Adderall?

[HappyLawyer]

Ok, when i put my dtr on adderall, her doc told me in Canada there were some issues with children in Canada and heart conditions. I was told these children had pre existing conditions so my dtr had a test done and she was ok. Today i found out one of my students has been on adderall for 2 years and he now has a heart condition, e did not have a pre existing condition, so i am a bit worried, anyone have any more info on this drug?

 

[forr2grls]

hmm i dont have any more info on it but my neighbors son was on it for a while and they ended up seeing a pedi cardiologist and sure enough has heart issues-they do not know if it was pre-existing or not.

 

[Lives4Disney]

My son took Adderall for several years. We took him off due to the fact that it gradually - very gradually - to the point that we weren't sure it WAS the Adderal - changed his personality. It was awful for him and us.

Isn't Adderal just a more refined form of Ritalin?? My DH is now on Focaline (sp?) an even MORE pure form of Ritalin. ADD runs in our family. I am curious about all of this because of his health, too. I have not heard any of this info, so I am basically subscribing.

Lives4Disney

 

[wvdislover]

My DD9 couldn't take Adderall (it made her throw up), but I have heard the reports recently about Adderall causing heart trouble. My DD is also on Focalin XR and is doing pretty well on it. It is a more pure form of Ritalin, so they don't have to take as high a dose of medicine (generally about 1/2 the dosage of Concerta to get the same effect is what I was told by our psychologist--e.g. 20 mg of Focalin, as opposed to 36 mg of Concerta). It also doesn't affect their appetite as much (in fact, I think my daughter is making up for all she didn't eat for the 4 years she was on Concerta!). Good luck!

 

[3kidsmommy]

We just took my 8yo son who has both autism and adhd OFF Adderall XR because of major personality changes and lack of eating. He was loosing major weight and had dropped off teh charts. Well, within 4 days of taking him off and weaning him onto Strattera, we had a much more engaged with human kind child and he is eating!!! He has been amazing his therapists with his growth and I am loving the change. Yes, he is still autistic, but I feel like he "sees" and "hears" and interacts so much more.

I had also heard of the heart issues, but so far his has checked out just fine.., he was on the Adderall for over 2 years.

 

[MissMichelle]

My daughter was on Adderall and didn't eat , couldn't sleep (screamed all night long) couldn't function normally...had such a huge change in her personality. We switched her to Concerta and all went ok, but not perfect and then to Strattera (perfect!!!)....for a year...then we took her off ALL meds cold turkey, did behaviour modification and diet changes, got her into sports (we finally found ONE she will concentrate on) and she has been med free for over a year
OK, so back on topic...no heart problems here and she was on it for over a year but I HATE that drug. HATE IT.

 

[cymomtx]

The FDA as of early Augus, now requires that Adderall and Focalin have a "Black Box" warning. Meaning that anyone that is put on these medications should have complete physicals, including EKG's to rule that there are no unknown heart conditions that the medication can agrevate.

 

[Lives4Disney]

The FDA as of early Augus, now requires that Adderall and Focalin have a "Black Box" warning. Meaning that anyone that is put on these medications should have complete physicals, including EKG's to rule that there are no unknown heart conditions that the medication can agrevate.

You know, this is very interesting and pretty scary to me. My DH has been on the Focalin for several years now, before that Adderal for a long time. Neither of his Drs has said a peep to him about any of this. His blood pressure has gone way up, his cholesterol is already higher than it should be (heredity) and his pulse rate is pretty fast. I am the one that is worried. He has more to concern himself with (you know how men are about their health).

I thank you for the info. I am going to look into this. I know his drs prescribe him mega doses of the crap too. I mean the pharmacist had to call and double check with the Dr. that he wrote the prescription correctly because the dose was so high. My DH really thinks this is helping him, so he doesn't seem to care about these awful side effects. Maybe this only applies to kids, though??

Lives4Disney

 

[riu girl]

My daughter was on Adderall and didn't eat , couldn't sleep (screamed all night long) couldn't function normally...had such a huge change in her personality. We switched her to Concerta and all went ok, but not perfect and then to Strattera (perfect!!!)....for a year...then we took her off ALL meds cold turkey, did behaviour modification and diet changes, got her into sports (we finally found ONE she will concentrate on) and she has been med free for over a year
OK, so back on topic...no heart problems here and she was on it for over a year but I HATE that drug. HATE IT.

Sorry OT - If you don't mind me asking, what sport does your DD concentrate well with? DD is med free and is into YOGA, swimming lessons, piano lessons, but has recently been talking about martial arts and karate. I am willing to sign her up for any sport she is interested in if it helps her ADHD/anxiety issues.
Thank you

 

[cymomtx]

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/2006/safety06.htm#Dexedrine

Posted 08/21/2006] The FDA and GlaxoSmithKline notified healthcare professionals of changes to the BOXED WARNING, WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS sections of the prescribing information for Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine sulfate), approved for the treatment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and narcolepsy. The warnings describe reports of sudden death in association with CNS stimulant treatment at usual doses in children and adolescents with structural cardiac abnormalities or other serious heart problems.

