Sara L

Whenever your child is prescribed a new medication, it’s very normal to worry about side-effects. That goes double when the medication is for something like ADHD, some of which are controlled substances. Here I’ll try to walk you through the common (and manageable) side-effects and what to do about them, and alert you to the rare (but potentially serious ones) that you’ll absolutely need to talk to your health-care provider about. Before we start, it’s important to keep in mind that untreated...

If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD more than likely their healthcare provider has discussed (or should have discussed) whether a stimulant or a non-stimulant would be the best fit for your child’s unique presentation. Each of these two families have their own benefits and side effects making them a good fit for one child, and not a great fit for another. How well do they actually work? This is the question every parent wants answered, and there's a surprisingly clean answer thanks to...

If your child has been on a stimulant for ADHD for a year or two, you have probably already heard the standard reassurances from their prescribing healthcare provider: "It's been studied for decades, it's safe, don't worry." And mostly, that is true. But "mostly safe" is not the same as "no big deal," and the science around what happens after five, ten, or twenty years on a stimulant has gotten a lot more interesting (and a lot more honest) in just the last couple of years. Here is the bottom...