• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

am I just drugging my son?

M

My3sons

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Messages
548
the quick background: my son is 9 and started medication for ADD this school year. He is like a different child. It been incredible to watch his transformation. He has been main streamed and is doing better than ever. He always hated school and now loves it. Granted we have to work really hard to get spelling words down ect... but he is proud of himself and no longer acts like homework is a punishment. Reading all the abuse with the medication I put him on makes me question my judgment but at the same time its done wonders for him. I obviously control the dose and he is still little so doesn't get the abuse stuff yet. However, he has addiction blood surging through his veins. his uncle died from an H and zannie OD, I am on mmt for H addiction and my sister is in "pain management " my other sister and dad have alcoholism. Am i setting him up for failure? On the other hand if he is successful bc i am providing the tools he needs maybe he will not be searching for something that is missing. He also does therapy. What does everyone think?
 
Wow, this is a complicated topic.
There are so many perspectives on this - some of which you touch on.

What i will say, despite being in two minds about a lot of psychiatric treatments, is that he seems to be getting on positively in school - something that is pretty irreplaceable. If kids fall behind too far in school, it can be all but impossible to catch up.
There are lots of things that could be said about medicating young people - but i think as the treatment is medically approved, and it is improving his performance in class, you can take that as a positive outcome.
The wider implications of taking stimulants to treat childhood ADD are complicated - but if he is responding well to the treatment, i'd say you are doing your best as a parent to provide support for him, so nothing to worry unduly about.

If he starts exhibiting signs of bad side-effects (anxiety, insomnia, lack of appetite, etc) then you might want to reconsider, but if he is doing better with meds than without, i would say you're doing the right thing by him, from what you've told us, anyway.
 
I have to look at what it's called after work. Its generic. Add runs in my family. My brother had it, my nephew, and me. As a child i slipped through the cracks and grew up a quitter. No matter how hard i try i always fail. I don't want him to become me. If i were given the tools as a child maybe my adult life would be different. He is literally like a different child and loves school now. At 8 he had already given up until these meds. It has been the right thing but it scares me too.
 
I personally think you are doing the right thing by giving him medications. I was always depressed when I was younger due to a chemical imbalance in my brain. At the time doctors would not prescribe meds to children even if they were exhibiting pretty severe symptoms. I messed up a lot in college due to having a couple mental breakdowns that landed me in the psych ward. I eventually was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and ocd at age eighteen.

My whole teenage years I was using because I wanted to self medicate the feelings of despair and fear away. Going to a doctor when you have a problem, and you don't understand why you feel a certain way is the right thing to do. Think of this scenario...say your son gets to be in his teens and meth comes around. He gets what he needs from it, he can finally focus, he can achieve. He decides to continue doing this because it makes him feel normal. Eventually he gets into trouble because he is getting it from an illicit source and doesn't understand moderation with it. This happened to me, but with opiates. I started young and I achieved so much because my mental health problems were taken care of...however I didn't understand addiction, and I didn't understand why these meds worked and then stopped working. If I had anti depressents, and anxiety meds I could have saved myself years of bullshit that addiction and dependence caused, not to mention I could have actually been working on the problems with a doctor in order to better understand it.

In a nutshell...you are doing the right thing. Follow your doctors orders and as your son gets older you can educate him about his condition and find ways to manage it. School is incredibly important...not just to get a better job, but to have any sort of understanding about social situations, and societal norms. Meds seem to be a boon for your sons education, so stay the course.
 
As much as i hate medicating kids and truely do not believe in it most of the time, if he was hating school and becoming bored with it (which in my experience is what leads to getting in trouble and experimenting with drugs to begin with) but not that you have him on some add meds and they are actually working and he is enjoying school again well that is priceless.

Leave him on the meds until you notice any drug abuse or notice that maybe he isnt taking it anymore but selling it instead. However if the meds seem to be working well i dont see why he would do that at all and so far it seems like something that is 100% effective and helping him in school. That in itself will boost his confidence in himself which will help his school work and grades also.

Seems like a win-win for now. Just monitor his behavior and make sure be isnt selling, stashing, or abusing his meds and everything should be fine.
 
In my opinion all amphetamines are horrible for your body and its worse to give it to a young kid. Kids with adhd never really need any medications. I know lots of kids with adhd who take nothing for it. Not to mention the stress it does to the heart to be all amped up. Pluss when the amphetamines wear off your left feeling all depressed and shit and its harder to sleep.
 
just read the title but as someone who was on amphetamines from age 8-13 (was selling them cause i got tired of the zombie feeling) it is very damaging IMO for a 9 y/o brain to be put on those drugs and it pisses me the fuck off that once you hit adulthood enter wellbutrin. legit pain patients cant get codeine but a 9 y/o can get pharm grade speed. sorry for the rant but the world is a fucked up place.
 
If he starts exhibiting signs of bad side-effects (anxiety, insomnia, lack of appetite, etc) then you might want to reconsider, but if he is doing better with meds than without, i would say you're doing the right thing by him, from what you've told us, anyway.[/QUOTE]

this is why i started selling them at 13 then decided to stop getting them prescribed (didnt have the business mindset i do now) these problems have not gone away since i ceased and im 19 they didnt start until i started ADD meds. now i use opiates and have no problems cept WDs on the weekends.
 
pillman1224 said:
just read the title but as someone who was on amphetamines from age 8-13 (was selling them cause i got tired of the zombie feeling) it is very damaging IMO for a 9 y/o brain to be put on those drugs and it pisses me the fuck off that once you hit adulthood enter wellbutrin. legit pain patients cant get codeine but a 9 y/o can get pharm grade speed. sorry for the rant but the world is a fucked up place.
Click to expand...

