anyone had success with ritlain? | ADHD Information

Hello
My son was on ritalin 10mg in am, 10mg at noon and 5 mg at 3 for 1 1/2 years and it worked great, but then his ups and downs were awful so my ped turned to ritalin la 20mg, it has been working great, I also tried medidate and that worked good too, I have been using the Ritalin LA now and his teacher has noticed alot more concentration at school. No side effects on any meds so far. He is now 7. he is in 1st grade, reading at a 2nd grade level and just aced all his school assesstment tests. in fact got 100's on all 3 of them. So school is doing great, and I do give him meds on weekends and off days, for I am a believer that dont get body used to no meds.
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My son has been taking Ritalin for 2 years. At first he was on 20mg/day Ritalin LA (long-acting) 7 days/week. This was in 1st grade. The turnaround was nearly miraculous at school. Suddenly focused, well-behaved, excelling in school. The loss of appetite and difficulty falling sleep at night, however, were drawbacks.

Halfway through 2nd grade we realized that not only was he losing weight (no appetite) but he was almost withdrawn socially. He was completely uniinterested in physical activity or sports or even playing with other kids.

So... after winter break he switched to 1 10mg short-acting tablet in the morning, only on school days. He now eats some lunch at school and a good dinner and eats very well on the weekends. I can tell which schoolwork he did in the morning or afternoons, LOL, but he's doing fine. It helped that he is very bright to begin with. And his social life is MUCH better and he is playing baseball and outside. Weekends are definitely more stressful as he struggles with his impulsivity and hyperactivity, but we decided he HAD to eat. And he has matured from when he started on meds and was almost uncontrollable.

Good luck! We love Ritalin, but it's NOT perfect.

Mom2Bean

My boys (9 and 6) are doing GREAT on Ritalin.  It has changed our lives.  I used to have to stand behind my eldest with my hands on his shoulders to keep him in his chair EVERYDAY after school to do his homework.  If I left for one moment, he as out of the chair and doing something else.  We spent HOURS doing simple homework.  That was in the beginning of this school year.  Once he was diagnosed, and was given Ritalin, after three months (March), he came home from school and went DIRECTLY to his table to do his homework!!!  I can't tell you how our family has transformed.  He does not stop until his homework is done!  I do not need to stand behind him ( I can actually start cooking dinner now!!).   To  my disbelief, he made the honor roll during the last quarter of the school year.  Now I know how normal mothers feel.  What a delight!  His self-esteem has bolstered and he can't wait to start 4th grade, so he can be on the honor roll each quarter!  My 6-year old is no longer sitting in the principal's office waiting for me to pick him up for being out of his chair or crawling around under things in the classroom!  He now feels a new sense of proudness!  Which I do, too.  I have finally figured out that life can be o.k.  Better late than never.  From the post above, though, I didn't know that I could take them off of their meds on the weekends, is that O.K.?  Is it beneficial to them?  For those of you that your children have been on Ritalin for many years, is it a constant thing?  Can I expect my children to be on this medicine forever?  Will they eventually learn to control themselves?  Does anyone know?  Anyway, very happy for now...

BarbaraF wrote:
 From the post above, though, I didn't know that I could take them off of their meds on the weekends, is that O.K.?  Is it beneficial to them?  For those of you that your children have been on Ritalin for many years, is it a constant thing?  Can I expect my children to be on this medicine forever?  Will they eventually learn to control themselves?  Does anyone know? 

Barbara F, since my son is now a young adult I can tell you how this played out. My son started taking ritilan at age 7. I didn't take my son off medication in the summer because the symptoms of ADHD didn't go away in the summer. He was hyperactive and extremely unfocused and it wasn't uncommon for him to dart out in front of cars, throw rocks at peoples windows or disobey me by going in the pool alone when I told him not to. I tried taking him off one summer and it was nothing short of a miracle that a tragedy didnt occur. Mind you, I was a stay at home mom and watched him constantly. I didn't have enough eyes.

 ADHD is not just a school problem. Its a problem that affects every area in life. One might say he doesn't need it out of school as he doesn't have to focus on academics but being focused out of school was far more important to me as it was a safety issue. However, everyone knows their child best but this was not an option for my child. He would go from being in total control on medication to being totally out of control off of it . Again, I did what was best for my child because as parents, only we know what is best.

Once children approach adulthood, they do mature and many of the symptoms do tone down ONLY if the child has had the proper interventions as a child. Through interventions like behavior modification and social skills training classes in combination with medication, they learn self control, they develop better coping skills and they learn to compensate for their  limitations. However, off medication, many adults still go on to have many struggles. Life is harder in general. Its not a bad thing to continue medication into adulthood because having quality of life is a good thing and its not a bad thing not to continue taking medication if being off medication doesnt impede on quality of life. Everyone is different and comes from different circumstances so its all very individual.

