The Forums › Forums › Medication › Is the effect of caffeine similar to a stimulant medication?
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February 25, 2012 at 3:20 am #112445
Hiya
It’s worth looking at how giftedness can appear very like ADHD – and if it’s both ADD and high IQ that are causing the behaviours you’re seeing you’ll have much more success if you are able to deal with both issues together.
Have a look at Dabrowski’s overexcitabilities and the SENGifted website for some more info.
As for caffeine, I think it’s a bit hit and miss personally. I like how it makes me feel to begin with and quickly take too much because I seem to feel that ‘just a little more would make me concentrate better’ and then I’m weepy and bad tempered when I come down from it.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 4:53 pm #112446
AnonymousInactiveFebruary 25, 2012 at 4:53 pmPost count: 14413Wow! Tiddler, you gave me yet another perspective on this unique child. He fits most of the characteristics of Dabrowski’s overexcitabilities. This child (who will be 7 in 5 days) reads adult material and can carry on very involved discussions of historical topics that interest him. He can’t write (he reverses letters and numbers, and sometimes writes them upside down) and gets so frustrated he gives up. But his reading and verbal skills are off the charts. He focuses very well when he is stimulated by an activity that interests him.
I will continue to address the vestibular deficiencies (he shows weekly improvement from the exercises) and continue to support his intellectual development. I am glad I am in a position to home school him, as even pre-kindergarten (his only attempt at public school) was dismal. When he took a satellite image of Antarctica for his “A” homework (and he knew exactly what the image was before I told him), the teacher asked me to send pictures the other children could relate to. I believe he is going to be a quite high functioning adult.
btw, he asked for a trumpet at age 5, and when I found a good used one on Ebay, he blew notes within 5 minutes. He has the energy of a rock star. We had to temporarily stop lessons while his front permanent teeth grew in.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 5:05 pm #112447Okay, it sounds like there’s no doubt he’s a gifted child. He may have a learning difference too like dyslexia for example and this can make the overexcitabilities seem even more obvious.
Also, it could be straightforward asynchronous development – where parts of the child’s brain develop at a much faster rate than others and some parts seem to lag behind their peers.
You will need someone who understands all this to be able to diagnose him properly. It could be BOTH AS and ADHD AND dyslexia. This would be called a multiple exceptionality. (More than one difference.)
The book you REALLy need is Misdiagnosis and Dual diagnosis of gifted children and adults. And maybe have a word with someone at SENG for some help with where to go next.
Good luck ad keep us posted.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 5:48 pm #112448
AnonymousInactiveFebruary 25, 2012 at 5:48 pmPost count: 14413I found a used copy of this book on Amazon. I look forward to reading it.
We live in the mountains of North Carolina, and there is not a really good facility to take him to. Our family doctor (my doctor for over 20 years) has said more than once to use my mother’s intuition. My intuition tells me that the prenatal cocaine exposure (I adopted him) did cause something to develop out of the norm. I did some reading and suspected a vestibular disorder, and found a pediatric OT with over 30 years of experience with this. Our family doctor gladly wrote the prescription for the boy to be evaluated by this woman, and my suspicion was confirmed. I drove two hours each way for that 5 hour evaluation. Whatever else might be going on, that evaluation and further consultation with this “expert” at least started getting his vestibular system on track (though we still have a way to go).
I wish we lived close to Dr. Hallowell, but New York is too far away. Hopefully the book you recommend will help my intuition.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 7:33 pm #112449Good luck, Joyce. We drove to the other side of the country for our son’s diagnosis and stayed overnight. It was well worth it. To work with someone who understands how complex this can be is so important yet can be so difficult to find.
He was given the Weschler scale for children. It tested verbal IQ and practical ability, broken into subtests to enable specific strengths and weaknesses to be shown. My son is highly gifted but he ranged from being in the top 0.1% on verbal skills to being in the bottom 10% on some of the practical stuff, demonstrating his visual attention and motor skill problems quite clearly.
Such a huge discrepancy between abilities and problems can cause a lot of behaviours that look very much like ADD or asperger’s. However, I suspect that in time my son will probably be diagnosed with ADHD too. Until he’s in a position where school will actually deal with the asynchronous development and he’s being challenged enough in class it’s impossible to work out though, so we’re in a sort of limbo at the moment.
Complicated isn’t it! good luck with your lovely boy.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 9:10 pm #112450
AnonymousInactiveFebruary 25, 2012 at 9:10 pmPost count: 14413Tiddler, how old is your son now? And where did you go for a good evaluation?
The Weschler was attempted on my son last fall, but he would not cooperate enough to get a full scale IQ. In fact, he acted out severely when he felt frustrated (throwing markers, crawling under the table). Each subtest started easy, then progressed until the child could not do the task. His frustration tolerance is so low he did not want any more of that stuff. Still, the subtests that were given showed the kind of range your son did.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 9:17 pm #112451He’s 8 now. He was 5 at the time. He too got up and moved around, danced about during the test and acted out some of the answers. She took all this in her stride. I’m in England.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 9:24 pm #112452These people might be able to help. http://www.sengifted.org/about-seng/people/board-of-directors
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 25, 2012 at 9:25 pm #112453Or here http://www.nagc.org/
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 26, 2012 at 6:18 pm #112454@Joyce63. Good luck, I can’t comment at all on vestibular symptoms vs. ADD, but I do wish you good luck – and you deserve a pat on the back for being such a caring and dedicated parent. I hope you find resolution quickly, and it’s encouraging you see some progress already. Cheers, Jim
REPORT ABUSEApril 26, 2012 at 4:54 pm #112455
AnonymousInactiveApril 26, 2012 at 4:54 pmPost count: 14413It seems like many people I know who are “ADHD” are caffeine addicts and can drink coffee well into the night without having any trouble sleeping. I’m one of those people. . . So I do think there is a correlation between caffeine and focus obviously since it’s a pretty common thing for people to drink coffee in the morning.
Anyway, I believe your child is being a child. I don’t think any child should be medicated with a stimulant. I am not sure what the longterm effects are of a child born cocaine positive so maybe stimulants are good for babies born with stimulants in their system. . . Have you tried enrolling him in a class like martial arts, gymnastics, or some type of activity that allows him to release his aggression?
REPORT ABUSEApril 27, 2012 at 4:17 pm #112456Joyce63: I am so happy to tell you that it has been shown that there is no causal link between prenatal cocaine exposure and mental disorders. None. So you don’t have to worry about that being a factor any more. I’m frankly surprised your doctor didn’t tell you this.
REPORT ABUSEApril 27, 2012 at 5:35 pm #112457Who funded the study showing that ” there is no causal link between prenatal cocaine exposure and mental disorders?” The Cocaine Suppliers International?
REPORT ABUSEApril 29, 2012 at 9:19 am #112458http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2005/07_30/2_feature04_13.html
Essentially, PCE is linked to some changes in the brain and mental disorders but not causally linked. More recent studies like the one above are exposing flaws in the methodology of earlier studies about PCE.
In the case of ADHD, it has become clear that PCE does not in fact cause ADHD and the link in that case is due to the mother’s other lifestyle choices (cigarettes, alcohol, poor diet etc.). You can see Dr. Russell Barkley mention this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d1SwUXMc0 Go to 37 minutes in. He explains those other factors.
So yes, it is concerning that Joyce36’s child’s mother used cocaine while pregnant. Without knowing the mother’s other habits, however; I think it still comforting to know that the prenatal cocaine itself is not something to be overly worried about.
REPORT ABUSEApril 29, 2012 at 10:20 am #112459Er, I didn’t mean “not overly worried about”. I mean it’s not as bad as it may seem!
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