my son also picked his fingers ( thumbs mainly) when he was taking concerta..he also did worry but not to the extent of your son...he was just very irriatable ....we switched meds to Adderall and it is much better...his thumbs have started to heal and he is doing great in school...it seems that concerta did not help him much with the focus ..his school work looks like the work of a different kid.
my only advice is talk to the doctor and see if the concerta is the best for him....
my son did not do as well on any of the drugs in the Methylphenidate
group ...ritalin,concerta, or focalin
Hi, my son is 7 1/2 and has ADHD. He is currently taking 54mg of Concerta once daily. My problem here is the fact that he worries ALOT. He is constantly picking the skin on his fingers to the point where they bleed, he won't go to bed without the light on, and does poorly on math tests in school while doing excellent on the schoolwork itself. Any advice?
Michele
Michele, did the symptoms of anxiety get worse on Concerta, or were they there prior to taking Concerta?
ANY stimulant can exacerbate co-morbid anxiety. In fact, we just took our almost 13-year-old son off all stimulants because they were worsening his anxiety. If your son's anxiety increased while on Concerta, you may need to consider taking him off and trying something else. Or you may need to consider just treating his anxiety. The interesting thing is that anxiety can look very much like ADHD -- fidgety, inattentive, difficulty with transitions.
The two main ways to treat anxiety are with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or with an SSRI. I hope you are working with a board-certified child psychiatrist who can help evaluate what's going on and treat your son with the appropriate interventions. Good luck!
Any stimulant can cause anxiety. If he didn't have it before, it could be the meds. I have diagnoses of bipolar/generalized anxiety disorder/panic disorder/mild OCD and an SSRI helped me a lot (odd too because bipolars often can't take them). The SSRI took care of the anxiety AND the OCD. I also take Clonazapan and haven't had a panic attack in ten years. As a kid, I'd bite my nails until they bled, fidgeted in school, and was too nervous to concentrate. Beware that this can mimic ADHD, although I think I probably had that too and it was missed...lol. I found cognitive therapy really helpful, but more for depression than anxiety. I agree--take him to a Psychiatrist to get the full picture of what is going on. A NeuroPsych is also good. Others are less capable of making good diagnoses and it can get frustrating. Good luck.