ADHD Meds

[TinkGirl09]

Would you guys mind sharing with me what ADHD meds your children are on and the pros and cons? DS 8 was diagnosed a couple of years ago and has been on a couple of different ones. They work for a while and then stop working. I need to look into a change once again because he's very slow to get started at school now so I'm just curious...

Thanks.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Boy, do I feel your pain! My youngest ds was diagnosed last year. We have switched medications several times. I thought that we finally had this under control, but now the medicine doesn't seem to be working.

So far, ds has been on Methlyn, Concerta, Vyvanse, Focalin, Dextroamphetamine and Straterra. Some of those have been dose changes as well. Concerta and Vyvanse turned my son in to a walking zombie during the day, and a little violent in the evening. He pushed, kicked and hit me. He is a very good kid and we never had behavioral problems, so I know it was the medicine.

He was taking Dextroamphetamine and Straterra for several months now, but we just stopped. He was very lethargic and school and they could never get him to stay focused. The school just told me to send him with no medicine until we can see a specialist. I've been told that his attention is better with no medicine. I'm wondering if he is going to be one of those kids where medicine doesn't work.

I just bought a book called "Disconnected Kids". The author has a program called http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/. I'm looking into their ideas to see if it can help my son.

This is all so frustrating! Maybe there is no medicine that will help. Maybe we are better off finding some non-pharmaceutical things to help.

 

[lemondog]

My daughter takes Adderall - 7.5 mg in the morning and 7.5 mg at lunch. We have found that breaking it up like this rather than giving her the XR dose helps her have an appetite for lunch.

Her main side effect is the weight loss. I ply her full of full-fat foods like peanut butter, real butter, ice cream, etc. to try and combat it. She also doesn't sleep well, but I have found that melatonin really helps with that issue.

 

[Liberty Belle]

My son uses the Daytrana Patch (15mg). We tried Aderall and one other, but he just could not swallow the pill and couldn't handle it when we mixed it in food, either (he has sensory issues).

The patch is working pretty well. It does irritate his skin quite a bit, but he says it doesn't bother him that much. Oh, and he has no appetite while on it.

I think it may have increased his anxiety, but what can you do? He can't handle school most days (or teachers can't handle him, rather) without it.

 

[kirbydog48]

My ds11 has been on Adderall, Concerta and Focalin. All made him extremely irritable with horrible mood swings that often turned physical. He's now on Strattera 60 mg and it's better but not perfect. He just can't handle the stimulants. It also helps that he's in a fantastic therapeutic program in school and has made huge strides (he has multiple learning challenges in addition to ADHD). My advice is to find a good pediatric psychopharmacologist. That way, they're monitered every few months and the doctor can tweak the meds if needed. Puberty and/or a big growth spurt can necessitate making a change.

 

[Mermaid02]

We have tried Ritalin, Concerta, Strattera, Adderall, Focalin XR and now he is taking Vyvanse. This seems to be doing a good job. He told me today he was very happy to be off the Focalin because he felt like it put him in a trance- we didn't "see" that but it's how he felt.

Oh, we tried the Daytrana patch but my ds was allergic to the adhesive so we never really got a chance to see if it worked!

Don't give up- it can take a while to find the best fit! BTW my son was diagnosed at age 6 and he will be 14 on Saturday.

 

[TinkGirl09]

we tried the patch first but he had hallucinations. then he was on Vyvanse for awhile and it worked until it started wearing off too early and upping the dosage wasn't a good idea. We switched to adderall this school year and it was fine until he started getting used to it and the afternoons were rough again... the dr. added a 3rd dosage (2 in the morning and 1 at lunch) and now he's very much like in a trance in the mornings and its hard for him to actually get anything done. Its frustrating for us all. He also has ODD which makes things a little more difficult.

 

[rodeo65]

DS was diagnosed at age 7 and for seven months he went throught three dosage levels of Biphentin and then four of Adderall. Both meds gave him headaches, stomach aches and of course no appetite. I also lost my sunny, funny kid. At the final dosage of Adderall he had two psychotic episodes in the first five days after the increase - seeing weird lights and "creatures" on the walls, was suicidal and threatened both his little sister and myself. We took him off immediately and have never re-medicated him.

We do use omega oil and an amino acid supplement as well as watching his diet and make sure he is getting enough activity, but the biggest breakthrough for us was after three schools, finally finding one where the staff CARES about him and his needs and works with us and him. The third school before we switched last October had an ILP in place for him but were really more interested in us medicating him again because he needed constant re-direction in class. That bothered his teacher. So even knowing the situation we had been through with him previously, and having been told with no room for discussion that meds were off the table they still thought we should try it again. He also has a learning disability and right in his psych/ed the psychologist says that if his LD is not addressed the ADHD symptoms will be exacerbated. Which is precisely what was happening. He was in a private school "dedicated to excellence" which is code for "push them beyond their limits and if they can't keep up - drug them." At one of the last meetings we attended the learning services teacher told us that his ILP was a "laundry list" and there was no way that they could accomodate all of it. Umm - legally you are required to. Everything in his ILP is implemented as a matter of course at his new school and then any extra needs are also met. Class size is capped at 12. DS's has 10 kids in it.

We moved him to a school that specializes in teaching kids with learning issues and the vast majority of the kids also have ADHD/ADD. You would never know it walking into the classrooms (other than the odd pair of ear phones and sometimes kids are doing speed walk laps in the halls.) He went from hating school and constant fights over homework (which normally took hours and had us both in tears) to him loving school and his dad and I being completely removed from his homework. He does it entirely himself. In four months he has gone from very poor grades to B's and B+'s. He is a happy kid again. He also has ODD but we are working through a course on that which is helping as well, but there was a HUGE change in the frequency and intensity of the oppositional occurrences after he was moved.

I know this thread was specifically about which meds others have tried and which worked and didn't but I just wanted to give a different experience.

Good luck - I know it is so frustrating just trying to get through the day, let alone find the time to figure out the best route for treatment.

 

[Styx Fan]

My son is 14 and was diag in the 4th grade with ADHD. He started on a low dosage of Concerta (don't remember the mg's). It worked well and he is still on it, just a higher dose as he is now bigger, of course. We have upped it 3x I think. Now he is on 54 mg.

He was diag with ODD around the same time and we find the Concerta really helps with both. Of course, it may be that the meds help enough with the ADHD that he can focus on working on the ODD.

To the previous posters with kids with ODD......it just sucks, doesn't it? to the PP who has managed to help her son with the new school!