Emotional Outbursts coming off Adderall? | ADHD Information
You said she cannot be sleeping well -- how much sleep does she get? That is very important. I found that having a set routine for bedtime really helps. My son knows that certain things happen at certain times and we have even typed up a list so he can look at it and know what is next. He is on 20mg Adderall and he seems a little weepy sometimes but he has not had any outbursts but he has been on it for a couple years and doing really well.Oh, yes. Therapy is a must. Or coaching, is actually better. Therapy implies that a condition could improve, and be healed. AD/HD, w/o mitigation (meds or coping mechanisms), won't go away. It's a chemical imbalance within your cerebral neurochemical milieu, precipitated by genetic variables. The only other clinically demonstrated wellspring of AD/HD is induced from brain trauma.hi there gracelynsmom
this is an article from an English newspaper which talks a little about the
stress that some children can find in attending school/daycare etc. and
corresponding hyper-reaction (although it is referring to younger children
than your child it might have some relevance in understanding what is
causing the stress...) and seems to correlate with what you saying re.
schooling making it worse. - the article is a little long....:
Hidden stress of the nursery age
· Study finds hormone level soars when daycare starts
· Extra time with parents needed to help calm down
Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent
Monday September 19, 2005
The Guardian
Toddlers starting at nursery after being at home since birth experience
high levels of stress in the first weeks after separating from their
mothers, and are still showing "chronic mild stress" as long as five
months after their first day in the new environment, according to a study
measuring hormone levels in young children.
Levels of the stress hormone cortisol doubled even in secure youngsters
during the first nine days of childcare without their mothers present,
compared with their normal level at home. The levels fell but were still
significantly higher than for the same infants at home five months later,
even though the children (aged between 11 and 20 months when they
started nursery) by then appeared to have settled and no longer showed
outward signs of distress.
In a further insight into the way young children react to daycare - an
increasingly common experience for UK toddlers as more and more
mothers return to the workplace - a related study also reveals that
children at nursery do not see a drop in cortisol levels over the day as
they would at home. Instead, they remain "unusually aroused or
stressed", and, a research paper to be published next spring and drawing
on the cortisol studies concludes, they need extra time and attention at
the end of the day to help bring them back to "emotional equilibrium"
ready for the next day at nursery. Without that comfort from a parent,
says the paper, the children start the following day "hyper-aroused",
which can lead to behaviour problems or disobedience.
The findings do not mean that daycare is bad for children, and there is no
evidence yet of long-term effects of raised cortisol levels, according to
co-author Michael Lamb of Cambridge University. However, the
conclusions can help provide pointers to show how parents, nurseries and
policy-makers can minimise the stress toddlers experience when they
make the transition from home.
Amid government moves to boost the UK's childcare provision, the
majority of youngsters now spend at least part of their pre-school years
in some form of childcare. In March this year, there were 518,000 full
daycare places in England, generally in nurseries, according to the
inspectorate Ofsted, with the number of children using them even higher
because some places are part-time. Childminders provide 316,000 more
places, and playgroups, after-school clubs and crèches bring the total
registered places for under-eights up to 1,468,300.
There is now one full-time regular childcare place for every four children
under eight, compared with one for every nine when Labour came to
power in 1997, and the government plans further expansion under its
10-year childcare strategy launched last December.
However, group-based daycare is not without critics. A series of studies
in the US and Britain - highlighted last year in the Guardian - have
concluded that high levels of group-based care can have damaging
effects on some aspects of emotional and psychological development for
children under two. After two, the situation reverses, and group-based
care benefits all aspects of a child's development.
In his paper, to be published next year and co-authored by Lieselotte
Ahnert of the Free University of Berlin, Prof Lamb proposes a range of
measures to ease children's experience of daycare. One way of controlling
the build-up of stress, according to the paper, is quite simply to minimise
the time children spend in care each day. However, while some parents
may wish to reduce the time their children spend in nursery, the UK's
notoriously long working hours - the longest in Europe - still militate
against parents, who may also face financial pressures to spend extra
time at their desks.
Prof Lamb also suggests that nurseries provide regular rest periods which
allow "some degree of self-regulation to take place". A 2002 cortisol
study led by the US academic Sarah Watamura found cortisol levels fall
during rest times, even when children appear not to sleep.
UK nurseries could also adopt the practice common on the continent of
encouraging parents to accompany their children for the first days or
even fortnight in care to help ease the transition, the paper says.
