[bellerd]

My 9 yr old son has recently been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. There has been mention of medication, which I'm not thrilled about. Does anyone know of any homepathic or natural alternatives?

[babydawn]

A good friend of mine is really into the homeopathic stuff and she has found a doctor, a licensed MD that deals with both homeopathic and regular mainstream medications. Maybe you can find a doctor in your area that does the same type of thing. They are out there.

[annharth]

I am quite interested in this subject as I've worked with children with special needs for years. It's hard to give any advice without actually knowing the child and the reasons for this diagnosis. I hadn't heard of Oppositional Defiance Disorder and just did a quick search. If you are concerned about medication, I guess the best thing you can do is to make sure that nothing else will work. If it were my child, I would rule out everything else and then use medication as a last resort.

My first thought is to have a look at his diet and get rid of any artificial flavors and colors, excess sugar, sometimes even something like oranges can have an adverse effect on behavior. Take notice of when your son has his 'off-moments' and try to figure out if it's connected to food.

If this acheives no results, sometimes specific behavior modification techniques can be helpful. Is there a counselor at school or someone in the area who you could speak to about this?

Your doctor may be right, maybe medication is the answer, but maybe you could ask him/her about trying the other alternatives first. THEN if all else fails, you may have to fall back on mediaction.

Best of luck.

[bellerd]

Thank you for the input! I will be watching his diet more carefully to see if that helps, plus I've begun him on Sam-e supplements. I hope this will improve his behavior somewhat while we work on specific behavioral modifications. I purchased the book "The Defiant Child" for a little more insight. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction

[annharth]

I'll have to check out the book you're talking about. There is so much information out there now. I often wonder what people did when they had kids with problems a hundred years ago? Did they just muddle through the best that they could? I wish you all the luck and maybe your doctor or your son's school will have other suggestions for books or websites. Information seems to be the key these days.

All the best!

[NewYorkMom]

I don't mean to be alarmist, but I remember reading somewhere that this disorder can also be linked to some biological based mood disorders. Has your son has a full evaluation by a psychologist? If so, no worries. But if there is an underlying cause, medication is often key to treatment and they are developing many new medications with fewer side effects. I hope this helps.

[mcmama]

I agree with NY mom - my son had a friend for whom this was linked to adhd that wasn't being treated properly, and it was a reaction to the medications. Medications aren't bad for this, but you have to have a doctor who works with you to get the right ones, and keeps track of things.