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Hi everyone,

I am in need of some advice/information from those who have been there and
are there. My son is 8yo and has been struggling for the past 5+ years. He
has been diagnosed officially with ADHD, ODD and depression. They are
"observing" him for bipolar disorder. My question is do any of you have
children with the ADHD diagnosis that go through severe mood swings on a
constant basis and/or have depression. The depression is chemical and runs
heavily in our family. The doctors recently prescribed him zoloft, which
honestly don't seem to be helping that much. He was on ritalin once several
years ago - and that route was horrible. I have tried to keep him drug-free,
however his mood swings are turning violent and increasing in self-abuse.
Anyone have any suggestions/ideas????

Loving and desperate mom,
Sheri

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In a message dated 8/3/99 9:29:11 AM PST, SLMICHETTI@... writes:

<< uch. He was on ritalin once several
years ago - and that route was horrible. I have tried to keep him
drug-free,
however his mood swings are turning violent and increasing in self-abuse.
Anyone have any suggestions/ideas????

Loving and desperate mom, >>

Hi Sheri,

I assume you have checked into allergies? Milk allergies are a very big
cause of "Add" diagnosis. Also, allergies can cause depression, as the body
is working hard to get the "chemical" that it is not tolerating out of it's
system. Eating a High Protein, low carbohydrate diet and avoiding artificial
coloring is another thing to look at. There are some wonderful
natural/herbal remedies, helps that can help with depression. One of the
most used is St. John's Wort - although you need to be careful with it. It
doesn't always work on truly clinically depressed people either. There are
some combinations that incorporate several herbs that seem to be more
effective in some people. You can email me privately for more information,
or go to your local health food store and ask to speak with an herbalist.

Mary

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{{{{Sherri}}}}} First of all, let me tell you that I have been there. My
son Adam, now 13, had horrible mood swings, went through bouts with OCD and
depression. At the age of 10 he was hospitalized for depression. He
exhibited suicidal ideation and he was also self-abusing by scratching his
face when he got especially angry. It was horrible, and we went through 5
different medications. The one that worked best for him was Desipramine.
But that drug is not without risks and he needed cardiograms before he could
even be put on it. Now, though, he is off all medications and doing better
being homeschooled than when he was in public school.

By the way, I also suffer from depression, which is greatly helped by Zoloft.

His OCD and depression and moodswings seem to be strongest when he is
stressed, so we try to limit his stressors once we've identified them. He is
much better now, although he still has his moments.. they are definitely
fewer and farther between. Some of that, I supposed, may be do to maturity.
He is no longer on medication, or in therapy, or in school.

So, I don't have the answers, but I can tell you that you are not alone, and
if you can hang in there, it'll probably get better!

Love,
Jill

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Hi!

I'm new to this list (I'll intro later) but I have a friend whose son went
through the same thing. I don't know what all they tried, but the thing she
says finally worked was aromatherapy. I would suggest using it in conjunction
with other treatment -- you might contact a licensed, holistic practitioner.

Alissa

Joel Hawthorne

Is your kid out of school through all of this? I presume because of the list you
are on that he is out of school. I wish I could offer you some assistance but am
at a loss. I ask about school because I know that whatever ails your kid will be
exacerbated by school.

SLMICHETTI@... wrote:

> I am in need of some advice/information from those who have been there and
> are there. My son is 8yo and has been struggling for the past 5+ years. He
> has been diagnosed officially with ADHD, ODD and depression. They are
> "observing" him for bipolar disorder. My question is do any of you have
> children with the ADHD diagnosis that go through severe mood swings on a
> constant basis and/or have depression. The depression is chemical and runs
> heavily in our family. The doctors recently prescribed him zoloft, which
> honestly don't seem to be helping that much. He was on ritalin once several
> years ago - and that route was horrible. I have tried to keep him drug-free,
> however his mood swings are turning violent and increasing in self-abuse.
> Anyone have any suggestions/ideas????
>
> Loving and desperate mom,
> Sheri

--
best wishes
Joel

All children behave as well as they are treated. The Natural Child
Project http://naturalchild.com/home/

Work together to reinvent justice using methods that are fair; which conserve,
restore and even create harmony, equity and good will in society i.e. restorative
justice.
We are the prisoners of the prisoners we have taken - J. Clegg
http://www.cerj.org

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Hi Sheri, I too have a 8 yo son diagnosed with ADHD and ODD. When he was
younger he had more self-destructive mood swings but now it is very
infrequent. I don't know much about bipolar or depression but I do know that
multivitamins and St. John's Wort seems to help him keep things under
control. My prayers are with you! Lori in TX

Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall

>
>I assume you have checked into allergies? Milk allergies are a very big
>cause of "Add" diagnosis. Also, allergies can cause depression, as the body
>is working hard to get the "chemical" that it is not tolerating out of it's
>system. Eating a High Protein, low carbohydrate diet and avoiding
artificial
>coloring is another thing to look at. There are some wonderful
>natural/herbal remedies, helps that can help with depression. One of the
>most used is St. John's Wort - although you need to be careful with it. It
>doesn't always work on truly clinically depressed people either. There are
>some combinations that incorporate several herbs that seem to be more
>effective in some people. You can email me privately for more information,
>or go to your local health food store and ask to speak with an herbalist.
>
>Mary


Discussions on Allergies are always of interest to me because of myself and
my son. I have some preservative allergies, hay fever, asthma and
sensitive skin. My son shares ALL of these, plus pet allergies, spice
allergies, and severe and violent allergies to dairy products, eggs and
nuts. I have always been prone to depression and I wonder if this could be
allergy related (I never heard of that connection before.) My son, being
only two, does not have any labels stuck on him except busy/active. I
wonder, if I was going to send him to PS if he would be labeled as ADD or
with other learning problems. I also wonder how his behavior might be
affected if his allergies were less severe (and therefor less obvious) and
he was on a les limited diet than he is now.

Nanci K. in Idaho