So I had sort of a reality check when seeing Javan’s neurologist (my son).
Years ago he started seeing this specialist due to headaches and after being diagnosed with adhd and anxiety his doctor looked into medication for adhd. Well on yesterday we sat together (me and the neurologist) and read his psychological report and the neurologist broke some things down to me.
On Javan’s report this was one that stuck out the most. “Javan evidences extremely high levels of anxiety and can therefore be expected to suffer from things such as excessive worrying, fears, and self-deprecation.”
So the neurologist told me that prescribing adhd medication isn’t good for someone that suffers from anxiety because that’s what most ADHD meds do, triggers anxiety. Like did anyone know this? It doesn’t say it on the medication either. So times I had my child take adhd meds (which was solely during testing) is when his anxiety was triggered and we really didn’t know. We just took him off because he wasn’t progressing in his educational studies on adhd medication. So now we have to find another route in helping him to focus in school. This is why I got him evaluated for an IEP “Individualized Education Plan”. Hopefully it can help him through his studies. He is now entering High school and this is the time we work as if tomorrow is his last day of High school. College may be in his future!
With ADHD I don’t worry about the hyper part of my son, it’s the focusing. He plays football and all so he needs to focus in full circle, from the school desk, to the football field and even home. His neurologist suggested that he continues to see the psychiatrist. I too will do a little research on helping him with this. As a parent, some of us don’t really pay attention to our kids like a research project. Since the day Javan was born I was so intrigued of all the stages of his health, so I took it upon my self to study him. When he was diagnosed with the A’s (ADHD and Anxiety) I started to pay attention closely to him as well. I started noticing things that made me wonder if he was even autistic. He has sensitivity to certain noise that makes him covers his ears. He fidgets a lot with his fingers, he has OCD and more. The noise part is a sensory disorder that I’ve come to learn about, which also comes with ADHD. His fidgeting is simply a TIC aka Tourette Syndrome. These are all things that schools didn’t understand until I explained it to the teachers because it was a distraction for him. When he’s in trouble or one don’t understand him, it puts him in a mental state where his anxiety is triggered.
The anxiety comes in so many forms with different people. When you say anxiety or panic attack, people automatically think it’s something they can see or it’s noticeable but some aren’t. In Javan’s case, his anxiety comes in shut down forms. There will be moments where you will think the worst of a situation and it can immediately put fear in you. So how do we get past this?
So we stopped the ADHD medication and this is where the researching comes in on what’s best for a child that suffers from both. We can go the natural way, to take something that don’t have side effects or be one with yourself. Start taking over your mind with meditation. Speaking affirmations in the atmosphere. Monique, how can you get a teenager to do that? Lol, it’s gonna take some pushing, prayer, and examples in my house. I suffer from the same things, so I guess I’ll be doing research for the both of us.
So if you or your child suffers from both, study yourself; study them. It helps to know all angles of anxiety and ADHD that way you will know what medication if any is best for you/them. Seeing a professional such as a psychologist won’t be bad as well.
I am a parent advocate for ADHD and Anxiety, follow Javan and I on TikTok (moneek_nicole_and_javan) and if you want more on JAVAN and his special A’s, stay updated by subscribing to his website.