My recently-turned 14 y/o son was diagnosed last Sept and has responded very well to meds. The psychiatrist who diagnosed him wants to continue to meet with us monthly and only writes his Rx's for 30 days worth of meds with no refills.
Is this standard practice? I don't feel my son needs to be seen by a psychiatrist so frequently (at a cost of 0/visit) yet I would think some form of "monitoring" is appropriate.
Please share your stories of ongoing treatment for your child's ADHD
Thanks!
It is common to have to go in for a new prescription monthly, as they can't give refills, just because of the class of medication. Having said that, each doctor does this differently. My sons doctor, when he was on meds, would just have me call in to let them know how things were going, and if all was well, I could just come pick up a new prescription. Otherwise, he had to go in every 4 months, unless there were problems.
My doctor has been seeing me monthly, but the cost is different then the initial appointment. My initial evaluation was 0 dollars, but I was in there for about 5 hours. Now I only go in for about 45 minutes and I think it's like an appointment. We are still finding my correct dosage though, and he has said that I will not be seeing him as often once we are happy with the med/dosage. I'm guessing at that point my medication will be handled through my general practitioner (just to pick it up monthly), with a review with him occasionally. I'm "assuming" this just based on what he said at my last appointment. I'll know more when I go back in, exactly how he plans on handling things.
0 a month seems a bit steep to me. Tell him your situation and see if you can't handle the prescription issue back through your regular doctor unless problems come up.
yes, I think it is the law that you can only get 30 of this type of med. Some docs will let you call them and then they will send you the prescription in the mail or you can pick it up. If things are going smoothly we see the doc every 2 months.Yeah...I had a feeling there was a law concerning the Rx's for these types of drugs....and yes, I think 0 is quite steep.....unfortunately, our family doc is anti-ADHD meds...thinks they are over-prescribed which I agree they might be....however, the meds have made such a difference in my son's life and his diagnosis now helps make sense of everything that has happened in the past.
Thanks to everyone for their posts!
deeac5438906.5851967593When I first started Concerta (stimulant) I had to see the Doc. once a week until I got the dose right, then every 2 weeks. Now it is once a month - this is standard for the stimulants in my community. It would be interesting to know if it is consistent elsewhere. The difference I see, is I don't have to see a shrink to refill meds, it has switched to my family Doc. When they were figuring out the right medication and dosage, we went in quite frequently then talked on the phone every week and a visit maybe once a month. It then went something like 2,4 and over the last year or so every 6 months. This has been over a period of 10years. For prescriptions, now he writes it for three months, I am able to use a mail order prescription and save a lot of money. We live in the state of Washington. it is illegal to refill class 2 drugs which is what the stimulants fall under.