Any Adderall XR stories here? | ADHD Information

After quite a while of debating the issue with myself, I decided to put my 8 year old ds on meds, the psychiatrist prescribed Adderall XR.  He has significant ADHD and his grades are going down fast, with a good chance of him being held back in second grade.  Not held back because he doesn't know the answers- the tests showed he has higher than average IQ for his age.  Only held back because he can't get the answer from his head to his paper fast enough before he forgets or gets distracted.  I can't bear to have him fail- I just can't allow it. 

But I am wondering if any others here have had success/ failure with Adderall?  TIA! 

Sarah- Jacob's mom

[QUOTE=Bailey]  He just has a hard time getting them out. 

These are the exact words I have used when trying to explain this to his teacher.  I am not sure if she understands, or believes me though...

But back to Adderal XR----we did try that for about a year in 1st and 2nd grade.  He started at 5 mg. and then was bumped to 10 mg. when he began 2 nd grade.  I feel the whole experience was a nightmare.  Even on such a low dose he was unable to fall asleep at night, he had no appetite, he had extreme mood swings, he was not happy.  Basically he was not my little boy. 

ugh- these are the things I am afraid will happen...

  we took him off it and haven't had him on anything for 1 1/2 yrs.

How are you managing his ADHD now?
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My son does really well on this med.  Every child is different and responds better to certain meds. than others.  Good luck with everything.my son was on regular adderal (short acting) when he first started meds.   that lasted about two weeks.  he couldnt fall or stay asleep, stopped eating, which for him was highly unusual.  he eats like a pig, and its all burned off the second it gets down his throat due to never sitting still (wish it were that easy for me!), and all of a sudden had no desire to eat.

he then was put on short acting ritalin,and that did well for a while, while he was in school part time.  eventually he was on Ritalin LA, and we didnt have any of the same issues with the adderal.   But that eventually stopped working all together.  He is now on Focalin XR, and short acting Focalin.   he has problems sleeping, but i cant tell if thats from the meds, or just being a pain, because we've been doing this for years...

but if your sons meds arent working good for him, let your doctor know.  It can be a long and hard road finding whats right for him, but it is worth it...
My son is 9 and he sounds a lot like your son.  He was tested by a neuropsychologist in Dec.  Six hours of testing that revealed a lot.
Like your son, my son has a high IQ.  He is distracted easily and long homework assignments such as writing papers are torture for him. 
We found out during the neuropsych. evaluation that he DOES know the answers  to problems.  He just has a hard time getting them out.  We found out that his recall is slow and his memory is somewhat impaired-----that means like when he studiies his spelling words every day for a week, during the test it will seem like hearing the words for the first time.  ADD is not something that runs in our family but my son did have a traumatic birth where the blood flow was disturbed (he was born with a heart defect)  It's most likely that his learning isues are directly related to that.
But back to Adderal XR----we did try that for about a year in 1st and 2nd grade.  He started at 5 mg. and then was bumped to 10 mg. when he began 2 nd grade.  I feel the whole experience was a nightmare.  Even on such a low dose he was unable to fall asleep at night, he had no appetite, he had extreme mood swings, he was not happy.  Basically he was not my little boy.  The tacher said that Yes, he was focusing better but he had no personalilty anymore.  He was a zombie on even that low of a dose.  When he started having daily headaches to the point of vomiting, we took him off it and haven't had him on anything for 1 1/2 yrs.
Adderal was not right for my son but I have heard others say it works for theirs.  Just be careful and watch for the signs that your child is having difficulty.  My son tells me now that he was miserable on that drug.  He admits that getting things done in school was easier but he felt angry and confused.  I don't think it is a good trade off.

When my son was first diagnosed in the 1st grade with ADHD, his teacher kept telling me how smart he was but that it wasn't showing up on his work. When I asked her how she knew he was smart, she said that when she talked to him individually, he always had the right answers, but when he was in the classroom environment, he couldn't complete his work. He could tell you everyone who passed by the classroom door and about everyone who twitched their feet, rubbed their nose or did any other distracting thing, but he couldn't get the work done. The first med he took was Strattera. While this helped him academically, it made him belligerent and emotional. We switched his meds to Adderall XR. First we had him on 10mg, which seemed to do just fine, but once he was into 2nd grade, we found this not to be enough. The doc suggested increasing him to 15 mg. We tried this for a while, but he was still distracted by the sound of other kids' pencils. We went up to 20mg, and wow! what a difference. He is getting almost 100% on every test -- even when we forget to study. The biggest difference I saw was in his math timed test. On 15mg, he was getting 3 problems correct in 1 minute. On 20mg, he is now getting 18 correct. His attitude is good, he sleeps well, and he is a joy to be around. The only issue we've had is that he lost 1.5 pounds in the past 2 months. After talking to the doc, we now make sure to give him a high-fat diet -- peanut butter, butter, honey, cream cheese, whole milk. We also give him PediaSure to get more calories into him. This is making a huge difference. As others have mentioned, and as I've experienced, you have to find the med that is right for your child. Good luck!

Our daughter has been on Adderall XR for about 2 years, and it has helped.  She had some slight grogginess and headaches at the beginning.  These come back briefly each time the dose is increased.  It has also decreased her appetite.  We give supplements and Ensure for this.Our son had the headaches, too.  They were more like migraines and he would actually vomit.  They happened daily.  That was when we took him off it.
He had almost every side effect on the warning label.
It's weird how kids react so differently to these drugs.
My neighbors son actually pulled a knife on his sisters while on it. 

