[kate Johnson]

My son has ADHD and was first prescribed Ritalin on diagnosis when he was 5 and a half when he tried to jump off the school roof and stuck his head in the school pond and tried to inhale the water, when he was on this he started to pull his hair out leaving bald patches all over his head and started pulling out all of his eyelashes and pull the hairs out of his pores in his arms so I told the doctor and he was changed onto Exquasm XL 40mg a day which helped him at school concentrate and they said that they saw his ''spark'' was bk and they hair and eyelash pulling still goes on but less. He is now 11 and they doc has suggested keeping him on the present meds but when he has run out and the prescription has not been ready thus he has had no meds the pulling stopped and he was looking alot healthier but the mood swings and temper and lack of concentration increased seriously! Is it better to have him medicated for the positives of school or to have him unmedicated and have problems that occur though he looks great!? Help!! It kills me to see him so distructive to himself and the onlookers that dont understand label me as a bad parent cause of his bad appearance!?!?

[Italianma]

I send encouragement your way. My son also has ADHD and has so at a young age.. so I can appreciate the struggle you are going through.. esp. when talking meds. What I had to learn about these meds for my Son was that he had to take his meds on a regular basis, even when not in school. It was important for him to have the meds in his system so there would not be so many ups and downs between dosages. But before this point.. we also had to try a variety of meds until we found the right one for him. You want the meds to work enough to where your child has very little symptoms. You also may want to talk to your doctor about there being a possibility of any other issues going on. When my son started meds for ADHD, they did not do all that they should have for him, then we found out through counseling that he also had depression. Once he was treated for both issues, life was better for him and me. Counseling can be a wonderful tool for you and your son. I wish you the best and I hope some of what I said was helpful. Hang in there.

[AniManiac]

Originally Posted by Italianma

You also may want to talk to your doctor about there being a possibility of any other issues going on.

I'd second this suggestion. There can be multiple issues causing problems. I have both ADD and bipolar disorder. A lot of things that I thought were depression and ADD were actually bipolar. A lot of things that I didn't realize were just plain weird behavior were actually symptoms. Looking to see if there are other causes for unusual behavior is probably a good idea.

The hair pulling sounds like an OCD-related condition (trichotillomania) exacerbated by the stimulants. Another thing to consider would be non-stimulant medications like Strattera (I'm not familiar with the one you named.)

[siljie]

Has the hair pulling occured before, or just as he's been taking medications? Just as AniManiac said, trichotillomania could be an issue. I suffered from pretty severe Trich(I would get big bald spots especially when I was stressed) all the way until middle school until I got it under control to less a struggle. This could all be caused by the meds, I strongly suggest trying different medications to see what works for him.

[mduncanmoore]

I have ADHD and never have pulled my hair out... I had a friend in Middle School that did the same thing with her hair. I don't remember what she had that caused her to do so but I do know when she was on her medication it helped her from pulling out hair. She also wore a bandana on her head to help with the hair pulling.

I cannot speak for that part of the problem because I do not know about hair pulling but I can speak for the ADHD part. I am an adult and still struggle when I am off my medication but I have found things that help me that may help your son as well. EATING A LOT! When I am off my medicine if I eat filling foods through out the day I calm down, immensely. It puts me into a bit of a food coma but also helps me sit still.
Also, my Mom rubbed my back, my hands, and my arms and that would calm me down a lot at night. That helped me all through out my child hood and even still calms me as an adult. She would have to rub for a good amount of time until I truly settled down but eventually I would.

I don't know if it will work for you and your family but it could be worth a try.