I'm scared to give any other medication with my child's ADHD medication Here at the end of October, we're kicking off cold and flu season and a lot of parents are scared of when their child gets sick because they don't know what to do about giving medication along with the child's stimulant. First of all, if your child's sick enough to be in bed and home from school, they're probably sick enough not to take their stimulant medication. We recommend good hydration and making sure that you treat your child's fever with Tylenol or Motrin or Advil. Those really are okay to give with stimulant medications. The cold and cough medicines are a little more complicated, but I'll give you a good trick. If the medication has just a capital D at the end of it, it's out. It's… Read More »

I've read that ADHD medication can make my acne worse Now that's scary! It's a little less common, but while we're on the subject of skin, let's talk about acne and ADHD medication. Teenage patients certainly fear anything that may make acne worse, and I've noticed that there are several blog posts about acne and ADHD medication. The two aren't likely to be related, but acne is common in teenagers and so is ADHD, so there's going to be some overlap. It's easy to think that perhaps the medication is playing a role. In general, most patients come back and say that their acne has gotten better and worse regardless of their medication, whether they were taking it or whether they were not taking it. I do want to caution parents that there are about three patients that I've seen… Read More »

I'm Afraid that ADHD Medication Will Hurt My Child's Sports Performance I forgot one thing that some parents fear about stimulant medication, and that is that they can sometimes seem to affect sports performance in an adverse way. In general, the medication helps sports performance, and that's why the NCAA and other organizations require that there be an objective diagnosis of ADHD to prevent athletes from getting into trouble with performance enhancement charges when they're taking stimulant medication. But sometimes patients tell me that they're perhaps a little slower to the ball, or just not as, don't feel as athletic when they're on the medication. Again this is unusual, but it does occur, and I think it generally suggests what we've been saying all along this month, and that is if that's the case, it's likely to be the wrong… Read More »

"I've heard ADHD Medication Horror Stories from My Family and Friends" Another reason that parents fear medication is the horror stories they hear from all of their friends and relations. We've discussed it before but it bears repeating. There are lots of horror stories out there, I've shared some pretty scary ones with you, but you may have family and friends that have had bad experience with stimulant medications. Unfortunately these medications are not always used correctly, and we can certainly see that this leads to some scary results. But again, that has nothing to do with how your child will react to stimulant medications, especially if you find a provider who is skilled with their use and how to use them. So don't let someone else's scary experience keep you from willing to try medication that could be life… Read More »

Medication Makes My Child Fearful So, as we come to Halloween what if the medication makes your child fearful? And this can occur. One of the problems with overmedication with stimulants is that it can lead to sort of a paranoid or phobic behavior where children become afraid of things that ordinarily wouldn't bother them, like bugs, or bees, or being outside alone. We certainly don't want the stimulant medication to make your child more withdrawn because of fear or paranoia. This is almost always due to too much medication. And you should let your provider know right away if these symptoms ensue. Unusual thoughts or feelings they're being laughed at or that they seem to be a little bit paranoid that people are looking at them are symptoms that can signal too much medication or perhaps the wrong medication.… Read More »