Devonboo, when my son at age 9 first took Concerta, he was on 18 mg. After school he had extreme weepiness and moodiness. I realized the Concerta was wearing off after about 6 hours and the ped thought the dose might be too low. We upped the dose to 27 mg and never had that problem for another year. There is a chance your son's Concerta dose is too low. Before you start Zoloft (which can in and of itself cause terrible side effects, as your pdoc warned), you might try a higher Concerta dose OR you might try another stimulant since they all work differently.
My 8-year-old daughter takes Prozac (an SSRI antidepressant like Zoloft), but her dx is anxiety, not ADHD. We had no choice but to give it to her because she stopped eating (fear of choking) this summer, lost a ton of weight, ended up in the hospital and was fed through an NG tube. Not a fun experience. She is doing a lot better now that the Prozac has kicked in. My 13-year-old son, whose first dx was ADHD and anxiety, was prescribed Zoloft last fall and had an intense prolonged manic reaction that led to a new dx of bipolar disorder. He is doing better on mood stabilizers, but believe me, it has been a long road. Based on our experiences, I would only try SSRI antidepressants on young children if you have no other choices.
What behaviors is the pdoc seeing that are symptomatic of OCD tendencies? Is everything better now that Melatonin is out of the picture? Are you convinced your son has ADHD or do you think it's something else? I personally wouldn't trust either a pediatrician or a psychologist to make a dx of ADHD. I would recommend having your son evaluated by a neuropsychologist to make sure the dx is right.
Hope you get some answers soon. Good luck.
My son had been diagnosed by pediatrician with adhd. He was on several meds, now he is on concerta 18mg, and melatonin at night to help with sleep. I noticed after school, he was getting very angry, aggressive, and emotional. talked to ped and he thought maybe the diagnosis was wrong.
I took him to a pyschologist, who told me he has definate adhd, with ocd tendencies. I read on the melatonin bottle, not to take if you have depressive disorders, so I stopped the melatonin a few nights ago, and it has gotten better with the mood swings. Now I am wondering if the melatonin was doing this.
The pyschologist had me talk to the pyschiatrist, since he was on meds from his ped. Now, he wants him on zoloft as well. He told me to look out for aggressiveness, sedation, or suicidal thoughts. WHAT, he is 7, how am I going to know if he is thinking of killing himself. Is this a normal meds for this kind of diagnosis?
My husband wants me to give it to him, since he really thinks my son needs help. But, this is tearing me up inside, I can't imagine giving my 7 yo antidepressants. Any input would really be appreciated, I have cried for the past hour since coming from the pyschiatrist, I don't know where to go from here. TIA, Donna
Many children experience a rebound effect as the stimulant is wearing off. During this time, their symptoms are worse than if they took no meds at all. Many children take a short-acting stimulant in the afternoon to counteract the rebound effect. My dd had this problem, and it was solved by adding short-acting ritalin after school. The downside is that it again kills the appetite for dinner, and worsens the insomnia. The upside is that they can focus on their homework and be less oppositional after school. HTHDonna,
My son started on Zoloft when he was only 9. He is now 13 and takes a combo of Zoloft/Concerta/Tenex along with an Omega 3 supplement and occasional Melatonin. He is doing really well with this combo. We feel fortunate.
I too at the time couldn't believe it had come to that. He behavior was getting progressively worse and worse. Anxiety was fueling his behavior. We knew he had issues......but it wasn't until we filled that script and the reality of giving him the med was upon us, that the full force of what we were dealing with hit me.
I actually went through a grieving process. Once I went through the acceptance process, I immediately launched full force into educating myself about ADHD, anxiety, depression, and other conditions that frequently co exist with ADHD.
I've never looked back. It has been a hard road, but my son is doing really well and I know that would not have been the case had I not been proactive, both medically.....and educationally.
Deciding to try medication (s) is just SUCH a hard decision. It is such a roller coaster to go through the trial and error that is necessary with these meds. No two children respond the same. They all metabolize differently. It is very hard to compare medication stories and outcomes that are talked about on this board. Just keep that in mind. While Zoloft has been a very useful medication for my son.... others on this board have had bad outcomes with it.
Good luck. Keep on trying to find answers. Keep posting.
Okiemom