Ritalin question

According to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, 5 mg Ritalin 2 to 3 times a day is the starting dose.  Twcooke is right -- the dosage is not based on weight or age.  I would not be particularly concerned about the dose the little girl is taking (I would be more concerned that a 4-year-old needs Ritalin and whether she has been diagnosed accurately). 

BTW, your son is actually receiving double the dose as the little girl.  He is taking the equivalent of 10 mg Ritalin every 4 hours (or 20 mg over 8 hours).

I think 4 is young to be diagnosed with ADHD. The little girl's father has ADHD apparently. He was on Ritalin when he was young. So it is possible that she has it. Her grandma said she is hyper. 

I am surprised that weight has nothing to do with the dosage. You would think a lighter person couldn't tolerate as big a dose as a heavier person.

Weight doesn't influence the dose because Ritalin affects neurotransmitters in the brain, and I imagine brain chemistry has little to do with how much you weigh.  As a point of reference, my 12-year-old son, who now weighs 82 pounds, has always responded well to relatively low doses of stimulants because he has mild ADHD (mostly inattentive).

hello ,

I have a 9 yr old boy JJ. He is on strattera 40 mg and the dr added ritilin 10 mg . JJ was doing good in school and still is but it after he gets home from school he is having a hard time doing his homework. So the dr is going to add ritilin 10 mg.I am looking to see if anyone else has there child on the same combination of drugs ? strattera and ritilin...I was wondering what your experiences have been with it .

 Thats why I am starting a support group in NH to help other parents that are in my sitiuation..... please feel free to check out my online groups and post I need people in my groups..lol

IF YOU ARE NOT FROM THIS AREA YOU CAN STILL JOIN MY ONLINE GROUPS...AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW TO HELP ME OUT...

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR INFO AND HELP...

Hello
My name is Monica Labranche. I just wanted to send you an e-mail to let you know that I am starting a CHADD support group in brentwood nh .  I am thinking my first meeting will be the 22nd of december. I am still trying to get a place to hold the first meeting . I just wanted to touch base with you and see if you would be joining us for our first meeting.
 
I was also curious about a few things and wanted some opinions :
 
1. whats the best time for you to come to a meeting ?
 
2. What would be the best day of the week for you and your family ?
 
3. Would child care be a problem ?
 
 I am going to try to maybe get some volunteeres to watch the kids If I can, to provide daycare while we have our meetings. That way the kids can hang out and play to .
 
Thank you for your time . I look forward to hearing from you .
 
please spread the word of my online groups too !!!!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CHADDofBrentwoodNH/

http://www.chaddonline.org/chapters/chadd127.html

monica labranche

chaddofbrentwoodnh@comcast.net

Monica I am from Buffalo area and there are no CHADD groups here and I wish there were it would be helpful to have.  I would love to get involved.  If you hear of any let me know PM me.

     My daughter is on ritalin 10 mg the extended one 1x per day now for three weeks and prior she started with 5mg 1x per day.  My doctor started her off the lowest dosage and go from there, so far so good.  my girl fights meds but will take it willingly she knows it helps  her.