Wild Child... not so wild | ADHD Information

Things are going better with the 40's. In class he while on the 30's he was getting yellow and orange cards for discipline. They start off with green. If they start misbehaving or being disruptive they are given a yellow card as a warning. If it continues then an orange card is issued as a final warning. If the problem persists than a red card is issued, the child is sent to the principles office, and the card is sent home for the parents to sign. This is a pretty good system and the teacher doesn't abuse it, so it's nice. Anyway long story short, he was mostly getting orange cards with occasional yellows while on the 30's. The first day of 40's he comes home with a green card, same the second day, and yesterday was his third day of green cards. On top of that his weekly report sheet came in his Monday folder (every Monday a folder comes home with his work from the previous week, class and school announcements, and notes from the teacher) and Thursday and Friday (First 40mg days) are excellent scores in everything. We also got a note about how much better the 40's are working. He's not disruptive and is able to pay more attention and focus. He even wrote his teacher a story without being asked and got special credit for it. He loves telling stories and now that he is learning how to write we and his teacher are encouraging him to write them down. So we are pretty happy with the results. I just pray they last. On a side note the new 40's are also lasting the whole twelve hours so far!

Hey, everyone!

Kidlet did really well today. He managed to stay on green card (green, yellow, orange & red for behavior.) Only the third time so far this year. Of course, its only the first day. Hope it continues!

way to go kidlet u tell him great jobMy almost 8 year old son (60 lbs.) with mild to moderate ADHD-combined started on Metadate CD a few weeks ago at 20 mg. He has not shown any side effects, and we have not seen significant positive effects at home either (before school started and over the weekends). I will be getting input from his new teacher in a week or so. His pediatrician wants us to wait a few more weeks before we try anything different, but I would like to try increasing him to 30 mg of Metadate first. I'm just not sure if the ped. will go for that, he took my son off Focalin XR after 10 mg. was like a placebo for him. He did switch him to Metadate CD because he said he would have more room to increase his dosage as he got older, so I hope that means that he will not be as worried about increasing dosages as 20 mg. of Metadate CD may not be enough for him. When Jeremy was successful on 30 mg. , how old/heavy was he? I know this doesn't always correlate with effectiveness, but I'm just curious and don't know of too many kids on Metadate CD. I just don't know if pushing for 30 mg. will be too much for him, I think our ped. is a little too conservative and I can't always trust his judgment.
Congrats on the green card, good luck with the 40 mg, and keep us updated on how it is for him.

SueFin38974.9059953704

Just a note to parents: Stimulant medication is not age or weight dependant. Response is very individual and dose is not determined based on weight or age. Unlike straterra which is a non stimulant and a blood level medication, stimulant medication is not a blood level medication so it doesn't have to build up in the system before it reaches maximum effectiveness. When the medication is truly effective, you should see change within 60 minutes of taking the medication. A trial of medication is necessary and after one week, if the child isn't seeing any benefit from the medication, it can be changed or the dose could be raised as the medication flushes out of the system not too long after it has worn off. The goal is maximum benefit, minimal side effects at the lowest dose possible

Unfortunately, pediatriians don't have enough knowledge or expertise and may not know the protocol when putting the child through a trial of medication unlike a child psychiatrist who is trained in the field of diagnosing and treating childhood disorders. Below is a very informative link that parents might find very helpful.

San Diego ADHD: Your source for ADHD information in the San Diego County area

SueFin,

Jeremy turned 7 right after the pediatrician started him on ritalin to find dosage strength. By the time he returned to school after Christmas break, he had started the 20mg dosage. It was upped to 30 last spring, when we determined (the doc, teachers, and us) that he seemed to be metabolizing his meds faster. He has been on the 30 throughout the summer.

As RamblinDad said, he finally hit 60 pounds, and he'll be 8 in November.

Sue Fin,

We go to a neurologist who is quite informed about ADHD and ADHD meds...our ped is the one who recommended this doc. This is just another option for you

I recently heard my pdoc say that he has known of some kids that are taken off meds for about a week every 6months or so, and when the med is resumed it works as good as it did at first. He did say that this makes sense, but that it did work. FYI

i'm curious how he feels on 40mg. my son was on 20mg of metadate- alos no side effects, it just wasn't doing much- the dr switched to concerta, lots of side effects, wondering if i should just try 30mg of metadate- with the higher doses, do the side effects increase?

my son is also tiny- 9 yrs old 53lbs on a good day-the loss of appetite on concerta really concerns me.

We did have a ritalin booster that his doc gave us for when he had activities after school that he had to be focused on, but the doc left the practice and we now have the other doc that was in the practice. Jeremy has seen them both all of his life, but the one that left was the lead in Jeremy's treatment. This other doc was not as receptive to it, or at least her staff said she wasn't. Last refill we wanted both filled. The Ritalin was being refilled for the first time in five months, which shows how much we use it, but the staff said the doc wouldn't refill it that the Metadate lasts for twelve hours and that is enough. That is one of the reasons we have a face to face appointment today. The doc is going to have her eyes opened by a very concerned father, if it was even her. We have had run ins with the staff there before and straitened it out with one visit. We really like this doc, but the staff is much to be desired. RamblinDad38973.3759027778

I have heard of parents giving a dose of short acting Ritalin in the afternoons, as a booster, with metadate. Ask your doctor about this.

