What is ADHD?
What is ADHD?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects people’s behaviour, and also describes a neurodivergent pattern of brain development and thinking. ADHD can affect a child/ young person’s concentration and focus, physical activity levels and ability to control sudden urges and impulses. People with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse.
ADHD tends to be categorised into three main types:
Inattentive– people with this type of ADHD can find concentrating difficult, especially if it is not something of interest to them. Listening and processing information is also hard. They can be very easily distracted, as their brains find something more interesting to concentrate on, or they try to process what is going on around them. They can appear disorganised and forgetful or that they are constantly losing things.
Hyperactive and impulsive – people with hyperactive and impulsive ADHD can be very physically active. They may fidget, fiddle or move around a lot and struggle to sit still. They are often described as being full of energy. This goes hand in hand with impulsivity so they may also speak or act without thinking, and may find it difficult to wait in line or wait their turn.
Combined – this type is a mixture of the two others. Most people have traits that fall into both areas and identify with the combined type of ADHD.
Living with an ADHD brain can be difficult but it can also come with strengths. A person with ADHD is often very enthusiastic and energetic. They are often able to hyperfocus on topics of interest and are can be very creative in their approaches to tasks and activities.
ADHD medication information for parents Click to Toggle
Managing ADHD symptoms can be tiring and working hard to maintain concentration can be exhausting for the young person.
Medication which primarily helps concentration (slowing down brain, clearing fog, making it easier to manage distractions etc) can also help slow down overactivity and impulsivity by giving the young person a bit more thinking time. Medication is not trying to change orsedate the young person.
Medication is short acting. It is in and out of the body in the same day. We follow NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines regarding ADHD medication.
There are two different types of medications. These are stimulant and non-stimulant medications.
Usually, first line treatment is a stimulant medication called methylphenidate (e.g Ritalin, Concerta, Medikinet). This is usually effective in around 80% of children.
If this treatment doesn’t work for the individual, we can try a different stimulant medication called Lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse).
If both of these options aren’t working we can try non stimulants, these are not short acting and take longer to work (2-4 weeks).
It can take some trial-and-error to find a medication that suits the individual. This may take a few months depending on the person’s response to the medication.
For younger children (under 9), we usually recommend immediate release medication. For ages 9-11, we normally recommend either immediate release or prolonged release medication. For individuals over 11 years, we would consider prolonged release medication.
Prolonged release medication can work for around 6-8 hours (e.g Medikinet) or 10-12 hours (e.g Concerta). We are unable to give an exact amount of time that the medication will work for as it depends on many factors, such as the young person’s metabolism.
Common side effects of medication:
- Sleep: Stimulants can make sleep worse. However, sometimes treating ADHD can improve sleep. Often you need to just try and see. A clinician is likely to explore with you what is the young person’s sleep like currently.
- Appetite: Stimulants can worsen appetite. We will monitor height and weight at the start of treatment and then at regular intervals throughout treatment. We will plot this on a chart which shows an individual’s growth rate, to make sure the young person is still growing as we would expect We are also likely to ask about current appetite and eating habits so we can monitor any changes.
Medication choice is dependent on many different factors such as current appetite, sleep patterns, patient lifestyle and choice (e.g if a child or young person has a long commute to school or extra curricular activities after school that need concentration.)
It is likely that, to begin with, we will advise the medication to be taken every day for first couple of weeks so the effects of the medication can be seen. It can be hard for parents to get a good idea of what the medication is doing on a school day when the child is not at home. After the individual is settled with the medication, they don’t have to take the medication every day (especially if the young person is experiencing a loss of appetite – omitting it on weekends/holidays can give catch up eating/growth time).
To begin with it is likely that the individual will receive a month’s prescription and will then have a follow up appointment in around a months time to see how the medication is working.
It can take some time to get the dose of medication right and it’s possible that you may not notice any difference the first time round.on the first attempt. We will work together to get the best dose which balances improvement in concentration with minimal side effects.
To begin with we’ll make sure we measure the individuals Blood pressure, weight, Heart rate and height once a month. Once the medication is regular in the individuals daily routine this will then move to every three months if under 12 years old and 6 months if over 12 years old.
We hold a drop-in clinic on a Thursday at Hillbrook, 13:00 to 16:00 and a Fridays at Fieldhead, 09:30 to 13:00, where someone can take these measurements for you.
You can come in before the medication review appointment to have these done. Please allow enough time before the review appointment.
We will ask the individual and their carer to report back to us at a review meeting to tell us how effective the medication has been and will ask school as well.
Further information on ADHD medication Click to Toggle
- Youtube videos on ADHD medication : youthmed.info
- Methylphenidate for ADHD – Medicines For Children
- Lisdexamfetamine for ADHD – Medicines For Children
Useful websites and groups Click to Toggle
Child and Adolescent Mental Health service (CAMHS) – useful information – BDCT
ADDISS – 020 895 22800, www.addiss.co.uk
AADDUK – 01934 863 556, www.aadd.org.uk
Complex Minds – 01934 863 556, www.aadd.org.uk
MIND – 0845 766 0163, www.mind.org.uk
Easy Health – Information for parents on adhd
MHST parent support group –mhstparentsupport@bdct.onmicrosoft.com to join the group – monthly group via Zoom
Family Fund– grant for families with children with additional needs
CAMHS – 01274 72324