I aopogise for not making myself a bit clearer i dont want to confuse people the thing is with my son is he goes to his nans at weekends Friday tea time till Saturday tea time so my mom will give him his morning and lunchtime but will leave his tea time dose out and then on Sunday i will do the same give him morning and lunchtime and miss his tea time dose i chose to do this myself but if i'm due to go to a family party etc i do give him his tea time dose hope this helps.

Have to admit i chose to do this myself as i was getting to the point where i couldnt see if his meds were working but straight awaybut after missing his dose i could tell the difference.

My Dr told me that sometimes kids become immune to the meds so a short stay off them reboots the meds has anybody else heard this.

 

 

 

My son is 13 and has been on ritalin since 15th March this year and i am so glad i took the Dr's advice as i was against meds at first but knew my son deserved the chance of a better life both at school and at home before the meds he would shout scream fight with his sister every day all day unless i seperated them had more than 1 detention a week for misbehaviour in school got suspended for shouting abuse at a teacher wouldnt do anything i told him to do i was scared and embarassed to take him out as his behaviour was unacceptable and if he were to go and play out with his mates i would be sat at home fretting as he would be fighting or getting into trouble.

Since the meds he is a changed lad very calm can concentrate a lot more at school and at home and can for the first time in his life keep his anger under control for example a lad of 10 threw his hat in a pool of mud yesterday and he walked away came home upset as he said he didnt want to hit him as he was only small now 6 months ago my son would have beat him up so i was very proud of him he is a lot more understanding of things and will sit and chat with me which is very nice my friends and family have noticed a big change in him on meds also.

I do give Aaron a med break some weekends as i feel its important too plus my Dr said it is good sometimes to reboot the system the only side affects aaron has had are stomach cramps in the first few weeks  and appetite loss but he makes up for it late at night and will eat like a pig.

I am not sure if our kmids become immune to these drugs or not. I suspect that maybe they do. After all their dosages do have to be increased as they get older. Also it makes sense that your body would become immune to any drug that you took on a continuous basis.

I choose to let my son have a med break on Saturday and Sunday. This is choice that his doctor and I made. It is not right for everyone. I just think that his body deserves a break. He also doesn't take them on holidays. I don't know if this has enabled us to have him on the same dosage all school year or not. This could be because I use natural supplements also.

I am due to fly abroad tomorrow and was thinking of giving him a break from meds all week  but was slightly worried but from your post you say that you give your son a break on holidays so i think i'll do the same.

Yes, it's worked, low dose, only for school.  Big difference in concentrating, reading social signals -- although there is appetite loss. 

But some stimulants word better for some kids than others.  Experiment with short-acting stimulants;  try several.  Adderall made him crabby.  Ritalin worked.  Keep trying.  If none work, he may not be ADHD; he may be Bipolar or Aspergers.

Ritilan for my son was a life changing experience because it afforded him the opportunity to bring out his personal best in all areas of life. He was put on Ritilan at age 7 and now he is a young adult. He doesn't self medicate, hes a law biding citizen, is in college and works two jobs. My son is an example of the positive effects of medication 12 years later. With regard to the do's and don'ts of medication, do get accurate information and don't heed the advice of a troll.

BarbaraF wrote:
They really feel good about themselves now and are now learning how to socialize with other children without bouncing off the walls.  Thanks again

Your very welcome What you describe above is exactly what the goal is. Effective treatment is what paves the path to a potentially very positive outcome as they enter into adulthood. While none of us have a crystal ball and can't predict the future, the right interventions do increase the odds that these children will succeed

Luvmykids02, thank you.  My 9 year old takes 1 and 1/2 pills (5 mg) at 7:30 am, 1 and 1/2 pills at 11:30 am and 1 pill at 3:15pm.  Each dose lasts almost 4 hours.  About 3 hours after each dose, you can see him start to let loose!   Until the next dose sets in...  My 6 year old takes 1 pill (5mg) at 7:30 am, 1 pill at 11:30 and 1/2 pill at 3:15 pm.  The same is true with him.  It is quite obvious when the medication is wearing off!  I don't even need to watch the clock.  When they start going bezerk, I know it's time for their next dose!  I remember how life was for them (and me!) before meds.  They were miserable with themselves and ALWAYS in trouble (at home and in school).  Thank God for medicine.  They really feel good about themselves now and are now learning how to socialize with other children without bouncing off the walls.  Thanks again.    

