med trial and error | ADHD Information

Bump up means that someone is responding in order to push this topic back up to the top.

My son is 17 ADHD/LD/dysgraphia/gifted and we went through about two years of trying to get the right medication and dose.

During that time we moved from east to west coast and consequently a change in doctors. I also discovered differences in philosophies of the use of medication.

DS was on various doses of Ritalin, Ritalin with Clonidine (zombie like); changed doctors then Ritalin w/clonidine at night; tried Adderal (not so focused but socially great)and Metadate without success, back to Ritalin, then Concerta when it came out, then Ritalin LA when it came out.

My thought in reading about your son is concern about the nervousness and anxiety while on a stimulant. It causes me to wonder about the dx if that is correct... or perhaps he is like my son who is extremely sensitive to slight changes in the amount of a stimulant.

A little bit low, everything is fine but the focus is not quite where it should be. If it is a little bit too much, then he can become irritable. If it is more, then he becomes sleepy, more to the point of lethargy and crying (over dosed)

Pills that can be cut or shaved off at the edge like Ritalin IR (4 hour dose) allowed us to try different doses to fine tune the right amount for him. It also was just a 4 hour dose, so that if the dose was totally wrong, you could often see the effect immediately and not have to put him through a whole day of feeling crummy. Believe it or not I became an expert at breaking ritalin pills in 1/2, 1/4 and cutting them into 1/8s! These slight amount made a difference for him.

For awhile on Ritalin LA, I needed to measure some of the beads out of the capsule.

Keep a detailed log on the medication and dose and your son's behavior. Include levels of activity, social interaction, coordination, conversation, focus and attention to detail (I often gave ds a short writing and/or editing activity). At your son's age an activity such as copying designs may show differences in ability to sustain attention and focus.
Provide a copy of the log for doctor and have him answer your questions related to it. Say, what type of doctor do you have?

Best wishes for you and your son!
Hi Auntie, I'm fairly new and am just wondering what it means when you say bump up? I don't know all the lingo yet!bump up so maybe someone else can help you.Our son is on no adhd right now. We quit until we get a correct dx. My son is 5 years old. He was diagnosed this past oct. with adhd and some learning disabilities secondary to the adhd. The doctor started him on adderral and occupational therapies.We got up to 30mg of the adderral, but I hated the way he was on it. He was shaky, nervous, unhappy(usually an overly loving boy) and still unattentive in class.The only positive was he wasnt bouncing off the walls anymore. We just switched to ritalin la now up to 20mg. It almost seems like he isnt even taking anything now. He is still very hyper with a med come down where I have to almost sit on him to get him still.It has only been 3 weeks and I know we will wind up going up on the dose. My big question is for parents with younger adhd past or present. How many times did you have to swtch meds? How long until you hit a right dose? I have a lot of family members with adhd, but all they had to say is there was only ritalin way back when.

well....   Defenetely the Ritalin La is working..... I see a huge improvement!   Yesterday we went to get him a haircut, to the mall, cheesecake factory for lunch and we had a Great Day !...   No meltdowns.... No tantrums...No screaming..No running wild..  We could not believe it.     

This is such a blessing !           ;   Now we need to figure out what we need to do  because this only lasts about 6-7 hours...      What do we do with the rest of the day ??         &nbs p;   He is taking the 20mg long lasting ..(Ritalin La) once a day.         &n bsp;   Like your child in the evenings he becames the little Terror he normally is ...         &nb sp;     I guess we need to call the Psych. tomorrow to maybe get a short acting form for the evenings.

 

My son was diagnosed by a phychologist. He had us fill out all sorts of forms and answer a bunch of questions. We had to answer and his teachers at school also. He came to the conclusion that he was ADHD and mild ODD. ADHD is in my husbands family also. We are now going for councilling to get some help in coping with the behaviour. Our son is going to be getting some direct thereby also. We swithched him from Ritalin because he was getting really constipatde and bitting his nails really bas. I found the Ritalin LA was woking really well at first then not so much and we added 1 short ackting. When we did that he was laying around all the time, not playing with friends and just making him miserable. We are now off the Ritalin and on Strattera. He is on 25mg ang we might up it to 40. He is a very big boy for his age so they go by wieght. He is 140 pounds. Thanks for the reply. I am so addicted to this website. I am finding it really helpful just reading about other peoples trial and errors. kyty,
I've found that I can be easily "addicted" to this site for the same reason's too. I've been through so much with my ds over the years and never really had anyone that could really understand what we went through. i'm glad it's available for parents, especially those just starting out with a dx.

well sethsmom - you know better than anyone when and how his focus and moods change.  If he gets meds in the AM try and get food in him before the med so there's no worry of appetite.  That's what I would think would work best.