Parents need time in the evenings to return youngsters to "emotional
equilibrium" before the children face another round of emotion-arousing
experiences, the paper concludes. However, Prof Lamb acknowledged
children's need for parental focus and a cuddle coincided with parents'
hurry "to get the food ready, clean up, get the child ready for bed".
Psychologist Oliver James, author of "They F*** You Up", said while having
time with children at the end of the day was better than nothing,"much
better would be to organise our society in such a way so that women
genuinely feel valued and have status higher than that of street cleaners if
they do want to look after their children".
The government was "throwing vast sums of money at daycare", but
would be better off focusing not on new buildings to house children but
on childminders and other small settings, he said.
How the test was done
· The 2004 Berlin study followed 70 toddlers, 36 of them girls, who
before enrolment in childcare at between 11 and 20 months had been
cared for at home, mainly by their mothers.
· Researchers measured cortisol levels in children's saliva at home before
childcare began; when their mothers were present with them at nursery;
during their first two weeks without their mother; and five months later.
· The home measurements created a baseline against which levels at
nursery were measured, although there was no control group. Higher
levels of cortisol were found during childcare, even if mothers were
present.
· Five months later, levels were still much higher than baseline levels -
prompting researchers to conclude that the novelty of childcare, as well
as separation itself, caused the stress.
I'm 32 and took adderal for approximatly 1 week, at first I liked it because I felt a little more energy and did not experiance some of the drop off effects like ritalin, however, I quit taking it when I realized how much my anxiety and aggression had intensified. Someone would make even the slightest comment that I found issue with and the fight was on. I didn't notice it right at first but after the 4th day of argueing and wanting to basically seek and destroy everything and everyone I stopped taking it. I am always concerned about children on meds because I understand how as an adult many of these meds ( and I've suffered my way through many) have effected me. A child does not have the capacity to understand the mental and physical changes that go with starting and stopping these medications.
Thank you to everyone who has responded...It really helps to collect other information and to know that this side effect is possible, sometimes your just not sure if it's the meds or something else. One of the main reasons I was curious about this is because last year when my daughter went to preschool 2 days a week on those evenings our house was similar to what it is now and it just so happens that she now goes to Kindergarten and those nights is when these 'extra' emotions occur and that's where I think our problem might be. Yesterday there was no school so she went to daycare and the evening was much, much better. There was still the occassional whining and smart talking but, it was very easy to talk her out of that.
Has anyone tried the therapy along with meds? Good results? Bad results? No results?
i just tryed adderall30mg and its the best ive felt in a long time so what would i tell my doc to get on them
thank you
[QUOTE=nightflower]
i just tryed adderall30mg and its the best ive felt in a long time so what would i tell my doc to get on them
thank you
[/QUOTE]
That it's the bomb!
I'm on 30 mg XR (I'm 17), and I notice that I become pretty weepy and very testy, especially when things don't go according to plan. Definately keep your child busy during this time. On days where I have fun, interesting, and intellectually engaging extra-curriculars, I notice that these emotions either don't occur, or are greatly lessened.
Make plans like these, and keep a set bedtime. It should help
I'm a 49r, using another CNS stim, Ritalin LA.
There is definitely a knee jerk reaction to the metabolism of the medicine. My phsrynque adjusted my timing in order that I'm still under the influence when I arrive home, in order that my family does not pay the price. It has helped, but then there arose the complications of insomnia. Therefore he prescribed Ambien, which has worked rather well.
I am now satisfied with my medications, and have been so for ~4 years.
Best wishes,
D
I'm new here....I've been reading alot, but this is my first post. Hi to everyone.
Anyway, my dd(5 1/2) was 'offically' diagnosed w/ADHD combined type this past spring. While researching about her I realized my husband has it too, so he went in and was able to start meds right away, where my dd has not been so lucky. We tried Straterra until the phsyc eval could be done & now we've tried Concerta, Focalin XR, & now Adderall XR....we started on 10mg of Adderall and we're up to 20mg....my question is...does anyone out there have or had problems w/emotional outbursts & unable to control their behavior when coming off of it? Also, sleeping problems...I don't sleep in the same room as her, but I know that she can't be sleeping well....because most of her emotional problems occur when she is tired and/or hungry. But, our evenings are becoming so caotic that we are at our wits end...Our other two children 16 & 2 (no typo) don't receive any attention and the 2 yr old especially when things are quiet she'll start being naughty and I think it's because she thinks yelling and crying are suppose to be happening.. Should I call her dr and explain this & see if maybe a afternoon, short acting meds & maybe sleeping meds should be considered? I just don't know.