you know i have that problem as well my son started on 10mg in the morning and 5 mg at lunch and after about an hour or so it just seemed to wear off and not work anymore, he doesn't seem to be concentrating alot either and distracted easily, i don't hink this is the right med for us, i want to try something else but this doctor isnt into prescribing children with long lasting medsMy son is taking Ritalin 5 mg a day. 1/2 in the morning & 1/2 in the afternoon after lunch. It only seems to work for a hour or so. We tried him on 10 mg a day & he was complaining of an upset stomach. He is 4 years old. I think it works but doesn't last very long. We are trying to get something that last longer.  

i swear i just read the exact same response to another thread.

a little bit of imagination here please,these people are individuals who need individual advice,not some scientology brainwash answer

this boy chums on the church of scientology webpage ritalindeath.  Lies and then he adds a little of his own.  Can't even figure out how to set font size so it's readable.  An unreadable lie gets read by noone little boy.Eliza21 my son's doctor and I both agreed to give him a med break.  I think it is a good idea to give your body a break from any med if possible. He is more of a handful without his meds. I only have the one child though so it makes it a bit easier I think. I just keep him busy.Eliza, glad you're here and well acquanted enough with the board to know who the trolls are.  My son takes Strattera and Ritalin LA.  The Strattera was working well on his attention but the doctor added the Ritalin in the middle of 6th grade when ds pulled his pants down on the bus because some kid said he'd give him .  It has helped the impulsivity tremendously.  It in no way controls his actions, instead I think it lets him control himself.  Ds gets his meds everyday, in fact I don't think he's missed a day in the 4 years he's been taking it.  I want him to be able to participate in weekend activities and he just was too out of focus to do well.  Now he's doing good in school (mostly) and has friends.  I've seen kids in his boy scout troop who are obviously ADHD and their parents don't give them meds on the weekend.  The kids end up being obnoxious and hard to control and it ends up that nobody has much fun.  He's now in 7th grade and I think will do well in 8th.  He's happy with himself and his life.  That's the most important for me, that he's happy.  If he wasn't, I wouldn't hesitate taking him off of the meds. My son took Ritalin so long ago that I really can't remember any specifics, only that it really turned things around for him.  So, even though I can't really help you just wanted to let you know that someone will.  Please don't be scared off by Binformed....you will not find any posts here about kids getting sick on Ritalin unless they were initiated by Binformed or Anti-ritalin (and they are trolls). julie33932638863.8511342593My son is currently taking ritalinSR. It helps him be calmer and concentrate better. It works much better now then it did when he was younger. He only takes it on school days.

Binformed doesn't worry me i just hate reading about their crap on here, did anyone notice that binformed came around the time that anti ritlain started getting reported.

(lovemyboy) does your son only take it on school days because of the break they are meant to have? my son hasn't had a break yet only the day i forgot to give him his meds, god that was a real bad day i wish i had of stayed in bed..lol

 

why did you change from the dex to ritalin? because he was getting a bit emotional on dex so the dr said he'd be better off on ritlainno, and several people here's kids are real sick on that crap.  just read the posts.  it's toxic.Hey everyone i was just wondering if any of you guys have had your children on ritlain and if so could you please express how you think it changed your child. I just want to compare and see what everyone else thinks about it, my son has been on it for about a month and a half now and i'm not real sure its doing much at all, i almost think he was better on Dex.my daughter does a short dose (5mg)in the morning along with strattera and it helps her to both calm down and focus in school so that more detailed work like long writing or math computation is easier. No side effects, for her, with the short dose.

My daughter started out on Ritalin LA and did awsome on the lowest dose then after 6 months it became inaffective so they moved it to the next dose up and she did act different and I had doubts she was also suffering from a virus that week and began having a fear of bugs and did not want to do anything why we had it changed why I had doubts.  She is on Concerta now and I will say I like the Ritalin LA better and she only gets it for school. 

I was against meds at first and our psychologist said lets give it a try one year and then we will try  her without and it was a hard decision and i saw she was doing terrible at school and had no friends so I gave meds a shot, me the diehard.  Well she now has two friends and is doing a  lot better in school a 90 degree turnaround so I am impressed, still cautous but impressed.

My daughter is on Ritalin , she seems to Concentrate a lot more.She seems calmer in herself.She still has her tantrums however she has never ever sat down on her own to play with any toys now she does.She will sit down and play with her dolls etcYes......... my son started on Ritalin in 5th grade. He has been on several forms of Ritalin...both long and short acting.  It has enabled him to concentrate better at school.  I'm convinced he would be failing and have given up by now had it not been for his medication treatment. Stimulants aren't perfect, but for the kids that do respond positively, they really help them.  My son just completed 7th grade.  By middle school, the academic and organizational demands really accelerate tremendously.  My son could not cope with the demands of 7 teachers and 7 class changes without the help of this medication.   Okiemom