My Grandson has been on Adderall xr for quite a while now. The only bad side affect he had was loss of appetite...he is now 11 1/2 and seems to still be doing well on it. He could not read by the end of second grade...my daughter thought he could but when he came to visit us I would have him read to me...he would look at the pictures and guess what the words might be...of course most of them were wrong. The teacher suggested my daughter ask for an evaluation(because if the parent requests it the ball has to start rolling within 30 days)  After a few months of testing counseling ect he was diagnosed. He is now in 6th grade and has made the honor roll. He has never had much of a sleeping problem(sometimes will wake in the middle of the night tho) One thing we have found with him....is if he is allowed to play an action video game before bedtime he sleeps better. It seems he needs the stimulation to help him sleep...as a baby he had a blanky that he weaved through his fingers and sucked like mad on his Binky. He is a restless sleeper..we experimented  with 1 lb weights on his ankles at night and he seems to sleep more soundly.

But anyways the Adderall seems to be working so far...who knows when the Teen Years start

we have just started adderall xr this week and things seem to be helpful...my ds was sick from school and was able to pound out 8 pages of hw without much direction or fuss...So FAR I think this med  is pretty goodWe have been on Adderall Xr for about 3 years now.  We did try others like Ritalin LA and short acting adderall but for us this is the most effective although it seems for us that the meds are not as effective as expected in my son.  But my son is also on a massive dose at age 8 just to get minor focus and control and honestly there are still a lot of problems for us.  But my son was 8 weeks premature and on many meds and oxygen for a long time at birth and we wonder if that is not part of our problems.  But if I have to choose it is Adderall XR atleast for now.I have learned from this message board that every child responds to the meds differently, I think someone else just said that too! I have twin boys, one is on adderall xr and one is on straterra. They are both doing pretty good now, not perfect but who is right! My son that is on straterra tried the adderall xr and it made him very irritable, defiant, somewhat aggressive. We took him off of that fast! Now, his twin brother did not have the same problem with it, he was a little moody at first but they say that wears off and it did. So far they are both doing well on the meds they are on. Just keep a close eye on him and let your doctor know of any concers you may have!Every child reacts differently to meds.  I do not care for what adderall xr did for my child, but it works great for others.  Now my son is on 25mg focalin xr and doing great!  This med also does no work for everyone, I have listened to some people who's child did awful on focalin.

My daughter has been on Adderall XR since she was 9 (over 3 years).  Without it, I have little doubt that she would be near the bottom of her class rather than scoring in the 99th percentiles on standardized tests.  It has made a 180-degree change in her ability to learn and do homework.  There is definitely an optimal dose, she's gone from taking 20mg to 30mg daily over the 3 years. 

However, using Adderall XR has had it's cost.  Like others, her appetite is not good.  But if I give in and let her basically dictate the menu, she will eat.  If I serve something she decides she doesn't like, then she would just as soon not eat.  So, often I feel like I'm running a restaurant because aside from making the normal family meal, I'm typically also broiling a hamburger for her (one of about 3 things she'll eat regularly).  I also have to pack a cold lunch for her everyday at school because she won't eat the hot lunch.  It's a price I'm willing to pay to keep her on track at school.

Second drawback was the "rebound" as the medication wears off in the late afternoon.  There were constantly problems at the after-school program, and she was mean and hateful to me and her sister until she ate supper.  I wondered about her blood sugar levels since eating seemed to help, but tests showed that was OK.  This reaction was greatly lessened by adding Strattera (she now takes both).  Now I just have the ADHD symptoms in the evening and not the ADHD X100 symptoms!  Days when she has an evening event where she must stay "stable", I give her another 10mg after school.  There is a downside to that in that getting her to bed is almost impossible, but once she actually lays her head on the pillow and closes her eyes, she's out like a light. 

Sarahandbabies,
You asked how we manage ADHD now (without meds.)
Well, he doesn't have the "H" so there isn't a behavioral problem here.  He is very well behaved and can sit in school just fine.  His issues are much more inattentiveness and inability to focus.
We manage this by ALOT of communication from his teacher.  She makes sure he sits in the front of the room near her desk.  She is great about keeping him on task and offering him a quiet work place.  She gives him the option of completeing assignments at home rather than make him stress out about uncompleted work in school.  She is a great "cheerleader" for him and very positive---always pumping him up.
We also do 1 tbsp of Omega 3 (fish oil) a day.  We have done this for 4 months and i swear it has helped him.  We also had his eyes checked and he has glasses.  he is far sighted, somehting we didn't realize until last month!
We also do "rewards" for good homework and behaior at home.  He is not allowed to argue about homework or no reward.  It works great for him---he is all about instant gratification.
Anyway, all this works 100 times better than any drug did and NO SIDE EFFECTS!

[QUOTE=Bailey]We manage this by ALOT of communication from his teacher.  She makes sure he sits in the front of the room near her desk.  She is great about keeping him on task and offering him a quiet work place.  She gives him the option of completeing assignments at home rather than make him stress out about uncompleted work in school.  She is a great "cheerleader" for him and very positive---always pumping him up.
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So, it's not too much to ask the teacher to move him?  I am getting a fair amount of communication from his teacher. but right now that's not really a positive thing... He also is unable to finish his work in the class- he says its too noisy.  THat's why he's failing second grade- not because he doesn't know the stuff, it's just that it doesn't get to the paper on time...  They are on vacation this week, but maybe next week I can get his teacher to help us a little more....

Adderall, was a complete nightmare for my son. He has been on so many since the age of 5, but at age 10 was put on adderall. He went from a happy go lucky boy, to a little kid from hell. He would swear at the top of his lungs at anyone, and you would say stop swearing and he would go i wasn't, he didn't know he was doing it. He also became very violent and was getting into fist fights, with much older teenagers and wining. I t was very scary to see what it did to him, and needless to say he was not on it very long. But remember every medicine has different results on kids.