What a bad week..... | ADHD Information
I know how you feel. My daughter is the same we have good days and really bad days that scare me.I see such hatred in her eyes.The whole house is in an uproar.I am lost and don't know how to handle ittiff's mom:
it is so hard to "dread" each night. We have rebounds, etc., at our house, but not as extreme. I have gone through ritalin la, concerta, and meddatecd this summer, and each drug made it worse. finallly took him off. the rages stopped (but he just couldn't stop moving or talking). we will not try any ritalin drugs, etc. right now trying adderall......3rd day, but rebound is a LOT less. I am not a doc, but if you get worse on a drug, it can't be right.
i always remind myself that if my kids had strept throat and didn't get better on one drug, i would ask for another (and no one would think i was wrong!!). i don't know how bad it is without the concerta, but it isn't getting better withit. And isn't that the point of medicating your child? Most of the time the "senior" members recommend getting another opinion and ruling out other problems. You might consider this , too. Do you have some help? drugs? or something? Good Luck! You will make it through
She sounds a lot like my daughter who just turned 9. We just had almost the same incident. We went to Applebees - she would not sit next to my husband, and my son wanted to sit next to me. (she was mad at her dad for yelling at her) so she chose to stand and also tried moving her seat in the aisle. We told her to sit or we are leaving, she would not sit. So we left - she put on such a scene in there, stayed by table screaming and crying - yelling "I will be good, i will sit, i dont want to leave" etc. We did leave and the crying and screaming continued for a good half hour or so. And this happens normally in the evening - a different incident but the same affects. I think I may try the Mountain Dew. I hate when she gets this way --- my husband cannot handle it at all. He wants nothing to do with her when she is that way - (he also had/has adhd as a child) --- He just does not get it. It is stressful, but we are the parents, someone has to take control and deal with her, not abandon her. Specially when she is normally a very loving and caring child. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone, we all deal with this. I wish there was the perfect answer or solution.HI there-
Why did he want you to up the Concerta? Was the dose becoming inneffective? Another option to adding the low afternoon dose would be to get her to drink a Mountain Dew about 1/2 hour before her meds wear off. Its been posted on here before, but the caffeine seems to minimize the rebound a bit.
Charlotte and Tiffany sound so much alike. We always have HIGH emotional drama around here. Sometimes, I think that I get sucked into the drama and it just makes everything prolonged and worse. I can't tell you how many arguments we had this summer that spiralled out of control. I finally got 1-2-3 Magic and have been using it for about a week. It is really working for us and seems to nip these episodes in the bud. E-mail me if you want more info.
Good luck.
Suzi
My 10 year old sounds like yours . . .we have some horrible rebounds and were also on Concerta for years but then we maxed out and tried Adderall (WHICH WAS WAY WORSE for US) so we've tried Focalin for the last month and Ritalin LA before that.We liked both of those better.
Maybe Concerta isn't the best choice for her?
WOW~ Its amazing how I have felt SOOO alone and thought NO one understands what I deal with on a daily basis etc....and then once signing up on this forum...I can't believe what I read...I'm NOT ALONE.....
My son goes through these rages also....some days they aren't to bad and others OH MAN watch OUT! He is 8yrs old and I swear sometimes he has tantrums like a 2yr. old and others like a DEMON has entered his body...the look in his eyes can scare me so BADLY. He is currently on 40mg Ritalin LA and it has done well for him the past year or so up until now..but doc said he is maxed out on that and he won't go further so next step is neuro. Anyhow....around 4:00 it seems is when his meds are wearing off and the moody, anger, irritable Austin come out...so yesterday I did the Mt. Dew "trick"...and ~WOW~ what a diff. he sat down and did his homework without a fight and had it done in 30minutes VS 4 hours like it has been taking since being back in school. Was it the Mt. Dew or just a GOOD day....LOL... I have done the DEW before and can notice a diff. I will give him that on weekends to help also. So we are now starting a new routine.... he gets up drinks a full glass of Mt. Dew and then has a pill goes to school and will now have a full glass before starting homework. Have even given him a glass about 30mins before bed and it has helped before. SHoot maybe I should just take stock in the DEW...LOL and just make him drink that all day and forget the doc and pills.....LOL...
My suggestion would to maybe try a diff. med instead of medicating twice, and maybe try the Dew with her if you can tell when meds are starting to wear off etc..... and maybe 30mins before bed...Good Luck to you!
I tried Mt. Dew with Tiff. She couldn't stand the taste. So I'll have to come up with another solution. Have any other soft drinks worked for you?
Laura
kiwicakes-
Tiff is only 7. I may have to try the second Concerta dosage in the afternoon. I just want to give her so much medication a day. Mike is a saint. I know that many a man would have left and not wanted to be a part of this. He has researched as much as I have and we do the best we can each day. He treats her as if she were his own child.
Thanks for your kind words. So far today (Sunday) is good.
Tiffany has had a really bad week and I need some advice. Tiffany currently takes Concerta 27mg in the morning. This past week her psychiatrist wanted her to try the 36mg for 5 days and let him know what if anything happened.
