Non stimulant ADHD meds

[sookie]

Originally Posted by westjones

In grade school my DD was diagnosed with ADD (she doesn't have the hyper activity but she can not focus). She also has another learning disability (auditory processing disorder).

So years ago (in grade school) we had her try concerta (an ADHD med) but we discontinued it. I didn't like the idea of her being on those meds and she seemed to have side effects from them (but at the moment I can't remember what they were).

Anyway, she is in her first semester of college. It has NOT gone well. And it is not because she is out late and partying. She lives at home and commutes so she is in bed every night before I got to bed. Her dad had been tutoring her in math, but she is most likely not going to pass the class (went into the final failing and need a good grade to pull it up but said she could tell she didn't do well on the final).

So she will have to retake her class. I am also thinking she may not be doing well in her other classes (not sure yet, but looks like C's). She is part of the students with disabilities, but college is not like high school. They don't offer as much help and so it is not working well.

We are letting her go slow, take a small class load (only 12 hours) and she is going to go in the summer to help make up for that (looking at trying the community college during that time). BUT she has to pass this math class and I found out yesterday after talking to the university and the community college that this particular math class is only offered at the university, so taking math at the community college won't work...but she can take English and Science at the community college.

So as much as I would prefer not to go back to meds, I am starting to think maybe we should consider ADD meds again. When she tried before they did not have the 'non-stimulant' ones that are now out.

So my question........is anyone familiar with these, does anyone know of someone using them with positive results (not the stimulant ones, but the non-stimulant ones like Starttera?

I am still not sure about this. I really don't want to go through route, but I also want her to be able to finish college.

So any experience, or know of someone with experience with these would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Sending you a PM!!!! Good luck!
Just for everyone else - not a fan of non-stimulants. They are second line drugs, usually used when stimulants fail. They have a lot of side effects including weight gain, they can worsen depression symptoms, and can have associated irritability. You might find that the newer stimulants - which are time released - may work better for your DD. That is, if she goes to the doctor, and that is what her doctor and your DD both decide they want to try that. She will be bigger now too and may handle them better than she did as a kid. Getting her to a doctor to properly evaluate her will be important. Your a good mom for supporting her. ADHD for adults and adolescents is important - they often don't get the support they need. People are born with ADHD and die with it. Females tend to have inattentive type. Not having proper treatment as an adult can lead to a lot of trouble for people. But we see it a lot. A lot of people don't have consistency either. People are expected to just "deal with it" - that isn't how it works with ADHD. Someone with true ADHD needs this medicine. It is the difference between functioning properly or not functioning. It will also take her a few weeks to get used to the medicine - so a trial will be needed. Taking her off and on the medicine would be hard on her, so giving her a chance to settle in will be important. Routine is really important for someone who has ADHD.

Stimulants usually are the best treatment and the long acting drugs are a lot gentler than the old medications used to be. We have a lot more options than there used to be - a lot more doses and a lot more variations. So if one drug doesn't work, there may be another dose or formula that can work for your DD. Your DD shouldn't have side effects that cause a personality change or anything else on medicine. So getting her to someone who can properly evaluate her - if she has ADHD - is important. But learning disabilities can mask as ADHD or vise versa. ADHD kids can be labeled as learning disabled too if they aren't treated properly.
Hope everything works out OP!

[mjkacmom]

Most people I know who take non-stimulant ADD medication don't have the best results. My ds14 takes Focalin, and has no negative side affects. It helps him so much! So much so, he always remembers to take it!

If he was diabetic, and needed insulin, he'd take that, too. ADD is a medical issue, and it's genetic. So far, none of my other kids have been diagnosed, but I'm keeping my eye on one of them (ds in inattentive - used to by hyper, but I suspect that was just being a young boy, since he outgrew that).

[westjones]

Thanks for the PM and the comments. We won't be seeing her doctor until tomorrow so I am going to do some research on the 'patch'. That wasn't around when we had her drive medicine in grade school, so I don't know much about it.

And if it basically just works while she is wearing it and the effects wear off shortly after taking it off, it sounds like it might not be too much of a problem. Again, she has other medical issues and we have to clear it through her specialist first, but I will do some reading today and discuss our options with her doctor tomorrow.

Thanks!

[tchrrx]

Thanks, OP for starting this thread. My DD12 was on medication for a few months in 3rd grade, but it didn't help her attention any, and it changed her personality. I think we may look into some of these medications for her also.

* Last time we just went to her pediatrician. Is this what we need to do again? What type of doctor would you recommend?

[westjones]

Originally Posted by tchrrx

Thanks, OP for starting this thread. My DD12 was on medication for a few months in 3rd grade, but it didn't help her attention any, and it changed her personality. I think we may look into some of these medications for her also.

* Last time we just went to her pediatrician. Is this what we need to do again? What type of doctor would you recommend?

My DD19 still goes to her Ped Dr (she said she will see her through college) and that is where she got the ADHD med in grade school, so I would go back to her and ask if we decide to do this.

I just got off the phone with the company that makes the patch because I am concerned about side effects. They said the med comes out of their system in a matter of hours (so within a day the body should clear the drug if there are problems). And I asked about using it part time (not every day). They said that they have not done studies like that, but that some Dr. give it for just M-F and they don't take it on weekends. But that is up to the Dr.

If we try this I would not want her to take it every day because they can build up to where they get used to it and would need a higher dose, so I would rather have her take times off from it (this is just me saying this, not quoting medical information here).

Tomorrow we see the doctor, so I am going to continue reading about this patch and we will see.

[westjones]

Well I went ahead and set up an appt with her doctor for next week to talk about this stuff. I will see if her specialist has any issue tomorrow in regards to the other things he is treating to make sure there isn't a problem, and then next week talk to her doctor here and I and I want to see about trying the patch.

After reading about it and calling the company the thing I like is it doesn't stay in your system long, so if she has bad reactions they should come out within a day. And we could just have her use it on the days she has classes or is studying for a test so that she doesn't build up a resistance to it and needs a higher dose.

It kind of seems like there isn't a lot of lose in trying it at least.

They wanted a paper for the teacher and parent filled out, but I explained she is 19 and in college so there is no teacher, and she is an adult now, so they weren't quite sure what to do, so she set me up an appt and we will see. My DD has been going to this doctor for years (her DD was also in the same school but two years older, so I have known her for awhile). So hopefully she will agree to let her try this over break so we can see what her side effects are before heading back to school.

Maybe she won't let her try it, I don't know. But I would think she would. I guess we will see. Thanks everyone for all of the comments. I am very nervous, and DH is reluctantly letting me look into this since the company said the med wouldn't last long in her body if we needed to stop it.

But right now, for her first semester in college she had 1 dropped class because she was failing, 1 class she did fail, 1 class with a D, and another with a C and oh...Jogging is a B...YEAH for Jogging!!!

And so much of the problem had to do with not hearing information (like she was suppose to go to a final presentation today to hear a speaker and she didn't catch that info so she got a 0 on her final! So her grade dropped from a B+ to a C- just because she didn't go this morning to this presentation that she didn't know about because she couldn't focus in her class....a lot of her grade issues are because of things like that).

So......hopefully next semester will be a different story......