Could you maybe explain some of the issues your DS had that lead to your seeking help for him? If his issues are mostly at school (as my DS's were) that's where you should look for noticable improvements. As far as asking the teacher, I'd avoid that if possible, especially if you are not interested in sharing your child's medical information with the school. Does his teacher use any behavioral system that will allow you to track his behavior (if behavior is the issue)? You could use that to track improvement in school without having to discuss it with the teacher. Our school uses a color system and I used that to chart DS's progress when we started on Strattera. Either way, it's a good idea to write down current behaviors to get a baseline and track progress.
Your intuition is right, you should have seen a difference by now with a stim, so it could be the wrong med or wrong dose for your child. Check with your doc first to make sure before increasing dosage just to be on the safe side (our doc will make a recommendation to increase dosage over the phone).
There's also a good thread on this board about augmenting diet with caffine. I know my DS is always clamboring to get a coffee whenever I go to starbucks, so you could always try augmenting with some OTC starbucks alternatives. You know your child best and have to do what you feel is best for them.
Welcome!
Hello! My 7 (almost 8) yo son was recently diagnosed as ADHD inattentive type, although not very severe according to his dr. We are seeing a psychiatrist and also a social worker to work on behavior modification. We have decided to give medication a try. I definately will contact my son's dr. but I wanted to get some info on how others handle the meds....
We started 4 days ago on Adderall XR 10mg. I am not sure if I notice anything different. My son doesn't seem to notice anything either. The dr. said the medication kicks in immediately. I certainly don't expect a total transformation but I thought I'd notice some, even small, change in his behavior, good or bad. His dr. said that eventually we'd become the experts on determining what dosages work, when to administer, etc. by how he reacts to times/dosage, etc. How soon do you give this before you try another dosage? Do they make Adderall XR in a 15mg. dose? He only gave us a script for 10mg. and another one for 20mg. I'd hate to step all the way up to 20mg. if 15mg. will do.
Also, he's been in school two of the four days since starting the meds. Should I ask his teachers if they've noticed anything? His dr. said that it's my call but he didn't recommend mentioning anything to the school at this point. He felt that since my son is one of his "milder cases" that with some meds and some behavior mod. he would make marked improvement that it wasn't necessary to get the school involved with an IEP or anything like that at this time.
I'm trying to take all of this in and I am reading everything I can get my hands on to educate myself! Thanks for your advice.
They do make 15 mg. However, my 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with the same exact thing and type and "borderline". We haven't noticed much difference with any of the meds and are now trying to go off of straterra and try supplements. We were on 10mg and then 15 mg of adderall xr only to have a different child in our home. The same thing with concerta. We have been on straterra for about 6 months now and if this is improvement, then it is not worth the side effects.