Last Saturday on the 27mg, Tiffany had the worst rebound she has ever had. She has rebounds quite often, but this scared me. Tiff had a full day of activities. At 3 she was asked if she wanted to go out for an early dinner. My boyfriend wanted to take us out, because he was going to help a friend move. She said no, I'm going to my friends house and to the library with them. He left at 5. When she got home at 5:30 and I was making dinner, she came in and it started. At the top of her lungs she started screaming for me to stop cooking and take her out. She had a backpack full of library books, which came flying across the room at me. Then she started to come at me with clenched fists. I stuck one arm out to stop her and the other was trying to turn off the stove of hot food. I told her that she'd made the decision earlier about dinner and that Mike had gone out and I was making dinner. Again she screamed and was stomping as loud as she could. She was screaming and crying and stomping so loud, that my parents who live in the apartment below could hear her as if they were in the room with us. She screamed for me to call Mike and have him come home to take her out. I told her I couldn't because they were moving things, and he'd already offered and that she certainly couldn't yell over the phone at him. The screaming continued. My mother came up, used her key to get in, to them it sounded like she was being hurt. I had to hold Tiffany down by then for fear of her hurting herself or us. She was hysterical. I've never seen eyes like she had before. For almost an hour this continued, the screaming, crying, kicking, agony that she felt. I went from holding her to rubbing her hair. I told her that if she calmed down she could call Mike, but not tell him to come home. After she finally calmed down, she called him and talked to him like the past hour never happened. My mother left, we ate and took a walk around the apartment complex.
Last night she had another episode on the 36mg, but not as extreme, and only about a half an hour. This was over my parents not taking her along for their anniversary dinner. My father tried telling her they'd go out sometime later this week and he told her he'd pay for her & I to go to the State Fair, but none of those helped. I just let her scream and cry this one out.
Nighttime is always a crisis. She tries to get 20 different things in from about 6-8 and starts to meltdown if you don't do everything.
The higher the Concerta dosage, the worse the rebounds and night time are becoming. It is now at least 10 before she is calm enough to go to sleep and she starts school in 2 days. And now she gets up at least once in the middle of the night, sometimes twice. The Concerta has really helped with the attention and focus during the day. We have had a tutor all summer and she gives great reports.
The psychiatrist said he could prescribe a second Concerta pill for around 4 in the afternoon. But I don't want her to take all that medication. He even mentioned giving her something at night to help her go to sleep.
So here is my question after my venting. How do you handle rebounds? And should I medicate her a second time in the afternoon and possibly at night?
I feel for you. How old is your daughter? Is she a preteen going through hormonal changes? All of her rages scare me only because my son can rage like that, too, but I don't have him on medication only b/c he's too young for them, and I worry about the long term effects. Gawd, you're in my prayers. I hope you find the necessary help that your daughter needs and quickly regarding the rebounds. You sound like you have a saint of a boyfriend. He's a keeper!! HUGS to you and God bless.
You poor thing the poor child she is only 7. I hope things get better for you and her.angels4me76 -
Mike doesn't get it either. He always asks why she can have coke at dinner if we go out to eat. It is funny. 
Laura
Laura-
It just breaks my heart that you guys are having such a tough time. Like a previous poster mentioned, the Dew has the most caffeine and that is why its the best. You can even go for the diet if you are worried about the sugar. Charlotte would never drink it because she hates the bubbles.
We just started Kindergarten today, so I am on pins and needles. I know the first cxouple of weeks are the honeymoon phse and after that we are probably going to start the problems!
Big hugs-
Suzi
I worry to much -
We are I suppose still in the process of trying to find the right fit for Tiff. We started on Adderall XR, but she wouldn't eat and lost 10 lbs. Besides that it was fine. Now she eats on the Concerta, but has these sometimes horrible rebounds. We have been at this since December when she was diagnosed. As far as when she is not on meds... I have had a lot of testing done and they usually test without meds. A couple of those times, she did ask me to give her the medicine so she could stay in control. So the Concerta isn't seeming to be the right fit either.
Susanmarcil -
Tiff's Concerta was moved up to see how much more of a difference it made on her attention. He has done a computer test with her on no medication, and then each of the different mg of the Concerta and the results have been getting better. He wanted me to try the 36mg before the school year started and let him know about side effects she encountered.
I will have to try the mountain dew trick in the late afternoon. Would any soft drink with caffeine do?
Angels4me76 -
Welcome and I will try the Dew or caffeine trick. I really am trying to avoid any more medication then truly necessary.
momw3kids -
Thanks for your thoughts too. I believe that they are all loving and caring children. We have been given these wonderful children because we can take care of them.
Laura
I use Mountain Dew and I think others will agree...because it has the highest amount of caffeine...I suppose any caffeine type drink would help, but the more caffeine the better.
Just a laugh...... its so funny to see people's face and reaction from family and such that i'm not around all the time if they see me giving Austin Mt. Dew, they think I am nutts for giving it before bed or just when he is really hyped.. I have been asked if I have a death wish, that its going to make him crazy, they don't understand til they see it for themselves that caffeine has a opposite reaction on a child with ADHD.