well, we called it too soon... our son began taking adderall xr 5 mg. a month ago. after about a week and a half we noticed that the meds were no longer having an effect. so the pediatrician increased the dose to 10 mg. now we're back to it not working.
this is the first medication we have tried and i feel so let down. after seeing the effects of it the initial days, and seeing how happy jacob was, i feel like i'm at the end of my rope and yet know from reading the posts here that we are just beginning the ride on the rollercoaster.
jacob has adhd combined type and is only 4 1/2. he is bright and affectionate and has been through the wringer in being evaluated by a neurologist, psychologist, the school distrcit, mri, eeg, ekg, you name it. i just want him to be ok and want some sense of peace in our home. the hyperactivity is making me bonkers.
we see the pediatrician this friday and a psychiatrist next week. any suggestions from other adderall users with similar experiences? will appreciate any help
Do the meds work at all? My son takes the XR brand but his metabolism is so high that he needs to take 2 XR a day and one of the 4 hr pills.
If it doesn't work at all, maybe you need another type of drug. There are several types that attack the problem differently.
Be sure to ask about behavior mods too. I.e. My son likes to play ball in the house despite all the warnings. You can't phase it like, "Do you want to quit?" or 'will you quit?' While these kids may not know what semantics are, they do look at it as if it's "No, I dont want to quit." or "No, I'am not going to quit." as though you are giving them the option as opposed to saying, "you must stop."
i put my 4 1 /2 year old son on it for two days......the side effects were horrible. I took him off and am looking into alternatives. I feel that he needs more time to mature. is your son in school? My daughter is 9, and she has been taking Adderall XR for 2 years. She has been on 25 MG for about 11/2 years. At the beginning, she was on the 5mg, but had to gradually be increased to her present dose. It would seem to help a little at lower doses, but the effects would gradually seem to wear off. She seems to do well on her present dose, and the effects do not seem to wear off until late afternoon. It may be that your son just needs to have his doseage increased..IMac38945.4950462963My son couldn't take Adderall either..... it worked wonderfully for his ADHD but we too had some bad side affects. Maybe it's just not the drug for your child...or maybe like steppingstone suggested you need to work up to a dose that will work him. Good Luck!paty, is it just not working or do you have side effect s that are problems?...Perhaps the medication is just not the correct dosage....talk to your doc. My son is pretty hyper and 10mg would not touch his symptoms....I was told that this has alot to do with metabolism...he has a fast metabolism just like his Dad.HI Paty, I feel for your frustrations and you guy is still so little! The first thing we tried was the Adderall, and he did wonderfully on it, but we took him off because of the long-term side effects. Ritalin did not do a thing but take away his happy. Then I said enough. It's hard to keep trying different meds and putting them through the adjustments to find just the right one. We are trying supplements now, and having some luck. (And they don't wear off at 3:30!) Everyone is different. If you are interested in that route, there is the alternatives board here you might check out with lots of ideas. Some are having luck with homeopathy, the omegas-magnesium-zinc combos, biofeedback, brain exercises, crawling exercises, etc. If you guy is still young, you might try a high DHA omega3 for him, which is so important for any young developing brain.
It's all a bit overwhelming, but hang in there, and take it day by day. The only way I've come to terms with it, is to adore my guy just the way he is, and to stop trying to change what he inherantly is. I mean, guide him of course, but can't change him. Know what I mean?
Two possibilities: He doesn't have ADHD, but a mimicker so stims make him worse. THe other is that Adderrall is wrong for him. Of all the stims, they cause the most aggression in the most kids, and aggressive kids don't need help (nor are overly aggressive kids usually ADHD, although they are often labeled such). You may want to try another stim and, if that doesn't work, have a new evaluation. Adderrall is also the most abused ADHD med on the street. My 21 year old daughter crushed it and snorted it for years with her friends and claims they are widely abused. Although all the ADHD meds are, I'd probably want to go with Ritalin or Concerta if we needed a stim or, better yet, STraterra, which is not abused at all since it's an antidepressant and does not give a "normal" kid a "high." Good luck.thanks to everyone for your responses. to clarify, i guess the best way to describe what's happened is that we saw a significant improvement the first day he took the medication. after a week, he was back to the usual hyperactivity and inattentiveness. so we doubled the dosage with the same result. today we gave him 15 mg. and it was as if he had not taken anything. as far as side effects, he's had mild appettite suppression and some drowsiness. he weighs 47 lbs. and is tall for his age, but surely 15 mg. would have an effect. we see the doc tomorrow and i will ask about ritalin.
the most frustrating part for us is that we really agonized over putting him on meds. after seeing him doing so well initially, we feel utterly hopeless. and we know there are other meds and will start a behavior modification program through a hospital in three weeks.
this is an ehausting disease for all concerned. i feel like it's taken over our family dynamics and i feel so badly for jacob.
again, thanks to everyone for responding. it's very comforting to know that there are others out there dealing with the same issues.
thank you all.
My son is 50lbs and takes a 25mg dose. We started at 10, then went to 20 and now we're at 25 and seems to be doing the trick. With him at 47 pounds it sounds like his dosage is too low.
Sarah