Success with med for mostly attention pro | ADHD Information

Unfortunately this is one of those times you just have to try out the meds and find the one that works the best for the individual. My daughter is on concerta and guanfacine and has gone from Ds and Fs to As and Bs, and she is now reading at grade level (rather than 2 years below level). Homework is now easy for her and she mostly has it done in after school homework club. She is a bright kid and the ADHD was really holding her back. The proper meds really made a big difference.Thank you for your responses.  I just hope we can find the right thing to help him. He's only been on 3 other types of meds and while they worked for other issues, none have really helped the focus/attention.  He is below grade level (he's in 3rd grade), doesn't read at 3rd grade level, can't do basic math facts, can't retell a story and his writing is horrible.  I just hope we can find something not necessary to bring his grades to A's but bring him to a point in time were we don't have to worry about him repeating his grade because he can't focus enough to do math, read at grade level and answer simple questions.  He can't even write a 3rd grade sentence.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.  thanks.Hopefully you will find the best med for your son. What meds has he tried? Some meds affect the central system (like focalin) vs. the peripheral system (methylphenidate). This means that Focalin works better on attention and less on hyperactivity. vickie39091.4021412037

Has anyone had really good success with one particular medication when it came to attention.  My son's main problem in school is his lack of attention/focus.  Academically it is holding him back.  He is easily distracted.  He has been on Metadate for almost a year now (we uped the does 3 months ago) but it just seems to have gotten worse.  We have made an appointment with his doctor to see about switching meds but i'm wondering what med might work best for more attention/focus problems than anything.

thanks for any info. I'd like to go prepared.  I've read concerta is good for that, but i'd like some input on what has worked (I know all children are different, but just curious).

Thanks.

 

Chase took concerta with great results in focus/attention in school.  He is not hyperacive type, just inattentive.  This med made his grades go from 'C's gotten through HUGE effort on both our parts, to all 'A's and 'B's with minimal effort on my part to keep tabs on his homework, etc.  I still need to make sure that he remembers to bring it all home, and supervise him doing it, and storing it in the appropriate folder in his backpack, but the grades went straight up and complaints from teachers went straight down.  He still gets the check marks on the behavior section of the grade card, but I am thinking that it cannot be too awfully bad, or it would reflect that in a worse grade....his lowest was an 85% in reading this last grading period. 

We recently switched to ritalin LA, but would have played around with the concerta if not for being booted from the patient assistance program and the cost being so high w/o the assistance.

As you said, "All children are different"  or as we like to say on another board I frequent, "Different Meds for different heads"!

With that said......My DD (primarily innattentive) tried Concerta for 10 days last Spring. It did NOTHING for her.  She said she couldn't even tell she took anything.  She started Metadate CD about 2 1/2 months ago and it is working really well, except the duration is only about 5 1/2 hours.  She said it has improved her focus probably 80-90 %.

Good luck!

We started on Strattera, then they tried Adderal XR then for the past year or so he's been on medatate CD 10 mig and then a switch to 20 milg.

Here is a table of meds for ADHD (Daytrana is not on it because the ist is from 2004):

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

Has he had any improvement on any of the meds? Was he switched because of ineffectiveness or because of side effects? This is all good to discuss with the doctor to pick out the next course of action.

vickie - thanks for the link.  Its great.  He has had some success with other aspects (behavior) on the medicine, but academically it doesn't seem to work.  In fact, he seems to have lost more focus/attention.  I will definately review this with the doctor at his appointment.We use Focalin with great results. I've been to the school a few times this year to drop things off for my son's teacher, etc., and each time I find him sitting in his desk working quietly, or participating patiently in a group activity, really paying attention.  He handles his own agenda and rarely forgets papers at school.  So far, so good.  But we all know that success with adhd meds can be a transient thing and we all need to remain flexible and open-minded.

Oh, OK.  Your post before this one said he just switched from 10 to 20 mg.

If he is on 30mg. that may be all he should be on??? I don't know much about the dosing.

My DD is turning 11 tomorrow and is about 95 pounds (Yikes!  She gained 21 pounds in her first year on Guanfacine for TS.  They say it doesn't cause weight gain, but that seems like a lot to me!)  Anyway, she takes 40 mg. (of Metadate CD) a day.

Wishing you luck!

MamaBear39091.9170833333How old is your son?  He is on a much lower dose of Metadate CD than my DD, but maybe he is considerably younger/smaller?  She takes 40 mgs. a day, plus we have a 5 mg. Ritalin we can give her after school, to get through homework.  I don't know if Metadate is suppose to be based on weight or not?  If it's not, maybe he just needs a bigger dose?

My son will be 9 in March and weighs 60 pounds.  He was on the lower does for about 9 months or so then just in november them started him on 30 mg. 

Yes, but though he has regained his appetite, the scale has not really budged much, except to gain back what he had lost....these last few days on the Ritalin LA, he has been starving, so I hope that just means he is not affected in the appetite department, not that it isn't working on focus as school...

but I ate like a horse as a child, as did my 19 year old dd, and we were both skinny (she still is...not me) so it may be his metabolism...

Hi.  I'm getting in late on your discussion and haven't read your other responses, but my son is almost 14 and dx'd primary inattentive.  We've tried many, many meds.....many different doses. I'm a seasoned veteran of the med game!  As many have said, what works on  one may not help another due to differences in brain chemistry.

