ADHD Kids and Depression

Hey — honest — do you ever feel sad?

It’s the middle of winter and even though I just had two weeks off school and should be happy about presents and parties and mom’s cookies, I have been feeling really sad a lot of the time.  It happens to me in the winter sometimes and the fun things in life kinda just don’t do it for me when I feel this way.

It’s weird, I have nothing to be sad about but I feel sad. I feel it in my body and I often take a big breath to make the sad feeling go away. I know it’s only temporary.

When I’m sad I’m not productive so things can get behind at school and home pretty quick when I feel this way.

Fortunately my parents know me and don’t push too hard when I’m feeling this way, they encourage me to talk about how I’m feeling and together we figure it out.

I try to come up with random ideas like what if I bought a truck and put a big V8 engine in it with a supercharger and custom sound system and loud exhaust…. Then I just crawl underneath the blankets again with my dog.

My dog always makes me feel better.  Playing video games is a great escape from my feelings.

When I was in Grade 5 before I took any medication I felt sad a lot.  That sad was from being lonely and not fitting in and always being in trouble.  Back then I didn’t have any strategies to make the depression go away.

Tonight I went to Taekwondo, I feel way better when I exercise.  I’ve talked to my mom about lowering my medication dosage for a couple of weeks to see if that helps. I’m also going to eat better, like no ice cream or leftover candy canes until I get the sugar crap out of my system.

I recently found out that kids with ADHD are 3 times more likely to get depression than other kids.

That’s a big deal — can you share that with your friends? Click this ready-made tweet:

If you are feeling sad talk to someone, if they tell you to just “get happy” then find someone else to talk to until someone hears you.  If you’re the adult reading this then make sure you aren’t’ still yelling at your kid before knowing if they can handle it.

The sadness has a name and it’s called depression. Kids get depressed too. Kids with ADHD might be sad more often. Just sayin’.

~ jeff

PS. Just so you know I’m OK. My mom encouraged me to write about this and I have the support I need and a plan. I just think we don’t talk about this stuff enough.