1st med not working | ADHD Information

I understand your asking and I am in sole control but her teacher is absolutely amazing and if you think about it Kelsea is with her more and she sees exactly weather or not the meds are helping Kelseas focus/distraction etc.... during her work time at school where as I am not right there to see..... (get what Im saying....I would not allow her teacher to help me make decisions but Mrs Sherbert and I have great communication, I have asked her to write notes for me that I can take to the Dr with me, and she truly has Kelseas best intrest at heart!) I have to admit that I need Mrs Sherberts help with this as she has had to deal with it before and I have not. It makes me feel good that I am not in this alone and that I have her help.

The week of Thanksgiving they started 6yr old daughter Kelsea on 18mg of Concerta. She has had bad headaches up until this past week they seemed to stop but the med is not working. The teacher has called me several times worried because Kelsea seemed to be in a daze and she would have to call Kelseas name several times before Kelsea would even realize that she was talking to her. Mrs Sherbert even said that it was like the med was not helping with focus but slowing down her mental abilities. We go back to the Dr in the next couple of weeks. The teacher is going to ask the Dr to take her off the med because Kelsea is just not Kelsea it has changed her entire personality. She even said Id rather have her bouncing off the walls doing her work and have her happy than to have her like this. Any ideas on a med I should ask the Dr to try next? Also the self esteem issues are huge right now. I know every med reacts differently but any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

What type of doctor diagnosed your daughter and is managing the meds? Generally, child psychiatrists are better at both of these than pediatritians. If it turns out that the journey finding the correct med and dose is difficult, I would rather have the psychiatrist to work with. Depending what symtoms are of primary concerrn, there are many more choices. Here is a chart of meds for ADHD:

http://www.myadhd.com/treatment_tools/medicationchart.html

Since concerta is a methylphenidate, you could try focalin (methylphenidate but with only the more active form-posibly fewer side effects), move to the amphetamine based meds (stimulants) or to strattera or guanfacine (non stimulants). Guanfacine has been studied for ADHD and Shire is looking to market it for ADHD:  http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2006/11/1 7/shire_guanfacine_shows_adhd_improvement/

My daughter is on concerta and guanfacine.

I know this can be a tough journey and I wish you luck with this.

Thanks for the med list I really need to do my homework I dont know much of anything about the different meds. It is her Ped doing the meds not a pshyc. We do not have insurance coverage for a pshyc. Trying to do the best we can with the Ped. Which I know most of you will say that Im not providing all I can for my daughter then but I/We cant pay for it out of pocket either if the funds are not there its not there.  Kelseas main problem is she is easily distracted, and cant focus on a task, not to mention cant sit still very hyper. I probably seem like an idiot but I just dont know enough about it yet.  The teacher made the comment that once we find the right med that it should not change her personality like the concerta has. Do you agree? When we do find the right med will it also help with the self esteem issues?

Please have paients with me

You will not be criticized here for doing all you can with what you have available. The question about the type of doc just helps those offering help to know what you have to work with. We initially could not find a psychiatrist that was on our plan and could not afford to use one outside of the insurance plan. I had no idea about ADHD or treatments when we started this journey either. With the helpful people at this site and places like the CHADD and NIMH, I found alot of information to aid in my education on this.

The teacher is correct in that you should not see a change in personallity on meds. There may be some transient moodiness due to rebound when starting a new med or upping the dose. Just calmer and less irritating impulsiveness. The meds helped with my daughter's self esteem by making it possible for her to be more successful in school, decreasing the conflict and home, and helping with her social skills to keep friends better (not perfect, but better).

You might try to keep your daughter well hydrated during meds (some of them can cause dehydration and increase the occurance of headaches and moodiness).

Some of the meds come in generic forms that can be easier to get through some insurance plans. You might see if you can get the formulary from your plan to help select the next med to try. You would not want to get a perscription for a med that the insurance won't cover, this would just be frustrating and delay treatment.

Good luck and keep asking questions or just vent as needed through this journey. And take care of yourself as well.

 Thanks

kelseasmama

vickie is right. I am in the same boat as you are as far as being able to take my child to a psych..no way to pay for that.  We are having enough trouble finding a way to pay for meds.  Occasionally, you will have someone on the boards kind of blast you for not going through a psych, but the senior members here are for the most part, the most helpful people you will ever encounter.  I am in the process of finding a more inexpensive med for my son due to very bad prescription coverage and I have sent private messages to many parents on the boards with nothing but positive, helpful responses in return.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask away..we are all in the same boat here, just trying to stay afloat!!

chasesmom7939065.2076851852

Start your research.  The boards here are great!  I"ve spent hours reading through posts and have learned SO much.  My son is just inattentive and very easily distracted and has some anxiety issues as well.  For us, Adderrall was a complete nightmare, Strattera worked (seemingly) for about 7 weeks and then caused major depression and miraculously now Focalin XR seems to be doing wonders for him.  I was really leery about trying another stimulant since the Adderrall was such a bad experience but I'm glad I did.  It can get expensive though and you certainly don't want to make your kid a guinea pig.  But...I think to get it right you just have to go by trial and error...I'm glad I tried and Focalin and would have tried others if it failed too.

I'd certainly lean toward taking her off the Concerta.  No reason to wait that long until your next appointment either.  Call your ped to discuss it. 

My best advice is get as much information as you can, keep a journal of her behaviors on and off meds and write down feedback from the teacher as well.  Keeping a log has really helped me.

Best of luck.

I know that at least Adderrall and Focalin offer a free first month, so it's perfect for a trial.  You have to go to their website, I think, and download a coupon or something and take that with you to your prescribing doc. We did this with Adderrall (disaster!!!), but didn't know it was available for Focalin until we'd already started. The Focalin is working great, BTW.

On another note, I'm confused by something you said: The teacher is going to ask the Dr to take her off the med because Kelsea is just not Kelsea it has changed her entire personality. Why is your child's teacher communicating with the doc about meds?  In my opinion, that's really an area that you want to keep under your sole control. Just a thought.