new here...medication question about ADD + anxiety

My son couldn’t tolerate stimulants (gave him tics) but he did take straterra for several years. It has an anti-anxiety effect and I do think it helped with that.

Thanks—did the Strattera help much with focus, though?

My son had anxiety issues. It is a manifestation of his original disorder which was language delay. The anxiety affected his attention and impulsiveness and atypical behaviors. He was under a magnifying glass for ADHD in kindergarten, first and second grade. He doesn’t have ADHD. He is 8 and has no anxiety issues at all.

In the past, we used Kolonopin which is a muscle relaxer. It is also used for seizures. My son was age 4 and 5 when he used it. My chiropracter also used it when he was going through a divorce. He said he liked it. It’s not as addictive as other inhibitors and you can discontinue easily and the side effects are minimal.

Good luck with your decision. Let us know what works best.

I have had several run ins with Klonopin. I was a guinea pig lab rat for it years ago. It had some nasty spanking side effects, for me. I had trouble with memory related stuff, *AND* I gained over 100 lbs in under 2 months. I wouldn’t put my kid on this drug no matter how much i was payed.

Another run in i have had with it is via my mother. She has been on the stuff now for *years* She *IS* an addict. I am quite sorry to say. Has been eating the stuff like it is bubble gum. The last 2 years, she has been… Not my mother anymore. The drugs have caused her brain to deteriorate. Her cognitive mind is only half functional now. In that, she can’t even remember my birthday. I am her first child. She can’t remember anything. Her office is calling me lately. She used to be extremely high functioning and to a degree still is. She feels these drugs saved her. But the fact is, when she went ont hem she was having a hard time and if she had gotten off them when her hard time had ended, i would have no objections to what she is doing. Klonopin has a side effect on the brain chemistry it is a hell of alot more than just what you are saying a muscle relaxent (that is what tylenol is and if you want that effect give your kid to tylenols a day and leave the psychotropics out of it.) It is also not just a seizure medication… It effects a number of different chemicals and more importantly the chemical reaction in the brain is a very feel good feel better reaction which in itself is not a bad thing but if you sit there and say it isn’t addictive welll my mother is living proof that is lies. And there are MANY others. People stay on it while it destroys their memories, my mom is like an early onset altzheimers patient int he earlyish throws of the disease. Still has some good days but over all… Her brain is mush…. She can’t even remember her Ex husbands name half the time. They were married for 30ish years. Don’t think this drug can do no damage it is as destructive as the rest and should NEVER in my non expert opinion be given to anyone under the age of 25. I was put on it to fix the effects of the paxil i should never have been put on and when that still didnt help they added another drug to the cocktail and another and then another and then another…. These drugs are NOT good things. Sure some of them may help a bit for a little while and if used that way by competent people who fully understand everything related to the brain and to the drugs maybe not a bad thing at all. But no such person exists in this day and age and using these drugs on children… Is… Well, i consider it cruelty myself. Cruelty committed with the best of intentions….

I realize you only want to help your child pumping the brain of of chemicals that have had these effects on others, I don’t know your child but i would suspect, that perhaps before you go this medication rroute it may be more healthy to consider look into and to try on a longer term basis alternatives to medication.

For example, what do you know about herbalism? Vallerian is a great thing, it is a bit of a downer in a sense it is 1 small chemical process away from being valium. Where did you think Valium got it’s name? Chamomile, now there is a muscle and body mind and soul relaxent…. Maybe try a few cups of that a day? Or you could add upto and NEVER to exceed more than 1 leaf of skullcap to be mixed with chamomile which you can use as frequently as you like. It has a *safe* soothing calming effect. I have also seen teas made from cat nip work wonders on ADHD. But instead of experimenting on this they would rather crank out stuff they dont understand and experiment on children without the civil liberties to say no. If you wish to use catnip tea i would go see an herbalist with your kid as well as for the skullcap but beffore turning to that extreme i would start with just giving chamomile tea a shot. Start with the most mild fix it and work your way through and see where or what is *really* needed to fix your kid. All those drugs they cook up in labs… There is not 1 of them that does not originate in and is not based on something already found in nature usually in a plant that they just recreate in laboratories and ofcourse they make it from non natural materials then they make it excessively strong and then they use it to nuke the system. The more we drug the more we become immune to the drugs. What happens when the drugs stop working? There is a time and a place for everything including drugs, but is that time and place really at the start of everything or might it be after every other conceivable and inconceivable option has been tested maximized on used, for some time to try to get a result and when all else fails ya turn to the drug. I think start with valerian it will be a calmant as is the klonopin in the case of aniety it is natural and it will not fry your child’s brain. Good luck!

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I have never used Klonopin but members of the Benzo withdrawal forum I belong to who use the med would beg to differ greatly about being able to discontinue the med easily.

Also, this article mentions the experience of someone having a hellish time getting off of the drug.

http://www.anythingtostopthepain.com/2008/12/02/benzos-from-abc-news/

PT

Margaret7, go to http://millermom.proboards107.com/index.cgi

You will find supportive and knowledgeable members there.

Oh and if you are looking for a muscle relaxant, i might consider a bath in epsom salts foor 20 minutes a day that is also incedible turns your whole body to jello., Or, there is always white willow bark which in small small amounts and with the apropriate over sight of an herbalist you could mix in with the valerian and chamomile tea. The effect would surpass soothing as it is a pain reliever it is the same thing that tylenol is based on and as such that would make it to a degree also a you got it muscle relaxant. In case youa re wondering, Yes i have studied these herbs and many many mnay more since my early teens. At 15, the neighbor would have died, accept i was there with my apothecary. He is still alive today. Heart attack. I fed him a poisonous herb with the effect of slowing the heart, I did it, because i wanted to keep him alive till the ambulance got there slowing his heart with that kind of heart attack, also helped to regulate it. I knew what i had given him and exactly how much. They were able to counter the effects on the ambulance. It isn’t hard it is actually a standard thing they carry on the ambulance… But without me and my herb garden, the extra few minutes he needed… He wouldn’t have had and he wouldn’t be alive today or so his doctors told his family. My point is, these herbs we are so easy to dismiss are as real chemically as these medications. But they are natural, nd because of the other chemicals they exist with etc they are safer for our systems than the drugs we are always taking. They are NOT placebos. They can kill, and they can save lives and they can alter brain chemistry why not try them before nuking the system with some harsh half understood chemical created in a lab?