnna. I feel there is some confusion here.... I think the confusion is that at a certain point in time the diagnosis of hyperactivity was combined with the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, which is basically what you describe. Hyperactive kids lack impulse control and cannot tolerate frustration - this leads to anger and meltdowns and sometimes aggression. My own son is hyperactive but not noticeably deficit in attention. Therefore ADHD indeed does not seem like a good diagnosis for him but there is no other that can apply... He may have other issues too but the central one is clearly hyperactivity and all that goes with it.

 

[buddy]

Yes, I agree with Malika. The thing is, no matter a diagnosis.... any frustration resulting from it can lead to tantrums and meltdowns and depression etc. It truly can be primary ADHD or ADD or hyperactivity etc. Many do feel though that a full 70% of kids diagnosed with adhd are misdiagnosed and there are other conditions (fine motor, gross motor, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), biochemical mood disorders, processing disorders -visual, auditory, etc.-, health issues.....on and on) that could cause adhd like symptoms.

Often these older threads are not revisited, if you really want to see if this person is available you might want to start a new thread. it may be seen but just in case.