I agree with your sentiment 100%. There's no doubt a reason for so-called 'ADD' symptoms. Could be caused by any number of things. But drugs are def not the answer. Many 'ADD' kids are also have celiac disease. I read about a study done in England that showed great improvement in 'ADD' kids when they were taken off gluten.

Really, check out more options. Go on line. Look at alternatives for ADHD and ADD. I know it's tempting to think the drugs fixed the problem. But in reality, they just covered up some symptoms.
 
I have to agree with the OP. About 15 - 20 years ago, my son was having so much trouble with his schoolwork, it was affecting every aspect of his life. What was happening was not getting the job done and could not continue much longer. We looked for help and as it turns out, he was diagnosed with ADHD and was prescribed appropriate meds. He went from getting C's, D's and E's to the Dean's Honor Roll in one semester. He was a totally different student on the meds. It was honestly night and day! You just can't argue with success like that, no matter how much you try. He's now in his mid 30's and doing quite well in life. No drug problems etc. Again, how could anyone question whether it worked for my child or not. Hands down, a major success story!
 
We tried the diet and the therapy prior. He just kept falling behind and hated school. He only takes one pill in the am. Its amazing to see him transform. He is so proud of himself now. He is no longer pulled out of class for special education. As he got older I guess he began to notice the difference and my ex and I went to meetings and fought the child study team for the opportunity for him to be mainstreamed. They disagreed with it but went along with our wishes. We felt the spec ed was putting him behind more and more. He is a twin and has to work a lot harder than his brother for the grades but the meds give him what he needs to have to focus. He knows he has trouble and says it helps him concentrate. He eats and sleeps! He is better in social situations as well. No longer upside down on his chair, bouncing all over knocking thing down spilling and breaking things. He found self control but still has plenty of energy. Plays football and basketball. He is actually part of the team instead of sliding across the court or rolling around the grass! It hasnt changed him in a single negative way. He is thriving this school year.
 
Thank you beachbum... i wish someone was my advocate as a child. Maybe I would have had success instead of failing all of the time no matter how hard I tried. Made me so sad to watch him struggle bc I truly know how devastating it is to fail when u actually study. Eventually you just stop trying. Its too bad he takes after me in the learning disability department but he really is doing great now!
 
Just because a steady supply of drugs is improving doesnt make it good. He needs tl be improving on his own. Not letting drugs do it for him. Is he just gunna be stuck on amps the rest of his life? I would be pissed if my parents gave me amphetamines for my add. Not that im hyper or notice it i was just informed that i have it.
 
justtakethat said:
Just because a steady supply of drugs is improving doesnt make it good. He needs tl be improving on his own. Not letting drugs do it for him. Is he just gunna be stuck on amps the rest of his life? I would be pissed if my parents gave me amphetamines for my add. Not that im hyper or notice it i was just informed that i have it.
Click to expand...

It's not something anyone would take for life for cryin' out loud. My child stopped taking them after a couple years. It's been a decade plus since he's taken anything like that. Man, don't just spout off, know what you're talking about. At least I have some real life experience with this. Geez!
 
If I were you, I would leave no stone unturned in my quest to find the answer to my son’s problems. That will help him more in the long run with other life challenges. I would not drug him. There may be success stories with meds, but that’s not the route I would go.

My son’s best friend was diagnosed with ADHD. But it was celiac disease. Once that problem was addressed, he didn’t need drugs.

Have you really looked at the side effects? Beyond the potential side effects, there are a number of safety concerns associated with the stimulant medications for ADD/ADHD. There’s some scary stuff.
Check out: http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/drug-free-treatment-of-attention-deficit-disorder-add/
 
There’s a lot to consider here I think—quality of life is hard to quantify and weigh against medical risks.

Long-term use of psychostimulants has been related to delayed growth in children and (more tentatively) heart problems. Some other medications (Atomoxetine) can cause liver problems in kids so you might watch out for jaundice etc. I didn’t read the entire paper but thumbing through Graham & Coghill [2008] it seems like most issues for kids result from long-term, uninterrupted use. Anecdotally, my thought would be that early exposure to positive experiences with any substance that has abuse potential might increase the risk of use/abuse/dependence later on as well. Patterns of behavior form early and can often generalize in a way that is surprisingly broad, I think.

Graham, J., Coghill, D. [2008] Adverse Effects of Pharmacotherapies for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Epidemiology, Prevention and Management, 22(3), 213-237.
 
Last edited:
Honestly I believe medicating a kid from such a young age (when the brain is developing) will have it become dependant on the medication. The kid then won't be able to "function" without the medication. It will be a psychological dependence where he will be attached to it believing that things (school, work, sports) can't be accomplished successfully unless he has it. Your kid is still young, try to help him even if he doesn't do too well in school without the medication. When high-school or better yet college rolls around, if he struggled all those years than yes, consider taking the medicine.
 
I can't really say anything in regards to "you should do this" or "you should do that", but I will say that, IN MY OPINION, environmental factors are dominant to genetic factors as far as whether someone's likely to develop a substance use disorder.

Then again there have been plenty of people raised by loving middle class parents (i.e. me!) who turned out to be drug addicts
 
See I'm kinda pissed that my parents did nothing when I was a kid. I wish someone took me to every dr or therapist known to man. I wish someone helped me instead of ignoring my problems and allowing me grow up feeling like a failure. Maybe if I was on a medication that help me suceed I would not have self medicated and would be something today. Instead I struggle and live check to check. I have a college degree actually 6 classes shy of a 2nd BA went to school for MA but struggled terribly to get by. Basically a professional student bc I just couldn't get the grades I needed. So it was not lack of effort on my part. I just can't take tests. I fail them no matter how hard I study. I want him to suceed. I want him to have confidence. now he does.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top