have to ask if anyone else is giving their child both Ritalin & Concerta? My daughters (7yrs) has spoken to her new teacher who is very understanding and helpful. She is doing better this year than any previous years. This teacher is a counsler for foster children and kids with special needs. We are in a private school so this was a HUGE blessing.
She was doing well with 36mg concerta but couldn't seem to settle down until 10:00AM. So the doctor who is also new and wonderful!! Recommended we try 5mg of Ritalin at the same time. Does anyone else do this? Isn't it too much? We are going to watch her and see how she reacts but just curious what others experience has been.
She starts school at 8:00AM, gets Concerta at 6:30/6:45 -seems it's taking a while to kick in?
Thanks so much in advance.
Everyone is different in how they respond to meds and the treatment must be taylored to that. My daughter is on Concerta and guanfacine (tenex) and her doctor has said that we can add a low dose Ritalin in the afternoon for homework or a second dose of Concerta depending when the med is wearing off. Because of weight issues (now resolved) we went with guanfacine to augment the concerta. I have seen people taking short acting med to get it into the system while waiting for the long acting form to get active, as was suggested by your doctor. This is usually because of difficult mornings. The nice thing that you can work with your doctor to get the meds optimized for your daughter's individual needs. This will come in handy as your daughter gets older and the needs change with her activities and demands. I would personally make the change on the weekend to see the effects (good or bad).vickie39009.6970601852We give our 13 year old 10mg in the morning at 6/6:30 while he is sleeping. He sits up to have the tablet then goes back to sleep for 1 hour. We wake him up at about 7:15 so he's switched on. Without meds in the morning he is extremely difficult. Then he gets 36mg concerta at 9:30. We have just begun homeschooling so we can do this. The 5mg sounds like a good idea followed by the concerta. before school. Does the coverage last? We seem to get through until bedtime. It seems some kids just need that quick release to get things going! Each child is different. We keep detailed diaries recording times and observations to see patterns in medication.