Adhd Journey Part III - First Dr's Visit

Our pedi, whom I'll miss since he's retiring, never sent Eldest out of the room when it came to talk about her meds. In fact, she's been answering most of the questions since she was around 7. We were lucky that our pedi was also a behavior specialist (whom also had ADHD), as well as our local EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) specialist.

Honestly, a good doc will talk to the kiddo first, then get the parent's take on it. This happens after awhile though, because for starting the doc needs input from both to make an informed decision.

Hiding this from your kiddo, will only instill the idea that something's wrong with him, or that he's broken. That it has to be hidden at all costs. That's actually very counterproductive to helping him manage himself later on in life.

We've been open and honest with Eldest about this since day one. Now she's at the point where if she misses a dose, she knows the tricks to keep herself focused and not climbing the walls, and also knows when to speak up and let everyone know she thinks her meds aren't working for her anymore, or when she needs a booster or minor tweak.

Taking this approach, we've been able to keep Eldest on an extremely low dose. 36mg Concerta. She's in high school now, 5'4" and 119 lbs. That dose shouldn't be working for her according to the "charts" but it is, because we've helped her learn about her condition, and taken steps to help her with additional focusing exercises like breathing techniques.

Good luck!

In my experience, what Nitah T wrote does NOT happen with a pediatrician. At my pediatrician's office, an ADHD appointment is 15-30 minutes max and yes, the child is right there. They do not have space or staff to have a child wait somewhere else while you talk. It's just a different pace and environment from a psychologist's office, where the appointments are 50 minutes and there is a dedicated space for a child to play in your line of vision but outside of his earshot. With my pedi, she read over the parent and teacher paperwork, asked him some questions, read a report from a psychologist (we consulted with one to have a 2nd opinion on his education evaluation from school and he was the one who dx'd ADHD), answered some of our questions, and gave us a prescription for a stimulant, told us what to watch for regarding side effects and scheduled a follow up for 30 days later. It was not a particularly exhaustive process, and there was really no effort to rule out other possible causes. It's a pretty quick, in-and-out, routine thing for them. We chose to not medicate at the time but felt that the follow up at her office would have been adequate (they do weight checks every month, ask about sleep and school work, etc.).

We are pursuing medication for him now that he's older but are going to a psychiatrist for that - he was more thorough than the pedi in that he ordered an EKG before prescribing a stimulant and was more proactive in addressing ways to counter side effects such as insomnia. I also figure that if I have to pay for a monthly office for a check in and re-fill (stimulants can't be on auto fill, you have to get a new prescription every month) I might as well have him get some talk therapy while he's there, which is something that the psychiatrist can do but the pediatrician can't. So just something to think about for the future - if you do find that ADHD is a fitting diagnosis and that medication is the way to go, you may find that as he gets older, having someone to talk to on a regular basis can be an effective way of dealing with some of the stress that comes along with ADHD.

Good luck at your appointment today! I found that having a notebook (it's a section of my paper day planner) with questions, notes from appointments, etc. was helpful in keeping everything together so plan on putting your questions in a place where you can refer back to them at a later time. I didn't do this in the beginning and had trouble consolidating all of my notes later.

What I think is unless your regular ped is a behavioral specialist, he/she might listen intently to your concerns, then refer you to someone who can actually help you with them.

:)

I mentioned our son's symptoms to his pediatrician and was immediately referred on to a specialist.

Keep in mind that ADHD is a brain disorder. It's not like treating a cold. So, while your pediatrician may be a star with regular conditions, you really do want the insights of a specialist when getting a diagnosis and developing a treatment plan. You want to work with someone who's staying up to date on all of the latest ADHD research and treatment options, because it does change.

As far as visits, even with specialists, our son was always in the room. They've wanted him involved. The only time he hasn't been there is when we've gone in as overwhelmed parents asking the therapist for advice to help US.

Good luck! I hope you start to get some answers and get referred to someone, if necessary, who can guide you through the treatment process.

hey, so I have a 8y/o with adhd and recently went for evaluation so here's what usually goes on. The doc will want to see your child first, watch while he/ or she plays while she talks with him / or her, for maybe 20 mins, then the doc will see you, they usually give you and option if you want your kid in the room or not, in my case I requested not, bcuz we know how our kids are. If the doc dont mention anything about ya kid being In the room you can politly request him/or her to wait out .They will have someone watch the child. They also want to see how you and your child interact together while playing, talking, and in diff situations, and how you c hildreact to clean up time and waiting his or her turn, stuff like that. The visit usually last about 1-2 hrs or they break it down into 2 visits. Just an idea on what usually happens, may not be exact. Dont forget to speak up if you dont agree with any diagnosis. They do have the tendency to throw diag around with kids bcuz sometime they are uncertain what the.prob is, because kids can be very tricky. My son was dia with Adhd, mood dis, pdd-nos, odd, ocd, mild retardation, whicj is obvious at the time a 6y/o can not be all those thing, so he was re- evaluated 3time until a get a correct diag nos now at 8ys he is Adhd/ and mood dis. Careful with meds also, you have the right to say no. Good luck and hope all goes well.

The only time our doctor sends the kids out of the room is when he lectures us. Seriously, the last one was lecturing my ex on sex ed support since Genna is 11 and Andy 13.

Otherwise they are always there. This is their life and nothing they should be made to feel ashamed of. Besides the imagination those kids have, I can't even imagine what they would come up with being sent out.

In a pedi's office, your son will probably be right there with you because there's no other place for him to be. Also, your pedi should be able to tell you that your son *might* have ADHD, but will need to refer you to a specialist. Pediatricians aren't trained to diagnose ADHD... I'm not adamant that you don't go there... just want to make sure you know that your son will receive more in depth care (and probably have access to newer techniques and medicines) with a specialist since this is all they do. If your pedi does more than just refer you, it's worth talking to your son in advance so he knows that he's going to be the topic of discussion and that a lot of the discussion will be about the problems he's having at school and home so he doesn't feel bad listening to it all.

When you go visit the specialist, there will be another place for your son to play so he doesn't have to listen to it all twice. Good luck with the appointment today and whatever else the road contains for you guys...