dd’s doc switched her med,I’m scared | ADHD Information

OK, heres the update.  Talked to the dr today.  We can keep her on the Dexedrine & just give her breaks on the weekends!  He says as long as she at least maintains her current weight (39.5 lbs & 7yo) and does not loose anymore then we are ok to keep taking it.  He says he prefers that she gained some weight.  We will see him in 1 month for a weigh in!  Keep all of your fingers crossed for us!I think I'd try the no meds on weekends and other stuff before you take her off.  Talk to the doc and say you're going to try this before the strattera.  Don't ask if you can, say you're going to.  My ds is on strattera and Daytrana (ritalin) and it isn't a problem for us.  Whatever you do, trust your gut.  Good luck. I actually am giving her a med break today, so far so good....but it is still early!  She ate a really good breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns with lots of cheese on top & 2 biscuits (she normally does not like biscuits) & had 2 glasses of sunny delight!  Her normal breakfast is just a bowl of cereal!!  It's almost lunch time so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will eat, she is out with her dad right now looking for treasures at the beach so I am hoping she is working up more of an appetite!  I am calling her doctor in the morning.If he is totally against the periactin, ask him if you can try weekends off for a while.....Chase ate all day yesterday and is today as well..it might be enough to at least stop the weight loss, and possibly start some gain.... That's kinda my thought too, so we are giving it a try

i was on strattera and it was awful... i hope it works better for your dd than it did for me. please watch out for nightmares... that's what i had :( terrible awful dreams.  soon i fought sleep and became an insomiac.

call your doc and beg

tonyas

Did the doctor say WHY he didn't like that idea???  If you do research, you will see that it has recomendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics...it is only an antihistamine with a side affect of appetite stimulant..nothing dangerous.....take some literature to him on both the tenex and the periactin.

The strattera will take a while to kick in, so be patient....I think that I have read that some see slight improvement in the first weeks but that full effects do not show until 4-6 weeks after the target dose is reached, and given that the med needs to be ramped up slowly, that could be a while....

mariaven has had issues with her son losing weight/appetite on strattera....

If this doesn't work, go back and tell him you want to try the dexedrine with the periactin....for a couple months....Chase gained back his lost weight within that time, and his appetite is back to normal..he has never been a big eater....he had lost 5-6 pounds.

And Chase is on a lower dose than some of the cases that I researched....he takes 4mg 2X a day, some of them were doing that 3X a day....

I STILL don't see why this doctor is discontinuing a med that has been good but for the one side effect, that is treatable....but I am an arguer.....I would have argued till he did it just to prove me wrong.....

chasesmom:  I should have taken you with me to the doctors !  With me being so new to this whole thing, I guess I just give in to easy (probably from the fear of not knowing) because usually I am an arguer too.  I am going to call him & "beg" him to try the periactin & to give another prescription of the dexedrine (I still have about a weeks worth)  Thanks for all of your info.  I'll keep you posted.

Tell him that you feel that it is worth a try....keep in mind that it takes about 3 days or so before the "hunger" starts....then feed her up!!

You might try to go at least one weekend day w/o the meds too, if you can stand it!! 

I took Chase off of the ritalin today and I think at last count he had eaten 6 pieces of pizza, 1 fruit rollup, 1 snowpuff cookie, 1 breadstick, 1 chocolate pudding cup and right now he is baking break and bake cookies...I know it sounds like a lot of junk but he can use the calories and he usually eats more fruits and veggies...I will get some in him at supper!!

My 7yo dd has been on dexodrine time release 10mg a day (this is the first med we have tried) since November.  The med has worked sooooo great for her.....except she has lost 6 pounds since then & now only weighs 39 pounds!  The doctor did not like that & switched her prescription today to Strattera 10mg so that hopefully she will get her appetite back.  I'm really scared & freaking out after reading the information insert that came with the medicine.  Any one have/had their child on this who can give me any insight would be greatly appreciated.  I'm really hoping it works, but man the side effects look SCARY!!

Why didn't the doctor just try to treat the one side effect that was troublesome?  There are things that doctors do for appetite, Periactin being one of them, tenex another that I can think of off hand. I know at least one board member, mariaven is having appetite issues with her son on strattera as well.

I would think that if the med was working so good, it would be a better idea to stick with it and work on the one undesirable thing that was happening...

Can you suggest the periactin to the doctor instead?

chasesmom7939101.2052314815I asked the doctor about periactin & he didn't seem to like that idea.  I couldn't remember Tenex when we were there.  I kept telling him how good she is doing on Dexedrine but he said she needed to stop that med!  My dd is happy that she will be eating again, because she really wants to (even though she is a very picky eater), but she is pretty upset that she has to stop a  med that she, at 7yo, notices the benefits of!  I guess we will make the switch over the weekend, I just hope she does as well on it as on Dexedrine & I pray to God that we do not have any of the awful side effects.  Keep your fingers crossed

I would ask the same questions, why not add an appetite stimulant?

The Straterra can cause appetite issues just like stims, although not as common. My dd was on Straterra for 2 years with no appetite decrease, in fact she Gained weight on it.( she also gained on stims)

The side effects usually go away after reaching the target dose, your dd's target would be between 20 mgs and 30 mgs, based on the target dose of 1.2-1.8 mgs per kilo. I found as long as it is ramped SLOWLY to the target dose the side effctes are lessened. The mood swings etc are usually caused by too low or too high a dose.

keep in mind that stopping a stim and starting Straterra is going to be a big change, and you probably won't see results until she is at the target dose for 4-5 weeks.

 

< ="text/">// Begin Ad Muncher helper script wYZXso(1,"wYZTimeout('enableDesignMode()', 20);"); // End Ad Muncher helper script I agree, Strattera also made my dd lose weight.


My son is taking Focalin xr 15mg. We went to the dr. today and I told him this med is not lasting long enough and he added Strattera 18mg to take after dinner. Is anyone else taking a stimulent med with Strattera? I'm not sure about this, it is very scary to give two different meds, especially what I read about Strattera!Please give your opinions. thanks.oh, I forgot to say that my son has been showing anxiety at school and at home while taking just focalin. He bites his fingernails until nothing is there, he has little meltdowns over small things, especially math at school. He wants everything to be perfect, no flaws. His grades have gone up, but he is too hard on himself. BTW, he is 8 in second grade. I guess the doc prescribed strattera for the anxiety, I hope it works is all I can say, I don't want him to freak out taking these meds together!