 

I'm interested in the responses in this topic, too. I just posted a looooooooong post in the Focalin thread that pretty much says what the person that started this thread did - how darn long until we find the right thing to help our kid?!? I hate playing around with meds - this is our CHILD - not a science experiment!!

Loved how he acted & did on Adderall XR (though occasionally had a rough patch in evenings, but nothing we couldn't handle)... Ethan HATED how it made him feel.

Tried Strattera - didn't notice any real change.

Went BACK to Adderall XR & he did SUPER in school - but started palming his meds. Took us awhile to figure it out - but was OBVIOUS that something was wrong.

Now he's on Focalin (only for 1 week). The teachers & all of his family are ready to vote him off our island! :o) He's almost WORSE than he was before.

I tried no meds - just therapy & rewards - BAD idea.

Now this kid is failing more than half his classes - which is a shame because he's SO bright! He's getting in trouble at school & at home (I recently had a split-second mental image/fantasy of whacking his Daffy Duck beak off his face like Daffy's girlfriend would when he mouthed off! Don't worry, I didn't do it, but BOY did I WANT to! He was being such a brat!)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I don't know what to do!!!!

Hi swamp fox 28!

We have tried alot of different meds also. We tried Ritilin la and Ritilin fast. It worked for a while then nothing so we uped it and it was horrible. Then we slowly weened him of that and got him on Strttera. This one was over 5 weeks A LONG TIME. In the last week the only thing we noticed was he  was getting into trouble at school again and getting very lippy (more so than usuall) and the worse of it was he was over emtional. It was horrible. I went back to the doc. and got switched ti Concerta. My son has been on this for 1 week and so far so good. The teacher said he is doing much better and we are able to work through the problems that happen at home much easier. He still has his personality but is not zombied.

I totaly feel for you in how you feel. I went in to the doc. saying thats it NO MORE! He said to try the concerta and explained it to me and for now it's working. I guess Ive come to the realization that I have to enjoy him  and that we are his advocates. If this one stops working god forbid then we start again.

As for having a mental break unfortunatly I'm sure we all have and regret ever even thinking those thoghts. I know Ive almost had to admit myself into the loney bin many times, but then what would he do?

Good luck and your thoughts are normal!

  Ok, his doc switched him to focalin xr 20 mg due to the fact he still didnt have very good concentration. Hated it!!!!!!! He was wired, mean, extremely innatentive, whiny and bizzare at times. So I called and just got him switched back to Ritalin. She did up it to 30mg. I am wondering if he wouldnt do better with a dose in AM and a dose after lunch. He is much happier on ritalin, now that I have to get his system used to it again.    JUST AN UPDATE.  Wow, I forgot I started this thread because noone responded, but thanx. He is still on 20mg, I think there is actually some improvement althhough I think it may need to be increased. The hardest side effect is 6pm, litterally he becomes a small terror just bouncing all over the house and he usually starts getting the other 2 with him . We are actually taking him back to the behavior specialist who did the initial DX with some suspisions of aspergers. I am guessing they will still treat the adhd so I will keep posting. Michel72, you keep posting as well.

I truly have to wonder if you've only seen negative effects or none at all if it may not be something else.  Many times biological reasons can look just like ADHD to the unskilled physician in ADHD.

Have your caregivers taken blood to do a screening for thyroid, diabetes and heavy metal poisoning?? How about allergies? They all can look like many of the effects of ADHD.  Like hyperactivity, restlessness, lack of memory.  And often agression and other non-ADHD symptoms come along with it to give a clue.  Also Autism, though it comes with ADHD often can come alone and has many of the same appearances as ADHD.

I hope all tests were done but often they are not.  If not get another physician right away and voice your concerns.  I am a big advocate of ADHD meds - but will always ask that it be used accordingly and that all other avenues are exhausted.

I wish you much luck in this.

Hi..

My son in also 5.   He was on Adderall...bad side effects...then Focalin xr...Nothing...then Clonidine got very very sleepy and drowsy...Now we are like you trying the Ritalin La.. So far 3 days and Nothing...Just like you...Hyper Hyper..and It seems to get more hyper as the medicine wears off.   He has not had any sideeffects yet.  I gave him 10mg the first day and 20mg yesterday and today..but like I said..NOTHING....

The doctor said we can go up to 40mg.    I think we are going to try it and see what happens since there are no bad side effects yet with 20...  I will keep you posted and see what happens... Also...please let me know how your son is doing and If you are uping the dosage .

Hi, michel72

I have to make a correction my son is 9 years old. I am not going to up it until I see the doctor next week. I don't know if moodiness is a side affect or he is just cranky and tired. We had a rough night last night. He seems to be doing better tonight but is very loud and has a great big attitude. I'll keep you updated on whats up. Thanks for the reply!