We are having a follow-up appt. with dd's dev. ped. today. Today I am planning on asking for some med changes. Currently, she is on 27 mg Concerta, 25 mg Strattera in a.m., 18 mg Strattera in p.m., and 10 mg Ritalin in afternoons to help with the rebound effects of Concerta. I don't feel that Strattera is working at all anymore, and most times we don't bother giving to her anymore. And I am pretty sure I want to switch from Concerta to some other long-acting methylphenidate because I feel the 27 mg is not enough, but the 36 mg is too much. I was reading up on Concerta, and its initial dose after ingestion is 22% of the total. My calculations then she is getting 5.9 mg initial dose with the 27 mg Concerta pill. Based on her behavior (basically her intolerance of her sister), I just don't think it is enough. For example, yesterday afternoon, after a rather turbulent day(typical), we gave her 10 mg of Ritalin at 5 p.m. and then we all went out to dinner. By the time we got to the restaurant, it had kicked in and she was golden. Her 5 yo sister was doing things to bug her, but she was able to use her words and not "take the bait" so to speak. She even had an appetite, lol.
Her personality seems to have changed, also. I'm not sure if it is medication, ODD popping up, or increased anxiety, or just a phase, or just being a girl, lol. She doesn't show any interest in playing with a friend this summer. She has been interested in the birds and chipmunks in our yard, though not obsessively. I had the great idea as a little project, to try to catch some chipmunks and then relocate them. It has been fun for her to check the traps. Finally after about 5 days of no luck, we caught 2 yesterday. It was a very exciting day, lol.
dd, 7yo, ADHD, LD-NOS, possible ODD