Med Not Working As Well? | ADHD Information

Well going to the dr today to see about increasing or changing meds. Has
anyone ever gone back to try a med that didn't work so great in the past?
We had tried Concerta last year and my ds seemed to need a dose that was
between 18mg and 27mg. (18 wasn't enough and 27 was too much and
caused meltdowns). I am hesitant to try Concerta again, but it does last
really long and would solve that problem. Maybe now that he is a little older
and weighs a little more, he could handle it. I'll see what the dr. says this
morning.Over the years I noticed that ds never did that well at school when he had a cold. It always seemed that much harder to focus. When he was younger, I would let him stay home because it was that much harder to function. I didn't like the idea that he had to be responsible for school material, trying to remember what was said and then getting it all wrong. That didn't help his self esteem.

I agree to reassess once he is feeling better.

The stress of sleep deprivation can overstress the coping skills and make anyone have difficulty. As the others have said, wait it out and if you still see issues after things go back to normal, reassess the meds.

Thanks everyone. What is guanfacine? He metabolizes his meds faster than
normal I think. I wish I had one pill that would last all day. Just thankful
that we found the right med.

Here is a thread that tells you all about the tenex/guanfacine. It is a BP med that is used to augment the stims, and sometimes all alone when focus is not as much of a concern. You can kind of follow my son's journey with the med as when the thread begins, he has not yet begun to take it and now he has been on it about a month....

http://www.adhdnews.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24770& PN=1

I think that I would wait out the cold and see if he returns to normal. If he doesn't, then talk with the doctor about tweaking the meds..

The stimulants are not weight dependent..but sometimes as children grow older, they metabolize them faster so need a higher dose...your son may just need to bump up the focalin a little. Since it has been working so well, I think I would try that first...

chasesmom7939109.8186689815

I second chasesmom79... I'd wait out the cold too... and then make the necessary observations and contact with doctor. Goodluck.

I agree with the others, however, once he feels better, if you wish to try concerta, you might want to add guanfacine as well. It really seems to add the finishing touch so to speak!

My 6 1/2 ds has been doing great on Focalin 5mg. four times a day. The
longer Focalin XR only lasted about 4 hours so we kept with the short
acting dose. This past week, he has had a cold and hasn't been sleeping
right. It is causing him to act like he did when he was first diagnosed.
Acting very silly in school and home. He is having trouble getting himself
together in the morning because he has been waking up 1-2 hours earlier
than normal. Focalin doesn't seem to last as long. Singing more
(meaning the meds are wearing off). I am wondering if this is just due to
his illness and sleep deprivation. Has anyone had this experience? I
would love to try Concerta again since it lasts so long, but he experieced
meltdowns at school last year with it. I think the dose he needed at the
time was in between the lowest does and the next higher dose. He is
bigger now though. Any advice? I have been having increased anxiety
with this. We have been doing so well and I don't want to go back to
where we started.Starting Daytrana patch this weekend. DS is not responding as well to
focalin. Today he had his usual dose and is acting like I didn't give him a
thing. We are at the max. for focalin in terms of dosage. I am scared that
the patch won't work or make his anxiety worse. The focalin worked so well,
but he metabolizes it so quickly that I have to give him several doses
throughout the day. He was up and down throughout the day and it is
making him silly at school.

I feel so scared that Daytrana won't work well, but at the same time it might
and we would be doing better. DS is so bright and is a very sweet boy. I
just want him to be calm and enjoy school and his friends. I feel so alone
with all of this. I hope it works out. We were doing so well before. Any
advice?Tried 10mg patch today. Took more than 2 hours to "kick in". He is calmer,
but I believe he will need a higher dose. It didn't work as well as I had
hoped. Will try 15 mg. patch tomorrow.It it so helpful and supportive to read everyone's experiences and what has worked and what hasn't worked. I have a 9 1/2 yr. old son who was recently dx w/ ADHD. He had never been on meds until 1 week ago when we started him on daytrana 10 mg. He was on that for 1 week, until today when we increased it to 15 mg because he seemed no better on the 10 mg. Today he seems calm, but his problem is really more w/ focusing and organizing himself. He still required a lot of reminders today. This past week on the 10 mg., he did have some difficulty falling asleep. I have begun to remove the patch earlier in the day. I am hoping that helps. We will see how he does on 15 mg. The teacher noticed nothing w/ the 10 mg. The doctor suspects he'll need 20. One day at a time, one week at a time. Soon, I hope, we will find something that seems to work well.Well, I just spoke to my child's teacher after one week on the Daytrana... not good. She had 2 F's on her homework (I am assuming that they did not get turned in) and the inattentiveness is much worse. She doesn't have the hyperactivity. We are going back to Focalin for now - though it had worked well for a long time, but seemed to be slipping (which is why we made the change) in effectiveness. Good luck to you. Between the back not peeling off the patches and the report from the teacher - I'm done with the patch.Try the Daytana patch. My ds is doing well with it. The focalin wasn't
lasting as long and it seemed like he needed a higher dose. We weren't able
to go any higher with the focalin dose. Daytrana patch will last 9 hours plus
2-3 after you take it off. The only downside is that it takes 2 hours min. to
kick in for ds. That is - 2 hours to start and 7 more hours of the patch
working while on. After we take the patch off ds, he gets maybe 2-3 hours
more before he starts getting "silly" again.Punkin's mom,

You might want to try the 20 mg patch. The 15mg patch is OK for my son,
but I am going to see how the rest of the school week goes. I might ask for
the 20mg patch to see how it works. DS has an appt. with the psych. next
week and we will see then. It takes so long to "kick in". The one good thing
is that his appetite has really come back. He was always picky, but he has
been asking for more food these past few days and really gets hungry. It's
nice because he is on the slim side. I also love the once-a-day thing. We
had to give ds his focalin 4 times a day (twice at school). He would be on a
roller-coaster all day, it was tough. Good luck to you and I hope this works
for our kids!My DS has been on Foculin XR 10mg in am and 10mg at lunch time for 1 1/2 years. Today, the teacher said it was like he had no meds in his body at all. I was wondering if the Foculin has stopped working. We are seeing the dr in the am. I am wondering what will happen next.

My 6 yr old DS started the 15 mg Daytrana patch on 1-31-07. He had been on 10 mg Foalin XR in the am, 5 mg in the early afternoon and another 5 mg at 4pm. We are trying the Daytrana because the Focalin just seemed to stop working. He was also experiencing so many hills and valleys ech time the Focalin wore off and was re-administered. It broke out hgearts.

He is on day #4 now and I am wondering how long it takes to see any measureable results. Any thoughts on this? Should the dosage be increased?

Hang in there everyone!