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For many families medication is a necessary option to treat the symptoms of ADHD. In this instance, you would contact your pediatrician, your child’s psychologist or your pediatric neurologist to help abate some of the symptoms of ADHD. It’s really important to sit down with this professional and ask questions about positive outcome, about potential side effects and how well your child can tolerate these medications. Typically for ADHD, the medications of choice are stimulant medications and non-stimulant medications. Some of the more common stimulant medications include Ritalin, and Dexadrine, and Adderal, or Focalin or Vyvanse. And some of these are long lasting long acting medications and some are very short acting. Often, your medical doctor will use some of these medications in combination to best help your child. Sometimes children can’t tolerate the side effects of the stimulant medications, so your medical professional may suggest something that’s a non-stimulant. Stratera is a popular brand of medication. One thing that I always tell parents that’s very important, if you’re trying medication with your child, stay in very close contact with your medical doctor. And make sure if there are any changes in your child’s behavior or symptoms, that you immediately let them know. Also, teachers and other adults that are working with your child are very good sources of information to let you know whether your child’s symptoms have actually improved or if there are some other issues that need to be addressed. While there are many medication options to treat ADHD, it’s really important that parents consider what we’ve said here and discuss the treatment strategies with their medical doctor.
