Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD/Gifted-Anyone managing without meds?

I'm just curious how you are managing your 2e child's ADHD without meds. Is it working? What kind of educational environment do you have him/her in? Anything in particular that works well for you? How did you make the decision to not use meds? My son has been on medication for a week, and while we're trying to hang in there and give it a chance, the verdict is still out for us. At this point, I just can't see how he can make it without the medication, but I'd love to know if it's possible if this doesn't work. As always, thank you for your insight and for sharing your experience.

You might want to check out the book...

The N.D.D. Book: How Nutrition Deficit Disorder Affects Your Child's Learning, Behavior, and Health, and What You Can Do About It--Without Drugs by Dr. Sears

It was published in 2009. He isn't totally against meds but focuses on other options first and then talks about how he introduces meds as a next step after other things have been looked at. He is a big advocate of omega-3 but makes other suggestions too. It's a quick, easy read.

We have managed this for many years for D14 without meds. I can't say we have done anything special, although honestly, this first year of high school is making me wonder if we should have tried medication after all. Her disorganization is breathtaking... but she is just so darned smart that she is still able to pull decent grades in spite of it. She attends an independent private school with small class sizes and a liberal arts focus, so there has been plenty of teacher attention, which definitely helped through the years.

We never tried meds, we decided to see if she could be successful without them. I was afraid of dulling that "smart spark". We have never asked for accomodations in the classroom, although this year's math teacher decided on her own to structure D's tests so she only sees one problem per page. It has helped her, so we likely will ask for this in other math classes.

I am having some success with focus factor for kids. At least there are no dangerous elements in it.My 8rr doesn't mind them at all. I also found gummy omega 3 fish oil but just started them.

We also worry about this. I hate the idea of trading brilliant ideas for increased productivity, but something's gotta give. We were at a point where we're the only ones who really get to see what's he's capable of because he just can't harness all those thoughts and ideas. Also, I have heard from gifted adults with ADHD that they weren't able to truly live up to their ability without medication. They had lots of ideas that went nowhere. It's all so confusing.

We're cutting ds's dose in half tomorrow. He's already on the lowest available dosage, so if this works I'll feel better about him at least being on such a low dose. He's so focused, motivated, and independent these days on the medication. I don't want to take that away from him, but I don't see allowing him to stay on something that makes him sad either. Hopefully the lower dose will cut out that side effect. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm also keeping all of these other suggestions in mind just in case (including the small independent private school with small class size-fortunately we have this option as well).

Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

The small, independent private school has had pros and cons. Like I mentioned before, quite a bit of individual attention from very good teachers has been a huge pro. That has not always translated into accelerated subject matter, though. And the smaller pool has fewer kids, so less chance of her finding kids at her level. And small size makes it hard for them to offer as many AP classes as a bigger school. But all in all it has been a good choice.

Thank you. I will keep this in mind. We have a meeting Thursday night at the small private school. We'll be meeting the teacher and other families. I think there will be about 7 students in the class ranging from 1st-3rd grade. My son will be in 2nd next year. They will do a lot of project based learning, and the students are able to work at their own pace. The only other students in the school, about 10, are middle to high school students who do online virtual school with lots of enrichment. It is EXTREMELY small, and this makes us, my ds especially, very reluctant to take this route. Right now, ds6 is in a fabulous Montessori school. He's doing well, so we're not likely to change. But, I always like to have options, so we're going to the meeting just in case. Thank you for sharing your experience!

Where did you find these, and how are they? We just got a bottle of lemon-flavored fish oil at the health food store, but it is not lemony enough to cover up fish and it's still a bit of a trial to get down him. I'm going to keep getting it down him regardless, though, because he seems more mellow and less easily irritated already--it's only been since Friday!

This is not an ADHD thing, BTW, DS7 has Asperger's and some anger issues.

We reduced the Vyvanse to 10 mg (half of the lowest dose available) today. DS6 was as focused as he was on the 20mg but he had no side effects! I'm cautiously optimistic about tomorrow.

I'm also curious about the gummies! I have orange flavored Cod Liver Oil (Omega 3). I think the orange does pretty well covering the fish taste. I know my son would much prefer the gummies!

We just use the gummy fish they sell at Costco. I think they smell bad but ds6 loves them saying they are like eating candy. He won't have anything to do with the Coromega which I think tastes fine so you might just need to try a few things to see what they like (and you can take all the leftover stuff he won't take . So far, ds6 is having better days at school and it's just been a few weeks.