How Best to Treat Preschoolers With ADHD?

How Best to Treat Preschoolers With ADHD? The Harvard Mental Health Letter Discusses the Options

Preschoolers? 3 to 5 years old, being diagnosed with ADHD, and treated with Ritalin? How do they get an accurate diagnosis on a 3 year old? And is anyone else scared to death with the thought of prescribing psych medications to a 3 year old?

Atypical Antipsychotics Discussion

A controversial topic here, and I’m not taking sides one way or the other.

Who out there can claim a significant increase in quality of life based on the use of atypical antipsychotics? Atypical antipsychotics include the following medications:

Clozapine (Clozaril)
Risperidone (Risperdal)
Olanzapine (Zyprexa)
Quetiapine (Seroquel)
Ziprasidone (Geodon)
Aripiprazole (Abilify)
Paliperidone (Invega)
Sertindole (Serlect)
Zotepine
Amisulpride
Melperone

Almost all of us can point to negative affects from these medications. Weight gain, long-term health issues such as diabetes or thyroid problems, trembling hands, involuntary muscle movements, and other side effects. But I’m wondering if positive stories outweigh negative where atypicals are concerned.

Next, and don’t bite my head off here, if you need atypicals for occasional relief from anxiety, stress, or mania, would something else, perhaps even marijuana, give any temporary relief?

Next, are you on one of the bipolar disorder maintenance medications? I only know of 2 meds approved by the FDA for maintenance of bipolar disorder, Lithium and Lamictal. If you are not on one of these maintenance meds, is there a reason? Would they, perhaps, be ineffective against the particular flavor of bipolar disorder you have?

Please don’t think this will be used as a condemnation of psych meds, most of you know me better than that. I am truly interested in the responses, and plan to write about these responses, whichever side they fall on.

I would appreciate if you would fill out the polls then leave a comment with your honest response. I’m not interested in a laundry list of the meds you’ve been on, most of us have a long list. I’m interested in whether or not you’ve taken atypicals, and what atypicals have made an actual improvement in your quality of life. Don’t hesitate to answer anonymously if you would rather not be recognized. And please pass this link along to others so they can add their responses. It would be great to have a large number of responses so we can all benefit from this information.

Update: I've moved the polls to the right sidebar