Concerta concerns | ADHD Information

Thank you for the replies.  I have never posted anywhere before and was not sure anyone would really read.

Brandon started showing signs of anxiety within the first month and has progressed to the point of him being terrified of everything since.  He started in oct but in Jan we voiced our concerns.  We have an appointment in a few days we will NOT be going back to her.

I did not give him the medication today.  I warned his teacher and she was actually pleased about our decision.  She said he has not been himself for months, looking depressed and sometimes dazed. She said she prefered him as he was.  Meant alot to me cause so do I.  I felt like such a failure as a mom having had to resort to meds to begin with.  

I called school a couple of times to check on him and was told not to worry he was ok. When I picked him up the teacher told me he ate lunch as if he had not eaten in a month.  Loss of appetite had been another side effect we were told would go away and not to worry about despite the fact that he has gone from59 to 51 lbs in 4 months.  He ate a great dinner.

He is pretty much bouncing off the walls right now but seems very cheerful

Since psychiatrist are more apt to medicate has anyone found the use of a psychologist of any use in children so young?

MY son takes Omega 3 but can you explain about the red and yellow dyes?

Thanks again

 

 

i have a very similar story to bailey's.  when we first started out looking at alternatives, we chose to try the feingold diet.  i noticed immediately that when we removed all brightly colored candy/drinks, my son's hyperactivity improved.

very long story short, my son is doing well using homeopathy and omegas.  he now can eat whatever he choses to without the negative reactions that used to go with.

the lesson i learned, and much like bailey's again, is if you're not comfortable or happy with the results of stim meds, keep looking!

how much omega is your son getting and have you visited the alternatives section of this board?

hang in there and keep searching
kppy
For my son the red dyes in food (and it seems to be in everything!) makes him impulsive and somewhat hyper.  I didn't know it was red dye for the longest time.  last summer he had a friend over and they had been playing togethr for hours just fine.  I gave them both popcycles (my son had 2 red ones) and I cannot tell you how different his behavior changed!  He got real goofy and was being mean to his friend and just acted off the wall.  I started taking all red dye (and yellow) out of his diet which was difficult because it is in things that you would never guess.  I also started buying food with no additives and perservatives at the organic food store.  Slowly but surely that odd behavior disappeared.  When I think about all the Crystal Light RED raspberry he drank all the time, I shudder.  It explained a lot.  We don't go totally organic but I do choose foods without additives whenever possible.
I talked with a friend who has a sister who is ADD inattentive type, and she said that her sister couldn't have red dye either.  She is in her 30's now and still reacts strangly when she has it.  It is almost like a allergic reaction. 
My son is 9 now and he knows to stay away from it.  He feels that he acts different when he gets it.
What you aid about your sons teacher saying that your son is back to his old self reminds me of my sons 1st grade teacher.  She told us that he totally lost his personality while on th e drug.  She said he seemed zoned out.  How sad.
I am so happy we don't do meds anymore.  I feel guilty we did it as long as we did.  I just didn't know.  The Dr. makes you think that this little pill will solve all your problems.  It created more for us.  My son we only 7 and he couldn't verbalize how it made him feel.  He's 9 now and he tells us how confused it made him. 

I am so sorry you are going through this with your son.  I would not give him any more concerta.  I don't think more of the same med that caused the anxiety is going to do one thing and why on earth would you give him a med to take care of a medication side effect???  I would consider switching doctors, I don't know your history with this doctor though.  Maybe he is really good except for this one thing.

Anyway, my daughter takes concerta 18 mg a day, and she hasn't had any of these problems.  In fact it has been a very good med for her.  So not all meds are good for everyone.  I know it is hard to want to, but maybe talk about switching meds, and see if the same effects happen.  just because one med made him anxious, the next one may not.

Just my opinion, and I am in no way an expert at this stuff.  If you don't mind my asking, how long had your son been on the concerta when you noticed the anxiety?

My 5 yo has been on 18mg of Concerta since Oct.  Although his attention and behavior is much improved and he is finnaly making some progress in school I am thinking of discontinuing meds. He went from being a happy yet hyperactive child with attention span of about 10 seconds to a panic ridden nervous wreck.  He won't be in a room alone.  He won't even pee without someone staying in the bathroom w/ him.  He holds it in so long at school he has had cystitis twice in 3 months. Noices scare him.  He is in a constant state of high anxiety.  We told his doctor 3 weeks ago and she said she wanted to wait for blod work and then she would probably up the dose and prescribe something for his anxiety.  Is more meds really the solution.  He seems so unhappy. I'd think I'd rather have to deal with his hyperactivity than to atch the changes in him in the past months.  I've learned to "manage" himw/o meds we only tried it because he was behind in school and was alienating his same age cousins.  But wouldn't it be kinder to get him more help with school like tutors and surround him with family and friends who were more tolerant and understanding of his condition?  I have never been much in favor of meds and believe me I tried most of whats out there -diets, supplements etc. Nothing has worked..  Concerta seems to work on one had but at what price? I will be getting him up for school in a couple hours and I probably will not be giving him the pill.

We had to make that decision about a year ago.  My son didn't respond well to Adderal although it DID help his inattentiveness.  Other than that, the drug was a nightmare.  My son was not himself and he was miserable.  We took him off it and got him a tutor and sat sat down with his teacher to explain what we felt would help him succeed in school.  We use "rewards" for good study habits and getting his work done and in on time.  He is doing GREAT!  I have to wonder if part of it isn't maturity.  He is 9 now and suddenly seems to care about school and doing well.
I agree with you about adding more medications to aleviate the side effects from the original drug.  Our Ped. suggested we go with an anti-anxiety drug, too.  I was shocked!  This kid was not anxious at all ----at least not BEFORE he started taking the adderal.  I said absolutely not and we took him off the adderal----the side effects were so much worse to deal with than the actual ADD issue.
I believe these kids can learn strategies to compensate for their attention issues.  They don't always have to be solved by taking a pill.  In addition, he takes a teas. of Omega 3 every day and we steer clear of red and yellow dyes (which I KNOW affects him)  Do what your heart tells you.  My son has been med-free for over a year and ew won't be going back to it.