 

[snowwite]

Sorry OT - If you don't mind me asking, what sport does your DD concentrate well with? DD is med free and is into YOGA, swimming lessons, piano lessons, but has recently been talking about martial arts and karate. I am willing to sign her up for any sport she is interested in if it helps her ADHD/anxiety issues.
Thank you

DS has ADHD and developed tics and petit mal seizures with Adderal. We now use behavior mod and tae Kwon do

 

[Cleokitty]

My DD was taking adderall xr earlier this year and began having dizzy spells, heart palpitations. They took her off of that and put her on Strattera. Strattera didn't work either. She couldn't sleep, eat, and cried all the time. Heart palpitations w/Strattera also. She lost 5 pounds in 3 months, and she was thin to begin with. So, they took her off Strattera.

I should mention that she also has had severe migraines since age 5 (when she started school). Since she is "anxiety driven" her neurologist took her off Strattera and put her on Imipramine--a tricyclic antidepressant that works well for anxiety control and has been known to help w/ADD symptoms also.

She went on this drug 7/14 and I'm happy to report that she has had only 1 migraine since then (as opposed to several a week for months). She has had no problems this quarter in school and they get out for a 3 week break tomorrow. (We're in year-round school and they went back July 10th.) She's doing much better now than she ever did on Adderall or Strattera.

She was so happy today. She came home and said that she had been on the "Good" behavior chart for the entire 9-weeks and didn't get in trouble one time! And, she's starting to gain some weight back. After 18 months of h*** I finally feel as though my child is becoming herself again.

 

[lovesmurfs]

My son's been on Adderall since kindergarten -- doctor's never mentioned it. He's gone up gradually (he's in 7th grade now) and now I'm concerned. He's always been involved in baseball, but has started football and basketball, too.

Guess I'll check with his doctor this week.....

 

[ziggy14]

This whole medication therapy is enough to scare anyone. I just started my 6 year old son on Adderrall yesterday. He is already experiencing loss of appetite as well as having an upset stomach.

Looks like I will be calling his Dr. in the morning to check to see if we need to do anything to get a baseline on his heart. It just tears me up knowing that I have to give him this medicine in the first place which I know is going to make him sick.

 

[Nanu57v]

I took Adderol for a semester in college. I hate taking medicine, but student teaching was too hard without being able to focus. Anyway, it caused a big raise in my blood pressure, made my heart race, and made me sweat a lot (I know, eww). I was able to focus though, and stay up as late as I wanted.

I was recently diagnosed with some holes in my heart, but they are SO mild nothing has to be done about them. Are they correlated? I doubt it, but the high blood pressure thing can't be good for an extended period of time. It puts stress on your heart, right?

I obviously don't know how high it made my blood pressure, but when I went to MEPS (army physical) I took 1/2 a low dose adderal and drank some coffee and I made the blood pressure machine's alarm go off. I just had my BP taking today and it was 100/60, so it had to be the drugs.

Finally, I'm not a doctor, so I would suggest talking to one (actually several) and decipher what information you can trust the most.

 

[mlwear]

My autistic son took Adderall for two days and were the worst two days of his life. His whole being just went bezerk, I guess. He just screamed, cried, injured himself and destroyed things in the house (I'm talking tearing cabinet doors off, breaking windows). It was terrible. At the time I thought it had a negative mental effect. Now that I read this, I wonder if it was a physical reaction and he couldn't express how he felt any other way.

 

[taximomfor4]

very curious. We had my oldest dd on adderall for a while. It began changing her personality into an aggressive, angry, out of control monster. We didn't make the connection right away, until my aunt attended a seminar where the speaker told that some kids have an adverse reaction to Adderall causing Agression. There were days when I didn't know if I should call an ambulance for her, to have her out of control fit-throwing-self-hurting-flailing-and-lashing-out- screaming body taken to the nearest mental hospital. Not kidding.

The heart thing is interesting -- dd gets more short of breath than any kid I see her age, even though she has been dancing for years.

 

[Lives4Disney]

very curious. We had my oldest dd on adderall for a while. It began changing her personality into an aggressive, angry, out of control monster. We didn't make the connection right away, until my aunt attended a seminar where the speaker told that some kids have an adverse reaction to Adderall causing Agression. There were days when I didn't know if I should call an ambulance for her, to have her out of control fit-throwing-self-hurting-flailing-and-lashing-out- screaming body taken to the nearest mental hospital. Not kidding.

The heart thing is interesting -- dd gets more short of breath than any kid I see her age, even though she has been dancing for years.

That personality change is EXACTLY what we experienced with our son and unfortunately he did wind up hospitalized. It was a nightmare. That stuff is crap. (well, maybe that's strong because I know it does help some kids)

Lives4Disney

 

[Karalynn]

My ds8 was on adderall (this was the 1st medication we tried) and it did seem to work ok for a couple months, then slowly we started to see the changes. I was warned about aggression, but I guess I thought it would be hitting, fighting slaming stuff around..... what we saw was no patience at all, very frustrated with simple little things, he flew off the handle about everything!!!! He would ask 'WHY am I so stupid???? if he didn't understand him homework. Very upset!!
I did the school vacation/med vacation test, and sure enough, he was back to my sweet goofy guy! So he is now on focalin and has been doing good with it and put on some weight which is good. He lost a lot on the adderall. Thank you to the original poster, since our Dr. has not mentioned anything about this so I will be contacting her!

 

[!@#$%]

I tried Adderal with my son. He turned into a monster! We QUICKLY stopped it. it was by far the worse medication he tried. Now, ( a couple years later) he's med free, and he is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better!!! I just wish we could control the anger and rage, but drugs (drugs/meds, same thing) wont help. They only have created more side effects which require MORE drugs. Its a vicious cycle.
JMHO. Everyone is different. I wont get mad if you disagree. Every parent has to do what they think best.