ADHD: Marathon, Not Sprint
ByAs a doctor who regularly assesses and treats ADD/ADHD in my office, I have developed a unique experience about treatment for ADD and ADHD.
Many of my medical colleagues feels that ADHD should be treated as soon as it is diagnosed – i.e. get the kids on medicine. Many of the parents are concerned about using medication, and don’t want to feel rushed.
Long term research indicates that ADHD tends to be present for most of childhood, and upwards of 60-70% of kids and teens still have ADD/ADHD as adults. In other words, this condition is a long term one, which can last into adult life.
From my perspective, it does not benefit anyone to rush a child or family into treatment (ANY treatment, though particularly medicine), when the condition is going to be there for a long time. The risk is that if they are rushed, and don’t feel comfortable with their decisions, families can get completely ‘turned off’ of treatment and they can literally lose years of help (until they ask for it again – often because of worsened circumstances).
My suggestion is that it is better to view ADD/ADHD treatment as a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t rush at the beginning, as you may not have the endurance to make it the distance. Take the time needed to make informed decisions about treatment for this condition, so that the decisions can last the test of time.
Are there times to rush to treatment?
There are a small number of assessments that I do where there is an ‘acute’ problem. For example, every year I get a few referrals for kids who have moderate to severe ADHD, who are about to be expelled from school if they don’t get help in the next few days. In this unique situation, it is best to try medication right away, stabilize the symptoms (and help to prevent a crisis in the school) , and then ‘regroup’, and go over things at a more slow and stable pace.
My advice to you as parents: Take the time you need to understand what you need to regarding the treatment decision that are recommended to you. If you feel rushed and pushed by your doctor, ask your doctor if there is a reason for the rush (i.e. is there a risk that you are unaware of), and then ask politely for more information so that you can make the decision you need to.
Let your doctor know that you consider the treatment of ADD/ADHD to be a marathon, not a sprint – so you need to ‘pace yourself’ appropriately. See what your doctor says…
(and come back and post your comments here to let us know how it goes…)
Best,
Dr. Kenny
Hi Dr. Kenny,
I joined ADHD World through this site as a parent with an ADHD child. I found this article, in particular, hit home. I’ve read so many books and didn’t want to rush my child to medication when teachers & tutoring helped through the middle school years. We tried a med trial in 5th grade and my child did not like the side effects. Now my child is in his 2nd year of HS and after having him meet with a psychologist and follow up with a psychiatric nurse, he feels meds are not for him. He came very close to expulsion and I fear he is experimenting with drugs. Where do I go from here? I can’t make him take meds as a sixteen year old? I told him I feel he might be self-medicating himself and my husband said I had the wrong approach.
What is the right approach?
[...] to alternative treatments. I also share how I think differently about them… I explain that ADHD treatment is like a marathon, not a sprint – so you need to take that into consideration when looking at which treatments to [...]