Question
Dr.Braccio: Our pediatrician referred us to get a full psycho-educational assessment for possible mersin escort bayan ADD when we and the school noticed our son could not pay attention and was having problems at home and school. We had the assessment and he was diagnosed with AD/HD with Depression. This was surprising until we realized he has been down because of criticism he is getting at home and school. We’re going to now meet with the pediatrician but do not know what questions to ask. We feel he may need medication but are a little afraid. What should we ask and what is appropriate. We worry we could get the pediatrician upset if we ask too many questions.
Answer
It is fully appropriate to ask your pediatrician about medication. The pediatrician will most likely be impressed with the effort you have put into your questions. It also is true that parents must never have a child take medication without knowing enough about it to be comfortable. Risks need to be known and benefits need to greatly offset them.
It is a common for there to be other comorbid conditions with AD/HD. Depression with AD/HD can be as high as 20%. Your pediatrician can best help you determine the impact each condition has on the other. With or without medication, sometimes it takes awhile to determine if the Depression or AD/HD is primary and causing the other symptoms to occur. Sometimes each condition is separate from each other and other times one or the other enhances the other condition.
To begin with, make sure the pediatrician explains the diagnosis fully. In this case, it is both AD/HD and Depression. Ask as many question as you need to about the diagnosis to make sure you are comfortable with your understanding.
The following are some good basic questions to ask:
- Can you explain how the Depression and AD/HD interact and what relationship, if any, they have with each other?
- Could the Depression cause the AD/HD features or vice versa?
- What medication or medications are prescribed and how do they work on the body?
- How soon might we see an improvement?
- How often does our son take the medication?
- How will it be decided to change the dosage, end the medication or try another medication?
- What are the negative side effects of the medications?
- What happens if my child misses a dose or does not take it?
- Have there been studies done on the medication(s) with persons the age of my child?
- What do we do if we see changes we are concerned about?