Your Child Seems Anxious. Before You Treat It, Rule These Out.
Anxious behavior in a child with ADHD is a presentation, not a diagnosis. This article gives parents five conditions that produce the same picture – sleep-disordered breathing, medication timing, executive-function avoidance mistaken for dread, a datable event, and physical or dietary stimulants – along with the pattern each tends to leave and a two-week time-logging method for capturing it. It states plainly that the log is preparation for a clinical appointment rather than a substitute for one, lists the presentations that require same-day or emergency care instead of observation, notes that anxiety disorders are genuinely common in this population and often co-occur with these conditions rather than being displaced by them, and sets out who to contact for a diagnosis and how to find them.