5 year old on 15mg XR | ADHD Information
nicolesmom, No not all meds cause anger . My son took focalin and it was not the one for him he was grumpy and angry. My friend's DD had the same problem and was also grumpy and not fun to be around. My son now takes Adderall and he is seldom grumpy or angry. So, bottom line is that different kids have different reactions to the meds. It is a trial and error process. It took me half a year till we got the right med.Nicole's Mom: I did not mean to mislead you into thinking your child would become angry...I was just seeing if anyone had info on mixing Zoloft with Adderall ZR. My son is not always angry but there are days where he gets angry while on the medication...he is normally a very sweet child. Max does do well on the Adderall XR and the side effects have been very minimal. I hope your child does well. I am curious because I do not know anything about Focalin and I am very curious. Keep me posted. Taxchick1
I am starting my 7 year old daughter on 5 mg of Focalin on Saturday. The Dr. said to start her on that day so that I could watch her to see how she does on it before she starts taking it for school. After reading the side effects, I'm a bit nervous about giving it to her. Her teacher says that she is inattentive and impulsive. We have been taking her to the Dr. for this since she was 5, but the Dr. is just now saying that it's time to start on Meds. I have been giving her 1/2 tablet of Clonodine(not sure about the spelling) at bedtime to help her relax because we were really struggling to get her to sleep and the Dr. said that may be why she was having difficulties at school when she was in Kindergarten. She made it thru 1st grade without any other meds, but now we are going to try the Focalin XR. If anyone has any suggestions or advice I would appreciate it.
Teresa
Thanks taxchick1 for the reply. I will keep you posted on how she does with the Focalin XR. I hope she will be able to swallow the capsule. She can swallow the .5 tab of Clonodine so I'm hoping the the capsule with go down easy. The Dr. said that I could open the capsule and sprinkle the contents in apple sauce, pudding, etc. if she can't swallow it. Do all the meds cause anger and agitation? Just not sure what to expect. Guess I'll find out soon enough.Nicole's Mom:
My 5 year old has been on medication since he was 4. We initially resisted but saw that in the end we really did not have much of a choice if we wanted him to go to school. We have never tried Focalin...our options are limited b/c he cannot swallow medication at this point. Adderall XR was the next logical step. He is also on Clonodine at night (.5 tab crushed) and sleeps all night versus the alternative which is up at all hours and wanting to watch TV. I really like the Adderall XR. He hasn't had any bad reactions to it and we have baby stepped up from 5 to 15 mg. He may step up one more time before we find the dose that gives us the "best bang" for the tab. Let me know how she does on Focalin...I wish you the best. I have always been apprehensive about the medication but given the alternative, I have to say the Adderall XR helps him so much. We are far from perfect but considering how he was, this medication has really helped us. We are also considering a possible Zoloft type dryg to even him out with his agitation and anger that comes along with the medication. Anyone know how these drugs work together?
My 5 year son was diagnosed 1 year ago with ADHD and put on 5 mg Adderall which he took for the entire year. He is now older and a bit bigger and we have moved and changed doctors. The new doctor put him on XR and started at 5 mg...we are now up to 15 mg and this still seems like it is only working for a short time. I give it to him at 7:00 in the morning for school at 8:30. It seems to be great until approx. 11:30 and gone by 1:30. He does have a high metabolism and the doctor thinks he may be metabolizing it quicker than others. We give no more in the afternoon b/c he wouldn't sleep if we did.
Does 15mg seem high for a 5 year old? ...the doctor may even go up to 20mg in a week if he still is having problems focusing in class and staying focused. I feel as if my son is a science experiment and he is the only one in his class that isn't "perfect." Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I feel the same way about my 4 year old son im trying dexedrine 5 ml starting tommorrow so well see how it goes ...i hope he doesnt have no side effects and it helps to calm him down.im alos trying the omega 3/6/9 factors by using fish iol and evening primrose ..boy he thinks hes so special taking all these strong boy vitamins as we call it " it was a hard choice to make but it cant hurt him that much hes been on predizone for his asthma before so only time will tell..just keep us in your prayers ,and i will do the same for you taxchick1" no not at all my son was on 30mg of xr at the age of 5. He max out the mg. so they change him to dexedrine 15mg and we never had to up the dose what soever. If you keep having to up the dose than you possibley need to change the med. My son will be six next month... he has been on Adderall XR since 4 1/2.He takes 15 mg at 6:30 am and another 10 mg at 12:30. He goes to bed
at 8:00 and sleeps well, unless his school has missed the afternoon dose.
Then he has a hard time settling down. He had no social skills and was
always raging before meds... the anger decreased after he started being
able to understand what was going on around him. It took a year for him
to catch up to the other kids and not stand out as odd. The meds "opened
the door" right away, but there was a lot of learning that he had to do.
Taxchick1, it sounds like you believe that your son's behavior now is not
really extreme, he just doesn't fit into the mold at that school. Have you
looked into other options (if you are lucky enough to have options) ?
Though the meds enabled my son to attend school, he would not be
doing well in our local public school. He is in a very structured private
school with small classes and lots of attention, and they have after-
school care with the same staff, structure, and behavior standards. He
couldn't do an afterschool transition to another setting, even on his best
day! If you are uncomfortable raising the dosage again, maybe see what
you can tweak in his environment first. Good luck!
. Hi there taxchick1. I have heard of the type of meds your child is on,but next time you go to doctors for checkup ask about A SLOW-RELEASE TYPE OF MEDS. which is given once aday in morning and can last upto anything between 10-12hours, My son has been on this type of meds for over ayear now,first the dose wasnt high enough for him,so the doctor upperd his meds, now he is on 54mg every morning at 7.30. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE NAME OF MEDS ITS CALLED(CONCERTA XL). i find this meds o.k. hoe this was some help, let me no what you think? tinainthornaby. england u.kThanks to everyone for the input. I'm really feeling better about trying the Focalin. I know every kid is different, so what works for one may not work for the other. I hope she does well on the Focalin, but I am now understanding that it may take time to get the dosage just right for her. I was surprised at how much it cost. Nicole's prescription was 7.00 for 90 capsules. That was with a .00 discount card from the drug co. After reading some of the posts about having to change meds, I thought maybe the Dr. wrote the prescription for too many pills for the first time. I don't mean to sound cheap, I would pay any price to help my child, but just had no idea the cost would be that much.