ADHD parents who use meds

[Christine]

Thank you all so much for your insights! It looks like I really messed up my little guy by trying to give him a break from his meds over the Christmas vacation. I've learned from you that some people can go off for weekends or school breaks, some people experience side effects when starting meds, and others have problems when going off.

I was hoping he could get some better sleep and eat more on the days I didn't give him his meds, since we were just at home during vacation. But some days I gave him a regular dose (when we had somewhere to go), and some days none, and one day a half dose when he slept in late. I can see now how his poor body and brain didn't know what to do. Big mistake on my part - I'll never do that again!

Things are much better now - he had a regular dose today and had a really great day (only a slight melt-down in the evening while playing Legos). I'm keeping my fingers crossed he sleeps well tonight and is back to school tomorrow. I think being back on a regular schedule will be good for all of us!

Thanks again for the advice and support. I know we're at the beginning of a long journey with our son, and it really helps to know the experiences of others in similar situations.

Now, back to some fun - planning our trip to WDW coming up in just 8 weeks.!

I know what you mean. I decided that on the Christmas Break, I would give my son a "break" from his ADHD meds. Well, by Day 5 off the meds, he was driving everyone nuts. Each day got progressively worse. Oh, he was happy, but truly impulsive, obnoxious, etc. Finally I started his meds (at half his dose) this past Friday. He felt asleep for an hour in the middle of the day, was very quiet and reserved all day. It was weird. But after 4 days back on the meds, he finally adjusted and seemed very normal. I'm not sure the "drug holidays" are a good idea for him either.

 

[tkd lisa]

DD13 has been on meds since she was 3. We have tried them all. They all only work a short time, then they wear off. She has been on Straterra now for about 2 years, and it works great! But DD also has Bi-Polar and we are in the process of finding out if it is ONLY Bi-Polar, but she is also on Abilify, which does wonders!

After everything that we have been through in the past 10 years, I am happy with what she is on now.

I'm glad to hear it's working for her, but I'd like to share my DD's strattera story.

My soon to be ex- is bi-polar. It runs strongly in his family. DD is almost 14 now, and has shown tendencies of bi-polar.

Back when DD was about 11 1/2, we switched to strattera from concerta for a couple of reasons. She (and her brother) had been on concerta for probably 3 years at that time, and for her particularly, the concerta didn't seem to be working. Concerta is also a controlled substance, which means they can't write more than 30 days prescription at a time, and they can't phone in a refill. Making a trip to our doctor (30 minutes away) every month was getting to be a pain. And finally strattera was marketed as being very effective for pre-adolescent and adolescent girls (i.e. wasn't supposed to be as effected by hormonal changes).

We had her on the strattera for about 4-5 months, and were still having some pretty serious behavioral problems. We thought it might be just the trauma of 6th grade, but working with the doctor, decided maybe a higher dose of strattera would help (she was at the lowest dose). She reacted to the higher dose by becoming psychotic. She literally was seeing monsters come out of the walls, and by the time I took her to ER, she was almost catatonic. Making a very long story shorter, after a full week at Children's Hospital in DC, they finally decided it was a reaction to the strattera. We talked to the people at Eli Lilly about the situation, as well as our psychologist, and they said that there was some history showing that bi-polar personalities might have a sensitivity to strattera. Apparently it was originally developed as a prozac like anti-depressant. And most psychs say that bi-polar people should NOT be given anti-depressants.

So PLEASE talk to your doctor about this and be sure they are monitoring the situation.

Back to the original question, after the stattera fiasco, we went back to concerta, and just upped the dosage to the next level. And things have been fine since then.

 

[tiggerlover]

Things are much better now - he had a regular dose today and had a really great day (only a slight melt-down in the evening while playing Legos). I'm keeping my fingers crossed he sleeps well tonight and is back to school tomorrow. I think being back on a regular schedule will be good for all of us!

Thanks again for the advice and support. I know we're at the beginning of a long journey with our son, and it really helps to know the experiences of others in similar situations.

Glad to hear that things are better. I know with my DS that he thrives on routine and when that routine is broken....watch out!

One of the great things I love about the DIS is there are always folks around that have been there or done that and can add their two cents, so I love hearing everyones first hand accounts.

 

[Tink123]

I personally take Adderall and sometimes it does not work as well as others.
I also teach second grade and it is not uncommon for students to take medicine and it work fine and all of a sudden it stopes working or has an adverse affect. Talk to you peditrician, there are a lot of different medications and a lot of different reasons why a medicinw might not work as well as it has in the past. Don't give up, as an adult with ADD, I am so much more successful on medicine and I like my self more, wiht out medicine I even anoy myself!

 

[tiggerlover]

I personally take Adderall and sometimes it does not work as well as others.
I also teach second grade and it is not uncommon for students to take medicine and it work fine and all of a sudden it stopes working or has an adverse affect. Talk to you peditrician, there are a lot of different medications and a lot of different reasons why a medicinw might not work as well as it has in the past. Don't give up, as an adult with ADD, I am so much more successful on medicine and I like my self more, wiht out medicine I even anoy myself!

Thanks, DS will be seeing his doctor by the end of the week. I did talk with the school guidance counselor and she agree that an adjustment may be in order. So we will see what his doc has to say.