One thing I wanted to bring up, which many people don't realize, is that undermedicating is as big a problem as over medicating. We were undermedicating for years not realizing it. It takes a really sharp doctor to micromanage and titrate the doses on some of the complicated cases.  My son takes a combo of Concerta/quanfacine/zoloft.  He ALWAYS has metabolized his meds like water.  He is on a very high dose of Concerta and is doing beautifully... 162 mg.  A couple of years ago we handed over the med management for my son's meds to a psychiatrist who is board certified in both child and adult psychiatry. No other type of doctor we ever tried would come even close to prescribing that high of dose of Concerta.  Some rare kids just fall into that category of need.  Of course I'm not suggesting your son needs high doses......just consider the possibility of undermedication and discuss with your doctor.        Good luck!    Okiemom

 

Chase is on 3mg. 1mg in AM, and 2 in PM....I will keep you posted on the weight gain...

Tell your ds Happy Birthday!!!

OK, it will be interesting to know if it has that effect on Chase too.  Isn't he on another med. though, that stimulates his appetite?

I'll give DD your message.  (I understand your probably used to writing DS because of Chase).

Thanks!

She started out on 1mg. morning and night (Gradual increase to that dose) and stayed on that dose for about 15 months.  In Oct., due to an increase in tics, she was upped to 1 1/2 mg. morning and night, for a total of 3mg. a day.  We had permission to take her to 4 mg a day (maxium safe dose), but stopped at 3mg. since we saw improvement with tics.  In the beginning, the Guanfacine also had a HUGE positive effect on her anger and aggression issues.  The success in that area isn't as great now, but probably still better than it would be w/o meds. 

She has bad (fat) genes coming from both sides of the family, so it wouldn't surprise me if she does stay chubby.  It was just so fast, I wondered if it was the medicine.  I try to teach her better eating habits than I was ever taught & she is very active (plays softball, soccer, and is in our pool swimming like a Mermaid every day seasonally), so maybe she will slim back down when she hits puberty.  Her eating habits & activity level are something I try to monitor a little, but with Dx's of TS, ADHD, ODD, & some sensory & anxiety issues, it's certainly not the biggest of my worries!  LOL

Have a great day everyone!  DD is 11 today, so I'm off to frost a cake!

MamaBear, Sorry slip of the fingers.  He started on 20 and they raised him to 30. Thanks to all who have responded.  I'll keep my fingers crossed and good luck to all of you in the new year.Mamabear

How large of a dose was she taking of the guanfacine...just curious.  By the way, my ped said that she had never seen guanfacine help with appeitite/weight gain, but said it would definitely help with sleep, and with anger/aggression, and I believe that it has. 

I also have a 13 year old that did the "chunk up/gain weight" thing from age 9 or so til last year....so I was forever trying to fatten one boy up, and keep the other making wise food choices...try that for a while!!  This past 6 months or so, my 13 year old has grown 5-6 inches and is as tall as me now, and just looks stocky, not fat, and I am sure that he has more growing to do....he is just always HUNGRY!!!

Guanfacine is diagnosed to stimulate appetite, right?   (Just checking my ADHD meds vocabulary.)

21 pounds in a year does seem like a lot.  But, if she's in or nearing puberty, it might not be out of hand.  I gained a ton during puberty (no meds involved and later than age 11.)  But, then, kids these days seem to be maturing so much earlier.  It's possible. *shrug*

Gee I hope my son gains like that on his guanfacine!!  He would not be overweight still....right now he looks like a stick...

Evidentaly, Guanfacine (generic for Tenex) has many uses!  It is my understanding that it was first used to treat high blood pressure.  Then it was discovered to be effective in reducing tics in some people who have Tourette's.  Next, it was discovered to take the edge off of hyperactivity & impulsiveness for some people with ADHD.  (It is not believed to help with innattentiveness though).  I have now read several posts on this board from people who's children have been prescribed Guanfacine to help stimulate the appetite if they are underweight due to stimulants, and also many who say their children take it to help with sleep issues.  That is what led me to believe the Guanfacine may be responsible for DD's weight gain. 

DD was diagnosed with Tourette's and ADHD in July of 2005.  She was 9 1/2 and 75 pounds.  Very average size kid.  The Dr. prescribed Guanfacine to treat her TS.  He said unlike the four or five antipsychotic drugs used to treat TS (none of which I was willing to try) Guanfacine would not cause weight gain.  Well, she gained 17 pounds in the first 6 months and 21 total in the first year on the medicine.  In the past, she has always gained 4 to 6 pounds a year.  I asked again if it could be the reason for the big weight gain and the Neurologist assured me it was not!?  Then I started reading this board and hearing about all these kids that were being given Guanfacine to help with (under)weight issues from stimulants, so I knew he must be wrong.  She has started Metadate recently, so I am hoping it will slow her weight gain down and she will even out when she hits a growing (taller) spurt.  I know, the opposite problem of most on here! LOL  She is nearing puberty I'm sure, but wasn't a year ago. 

The Guanfacine has helped her tics a lot, and it is still far better than the antipsychotic meds that are used where kids are gaining 50, 60, even 70 pounds in a year!!