Thanks for your replies.
When I told him the Metadate wasn't lasting long enough, he said she could take an afternoon dose at school, or use a short acting Ritalin after school for homework. Not being too thrilled with the administration at the Middle School DD started this year, I was just trying to avoid having the school administer meds. I am certain next year we will have to do something else. Give a dose at school or something. I would love to try Daytrana, but DD and I both have pretty sensitive skin and I really fear she would have a reaction to it. I know there's plenty of other med's to try, the Metadate just seems to work so well, when it is working, it just isn't nearly long enough for a long acting med., KWIM? Ultimately, I guess we should try something else to see if we can get 10 or 12 hours coverage w/o needing the short acting med.
Has she tried concerta? It definitely lasts 10-12 hours....it was an issue with my son, it lasted so long, he had no appetite for supper....but some kids don't have the appetite issues as badly, it is all individual....
For those of you who have to give your kids a short acting stimulant (Ritalin particularly) what dose do you give and to what age & size child?
My dd (11) takes 40 mg. Metadate CD in the morning (started taking it end of Oct.) She says it works very well, just not long enough (5 to 5 1/2 hrs.). She still has two and a half classes at school when it wears off, and says she is having a hard time staying focused in those classes. In Dec., the Doctor gave us a 5 mg. short acting Ritalin to give after school to help w/ homework, but DD says she can barely tell she has taken anything. When asked on a scale of 1-10 how much it helps her she said "maybe a 1 or 1 1/2, where as with the Metadate, she tells me an 8 or 9). So what I'm wondering is, is this a pretty low dose of short acting med. for an 11 yr. old (98 lbs.)? I let Doctor know about the Metadate, but never reported back on the Ritalin...we just quit giving it since it wasn't helping. I never thought about seeing if it could/should possibly go higher?
So, I just thought I'd see how much others are giving after school....maybe this just wasn't a strong enough dose for her.
Thanks!
MamaBear39170.4335532407I don't think that weight matters as to dose with this med, but my 10 year old (59 pounds) takes 60mg ritalin LA in the morning, and if he needs homework dosage, he has 10 mg of short acting ritalin.
You need to call the doctor and tell him (or have dd tell him) exactly what you have posted here. It should be no problem to have the short acting dose raised to an effective dose.
chasesmom7939170.4408796296my son takes 5 mg also but is 55lbs(4ft 7.5in)and almost 8. I will add that I have had several foster kids on Ritalin and they took 10-15mg in the afternoon. Their ages ranged from 10 to 14, and the largest weighed 150lbs, smallest about 95lbs. I would have it increased and see if it helps. Also, many of my foster kids got a dose at noon and/or in the afternoon. Not sure which time she takes it or if you think a earlier or later dose would help but just thought I would mention it. Good Luck!I had always wondered why they give such a low dose for that afternoon pill. My son is on Focalin XR 20mg (we saw no results at 10 mg.), but the doc gave us 5mg short acting focalin for the afternoons. It doesn't do a thing.
The Focalin XR lasts about 9 hrs, though, so we don't really need the afternoon dose as long as we stick to our schedule and get homework done before dinner.
5mg would be like water for my ds. He takes Ritalin LA twice a day and a short acting dose of Ritalin 16.25mg if needed for homework. He metabolizes ritalin quickly taking the LA ~6 1/2hrs apart.We give our son 10mg QR Ritalin when we go to wake him up at 6:30. Then he goes back to sleep for 50 minutes. He has a shower etc and get his concerta 54mg when he walks out the door at 8:20am. This seems to last until about 5 ish so we give him 15mg to do his homework at 4:30pm. Any later and it's difficult to get him to sleep. This means at about 8:30 he is getting tired as the meds are running out and we try to get him calm and into bed before the nasty rebound happens!!!!!
We had no success on concerta the first time around. Then out of necessity we went back and increased the dose to 54mg. It is not as effective as quick release but it is too difficult to administer 15 mg which is his ideal learning dose every 3 hours at school. We don't have metadate in Australia that I am aware of. Our son is on the same dose as his sister who is twice the weight!
Thanks.
Yes, Concerta was actually the first medicine she tried (the current one, Metadate CD is only the second). She tried 18 mg. for 1 week with no results. Then Doctor increased it to 36 mg. Still nothing at all. DD said she didn't feel like she even took anything. The Doctor said to just go ahead and stop it......Even if it just wasn't a strong enough dose yet, he still felt she would feel a little something and we would notice something with 36 mg. With Metadate, she noticed within the first hour of the first pill.