6 year old son, mood disorder, out of control anger

[Amy Stanfield]

Someone help me. My son is 6 and was diagnosed with a mood disorder at age 3. He's also ADHD. But cannot handle the typical stimulants well. He has extreme anger outbursts, at me, my mom, his brothers, (age 2, 4) his teachers and classmates. He is obsessing over his action figures, trying to tape bits of grass to make tails on them, to modify them in any way. When this is not to his idea of perfection, he loses it. Throws things, screams, blames everyone else. At times when he is obviously disturbed and "about to blow", the slightest noise, or movement by someone, sends him over the edge. All this culminates into everyone that comes in contact with him, walking on eggshells. His father died 2 years ago and I am raising the 3 boys on my own. I am terrified as to what the future holds for him, socially, if he cannot get control. We have tried so many meds, I cant remember them all. I wonder if I should forget his Psychiatrist and go to a Neurologist. HELP!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Ms. Stanfield,

For the sake of ruling out any neurological disorder, such as seizure disorder, an examination (including, perhaps, EEG), is a good idea. However, your description doesn't immediately call to mind a seizure disorder, particularly in light of the clear psychosocial precipitants to your son's out of control behavior.

[Amy Stanfield]

Thank you for replying. He has had a EEG and it was normal. Any other ideas? He is taking Adderal for ADHD, which causes the tendency to obsess over things more apparent. He takes Celexa for depression and Risperdal for temper. Can you offer any other advice on new medicine for the anger. I cant seem to be comfortable with the Psychiatrist's wait and see attitude. I am very afraid of sending him to school everyday.
Thanks again

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Ms. Stanfield,

Medication in instances where more than one condition is present can be a challenge. It's not unusual to attempt a number of plans before locating the most helpful combination of medications.

The plan your doctor is pursuing is certainly very reasonable. Perhaps what will happen is that the doses will be adjusted, rather than switching the meds again.

[r.mcleod]

my son was dinosed with a.d.h.d at 5 years old. We have had him on medication for 2.5 years.he has just been taken off and I am now experiating very bad behaviours i haven,t had before. he has 2 preschool sisters and is not a very nice person. he now at 7 gets very aggressive and agurermental.I now have very good surport from the family doctor and a lady from a surport group.She recommented a book called a volcano in my tummy by eliane whitehouse&warwick pudney. I am finding it a interesting book.Its a book about helping children to handle anger. I hope to talk to you again soon .my e mail address is r.mcleodxtra.co.nz

[r.mcleod]

my son was dinosed with a.d.h.d at 5 years old. We have had him on medication for 2.5 years.he has just been taken off and I am now experiating very bad behaviours i haven,t had before. he has 2 preschool sisters and is not a very nice person. he now at 7 gets very aggressive and agurermental.I now have very good support from the family doctor and a lady from a surport group.She recommented a book called a volcano in my tummy by eliane whitehouse&warwick pudney. I am finding it a interesting book.Its a book about helping children to handle anger. I hope to talk to you again soon .my e mail address is r.***@****

[[e-mail]]

We have a daughter 9 on depakote sprinkles.  She has become ver difficult, at times hitting and punching teachers, parents and others. She is up and down much like effect of "speed drugs". The up side is hyper and the down side is terrible,  but seizures keep us fron changing the meds. Is there and alternative? Our daughter was always sweet prior to this drug.  Help!

Terry

[mavis]

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[Anne]

I know how you feel all of you.  I have a son who just turned 17 and he has so many anger outbursts and does a lot of things compulsive. His father and I have had to go through years of hell.  He was seen by doctors who said he has add. Now as he has gotten older I can see he might have maybe borderline personalily or bipolar.  It has gotten a little better, we have our ups and downs.  I have taken him out of school and am homeschooling him which has made a world of difference!  Hang in there and with a lot of prayers and talking and getting involved with other parents it can and will get better.