The adhd kid that is in my sons den his dr. says a child need to learn self control not medacines all day. From 2/3 there is little work going on anyhow. I like 2 dosages if we had to do meds again 1 for morning and 1 for after school. How about less amounts 2 times a day inplace of a bigger dosage in the morning. I like er cause for fast matabolizers you body gets the meds as needed. True if on a high dosage 1 time a day. rambling dad, you might want to ask about a booster dose...I am not sure if medidate has a short acting but I know some people have mixed meds and added a short term ritalin or focalin. It's been almost a year since Jeremy was diagnosed with ADHD and things are going well for the most part. The meds helped in a big way. His grades skyrocketed, his attention with activities was more focused, and he started keeping friends. WooHoo!

He is taking Metadate CD. He started with 20's, but we found that 30's worked the best last year during school. Throughout the remaining school year last year the Metadate worked for twelve hours. Now, however they are only working eight, which makes after school activities difficult. There are also some days where his focus and hyper activity isn't nearly as controlled.

We have an appointment with his doc tomorrow, so hopefully we will be able to figure out what he needs. I'm hesitant to change his meds because the side effects are very minimal with the Metadate. His appetite id good other than lunch time, his mood is good, and we don't have a zombie when he is on it.

Have any of you had this problem with Metadate before? It's almost as if he has built a tolerance for it. Maybe it's because he's grown like a weed and is quite a bit taller and heavier than last year? Hopefully we can get some answers tomorrow.
RamblinDad38972.9570023148

I had the same thing with Metadate CD_ My 9 yr. old so was on it for 2yrs. We also saw some improvement with little or no side effects. Last yr. he the teachers said he was ok until around 2-3:00 pm. (his day is really long- 8;20-3:50). He also grew alot and gained some weight- i kept him off meds this summer and he grew even more.. when we went back to the psychiatrist she recommended Concerta, longer acting 12 hr vs. 8 hr. She said increasing the Medatate will still only work for 8 hours. Concerta has alot of side effects for my son, not eating, feeling funny, very emotional--- i liked metadate much more- it's very frustrating!!!!!!

He's still on Metadate CD, which I kind of prefer because the side effects are so minimal, but his dosage has been upped to 40mg. We're gonna try it for a month and see how it goes. The doc was unresponsive about the Ritalin booster as needed, but she said if the 40's are not working for twelve hours, we can revisit. Most likely if the higher dose Metadate doesn't work like we want we will move on to Adderall XR. She does not want to go any higher with the Metadate and I tend to agree. At least she is responsive and helpful.

Now the best news, since he has been on Metadate, about December '05, he has grown 2" and gained about 8 pounds. He is tall and thin, though not overly so. On the charts his hight is in the 98% and weight 55%. So his growth and weight are great.

I sure hope the new dosage lasts longer. Soccer practice was really.... really tough on me. I'm the coach. I'm also the Cubmaster, and Den Leader. These things give my son and I a real chance to bond and I also can deal directly with his problems, nipping a lot of his difficulties in the bud.

Hi! RamblinDad's wife, here. He told me about the page, and I thought I'd check it out.

I will have to say that I was hesitant to bring the mg up any further than 30, because I didn't want to overmedicate to the point where he's just a zombie. Yes, he's still easily distracted on the 30, but I thought the 40 would be too much. I guess we'll see.

RamblinDad, I'm so happy to hear that your son is doing so well and welcome Jeremysmom

I thinkyour son is very fortunate to have two loving, caring parents and while there are some bumps along the road, your son is definitely moving in a positve direction

[QUOTE=sjbmom]

[/QUOTE]

Actually as far as side effects go there was no difference between the 20's and 30's. He just took his first 40 today, so I am not sure of the effects, but they were so minimal with the first two doses I doubt they will be bad. His appetite at lunch is off, but he has a good breakfast appetite and for the most part a good dinner appetite. He is finicky when it comes to food so it's hard to tell what is side affect and what is finicky. There are times when he won't eat much dinner, but be hungry 10 minutes after we give up the battle, which says finicky to me.

I will post how he does with the 40's as we go.
Hello, I just read this post about Metadate. I hadn't even considered it an alternative until I read it. My DD takes Concerta 36 mg with lots of side effects and we have been wanting to try something else. We tried Adderall three years ago and it had the worst effects - crying and angry when the medication wore off. We've been happy with Concerta as far as improving her concentration and behavior and was considering adding Clonidine but I think I might ask my DR about metadate. She has some Asperger's behaviors and is very picky about what she eats; we're just happy when she eats. Adding the Concerta doesn't help at all. Her little sister who is 2 years younger than her is almost as tall as the older DD and weight almost ten pounds more. RAMBLINDAD, Please keep us updated about how your son does with the increased med. Thanks!