Can ADHD Be Treated Without Medication?

It is not an easy decision to put your child on stimulant medication. After all, it is considered a controlled substance. You can not even get a prescription phoned in or sent to the pharmacy. It requires a doctors visit every 30 days to get. Then you get to the pharmacy and you have to show your ID and swear you are the parent before they will give it to you. That is kind of scary since I am going to be giving it to my child. I then give it to my child once a day and hear him complain of stomach aches, headaches, and his appetite is just not there.

Every day around 7PM the medication wears off and he starts to come down from it like a drug addict would be coming off of something. He starts to whine and cry about how he doesn't know what to do with the rest of his day or just sits around and is so grumpy that no one wants to have anything to do with him. However, on the good side, he is not impulsive or obnoxious during the day. He can focus at school and get things done in a timely manner. Without the medication he is in trouble all day long for the things that comes out of his mouth. His actions are impulsive and usually get him in trouble for not keeping his hands to himself around others. The medication helps all of that. So what do you do?    

We recently allowed my son to go off of his Vyvanse medication for ADHD. He wanted to try to go without it so he would not suffer the side effects of it. He is twelve now and we thought this would be worth a try. We are over a month into this and have determined that it is not such a good idea. He stays in trouble at home. He falls asleep in class everyday now. He is loud, obnoxious, impulsively hits his brothers and sisters who are a lot younger than him. It is constant drama in our home right now. I have talked to him and explained that we don't want him to stay in trouble like this. We have to go back to the doctor and get back on his stimulant medication. He was on Concerta before Vyvanse and I think we will go back to Concerta. The side effects did not seem to be as bad. In our case, we have to go back. I feel like we have no choice. As he gets older and starts to learn better habits through behavioral counseling then we may give it another try. Besides, it won't be long before he will be 18 and I can't make him take it if he does not want to. I feel like I have to get him through school and help him to be successful as possible during that journey. His medication is the only thing I know that will help him do that.   

Her diagnosis is not as complex as her brother's. She takes Vyvanse during the week days only when in school. Her main problem is focusing at school. She does not need to take it on the weekends like her brother needs to. He takes it all week. She is a much different case than him. Just like your child is a much different case.   

I have received so many nasty comments from people out there disagreeing with giving children stimulant medication when it is a controlled substance and people abuse it every day. The only thing I know to tell these people is to come live with us for a week. You tell me what I should do after you live with ADHD children for a week. Especially mine. I think you may change your mind. I feel like it was designed to help these children and just like any other medication it has side effects. My children take it for their condition just as a diabetic would take insulin for their condition. They don't abuse it and it is beneficial to them. It helps my children to succeed.