[Lucie]

Ms Stanfield,  I hope you are not taking responsability for your child's behavior. Anger attacks is a mood disorder that is easily treated with medication. No need of a psychiatrist, if your you have a good gp. The most common anti depressant used for this kind of disorder is zoloft. Not as addictive as prozac, the body flushes it faster, meaning less side effects and toxines. Don't be scared of saying anti depressant... Anger attacks are often cause by depression. The fact that your son is living with the lost of his father is enough to make him very depressed. If you add counselling (psychotherapy)bonus for your son! I can sympathize with your situation. Mood disorder is running in my family. I have anger attacks since i was about 5... I'm 25 now. As a parent, don't ever think he hates you cause he doesn't. Just try to see what triggers those attacks, in order to know when to expect an outburst... Bye for now, sincerly, lucie

[Lucie]

Ms Stanfield,  I hope you are not taking responsability for your child's behavior. Anger attacks is a mood disorder that is easily treated with medication. No need of a psychiatrist, if your you have a good gp. The most common anti depressant used for this kind of disorder is zoloft. Not as addictive as prozac, the body flushes it faster, meaning less side effects and toxines. Don't be scared of saying anti depressant... Anger attacks are often cause by depression. The fact that your son is living with the lost of his father is enough to make him very depressed. If you add counselling (psychotherapy)bonus for your son! I can sympathize with your situation. Mood disorder is running in my family. I have anger attacks since i was about 5... I'm 25 now. As a parent, don't ever think he hates you cause he doesn't. Just try to see what triggers those attacks, in order to know when to expect an outburst... Bye for now, sincerly, lucie

[Kyle's Mom]

Try changing his diet by eliminating all artificial dyes, flavors and preservatives.  No Jell-O, Kool-Aid and 99% of candy.  Cook from scratch and use no preprocessed foods.  Limit sugar, sodas, juices, and chocolate.  No junk food - only raw vegetables and fruits for snacks.  Give him a good mulitvitamin with no artificial ingredients.  Do this for two weeks and see if his behavior improves.  Try adding essential fatty acids too (Omega-3 and Omega-6) plus DHA.  

I hate seeing a child so young on medications, since NONE of them are approved for kids under 6 and most have terrible side effects.

[kimberly snow]

my child has shown the same traits and in addition to being ADD she was recently diagnosed...ODD...Oppositional Defient Disorder...for which there is medication and behavior modification to use, I find the best is to completly ignore her, that is if she or nobody is going to get hurt...example...If she asks a question and I don't give the answer she wants, all hell can break lose...smart mouth, throw things...etc...I walk away or never look at her and say nothing, they seem to get shorter and shorter and then when she does do what my answer was, i praise her somehow....give it a try...keep in mind it doesn't work if you don't do it constantly....i figured that out real quik!

[Robert]

help my son is out of control he was dianosed with ADHD and he won't listen to my wife or myself he beats on his sister he lies to us about someone hurting him.
He thinks everything is funny and I need to know what I can do hi is on riddlen for his ADHD and refuses to take it.
He screems and yells when he is told to do anything including his homework,shower,or even goto bed I am at my loose end.
My wife is ready to take our youngest son of 16months and our daughter of 6 and leave is there help out there somewhere.

[Ted]

You could investigate if a glutenfree and dairyfree(gfcf) diet will help improve the situation. There are a number of discussion groups on the internet. I would also agree with one of the other posters that you should eliminate over a period of times in addition to gfcg most artificial additives,colours flavour sulphites and sugars. Sugars come in many forms. A good book to read would be also Potatoes not Prozac. Any change in diet should be planned and considered with the help of proffesional medical supervision. I would suggest to search for a medical proffesional who is trained and knowledgebal in alternative approaches to heavy medicines.

[BILLEY BOB]

I KNOW HOW YOU FELL MY SON HAS THE SAME THING

[Chantal]

My son is 7 years old and has just been diagnosed with ODD (Oppositional Defient Disorder).  Is there any way to treat this at all.  I'm single mother, 25, who works full time at a career.  I've worked to hard to get this far but I feel like a complete failure because of my son's behaviour.  People assume that it's because I'm a young single mother.

Help!  When he is alone at home, he plays with his toys, watches movies, does crafts, etc...  But as soon as someone disrupts what he is doing or someone speaks in the wrong tone of voice to him, he freaks out.  He's splapped me in the face, he kicks, he yells, etc...  What can I do, I've seen social workers, child psychologists, etc...

Can anyone offer suggestions????  Thank you,  Chantal

[tim burns]

hi
my name is tim i used to be on riddlen i am now 14 i used to be that way i would never take my riddlen it would make me never eat
and always want to sleep i lost alot of weight so my stepdad came along and wanted to know what they felt like so he took one and he dident like so he took me off them without telling the doctor then i startred being bad so my mom made a rule for every 2 days i was good i would get a new to and eventaly i was starting to be good so try that with him and after awile my grampa died and i was acting weird so they put me on wellbutranso that is about as much as i can tell you

[love123]

A related discussion, my 6 year old son is showing signs of behavior problems??? was started.

[LuLuChanel]

A related discussion, Child behavior was started.