Need advise PLEASE

If you can find a counselor who understands the frustrations surrounding beind ADHD that would probably be a good idea. Start shopping around for one who will work with children and isn’t just going to push for additional medications.

If you are concerned that the medication is having this effect you can try taking him off of it for a challenge and see if this problem clears up. If it does, you will have to have a long chat with your dr. and discuss what options are available to you. If it doesn’t, then it probably isn’t the medication. If you decide to do the challenge it will most likely take more than a couple days for him to adjust to not taking it, so be prepared for a bad week. Suugest if you are going to try a challenge to do so over a school break so his performance there isn’t affected too much.

I would call my doctor, My son who is 6 told people he was going to kill them, we consulted the doctor and had the medication stopped. We are now trying something different.

I would do “something” immediately. It’s not normal for a child to have repeated thoughts like that. Yes, it could be the meds.

If I found something like that written by my daughter, I wouldn’t let it go. But her diagnosis is depression. I would call the doctor immediately, and bring her to the doc ASAP.

There is an extraordinarily high association between ADHD and mental health issues such as depression. In a child, depression often looks like anger or irritability. ANY child who says anything about killing himself presents an EMERGENCY situation. You need to get him to a doctor NOW!!!!! It is far more likely that he is depressed because his ADHD is not being well controlled than because he is reacting to the medication, but you need a doctor to analyze the situation in any event. ACT NOW! I know a 10 year old child who tried to commit suicide. This is not something that will go away.

Hi,
Thanks for the advise. My son has a doctors appointment today at 3:00. Does anyone here have any advise on medications??? Whichs ones work well.

Thanks

The best place for advice about whether your child needs medication and, if so, which medication is the right one for him, is your doctor. Depression does not necessarily require medication to treat. You may wish to first consider cognitive behavioral therapy. You might also check out other threads about recent concerns over the use of SSRI antidepressants. As I posted earlier, the matter is still far from resolved, but there seems to be an association of some sort between SSRI use and agitation or suicidal ideation. How strong a link it is, or whether there even is a true link is still being explored. In any event, you would be wise to ask your doctor about this and to make sure you understand the need to be on the lookout for such developments, should your doctor recommend SSRI treatment. I’m not against choosing medication to treat depression. My husband, who was suicidal, responded quite positively to therapy and an SSRI, as did my depressed teenaged child. Both are well now and continue to take medication without adverse affects. Nonetheless, our doctors fully advised us of the potential risk and your doctor should do so as well.

As other’s have said, yes it is possible that it is the medication. But it is also possible that it stems from somewhere else. My dd never got as far as having any type of idea of how she’d kill herself, she did however say that she thought that things would be better if she wasn’t alive. We decided to treat her with continued counseling, with a change in focus, and medication. We chose Zoloft. Within 9 months she was off medication. She was writing “I love myself” instead of writing her name in a heart, putting a thick black X through it and writing “I hate” above it. She began to have positive things to say about herself and her anger at home (which she never displayed at school or anywhere else) subsided drastically. You need to talk to the Dr about this. My dd was 8 at the time. I have taken care of kids as young as 6 with suicidal ideation. Two years ago a 10 and 15 year old killed themselves in our town. One shot himself, the other hung herself. Last fall a 15 year old shot and killed himself. It’s a very real problem that needs to be addressed. I understand how hard it is to believe that your child could possibly be so depressed that they would consider dying. Kids aren’t supposed to think that way, and certainly not our own children. Initially, I felt like it was completely by fault. But, it wasn’t. Her depression stemmed from the frustration of ADHD. She hated knowing that something was keeping her from learning and attaining skills that her peers seemed to accomplish so easily. She knew she wasn’t stupid, but she felt so very stupid, and helpless and hopeless. At 8, her job in life was to learn. But she couldn’t. I am sure that for ADHDer’s that have more social issues than my dd, that can play as big, and maybe bigger, part in these feelings of worthlessness. It’s a scary situation, but it’s one where it’s better to err on the side of caution.