My 16 year old daughter's wheel began to fall off the wagon. An A+ student she became anxious, withdrawn, indecisive and very pale. We thought that she was aneamic and had lots of tests done. Then we looked at the medication / dose that she had been on for the last 4 years. 54mg concerta and 10mg quick release ritalin morning and night.
We had memory testing off medication and then with concerta and then quick release ritalin. Amazing!!! The concerta which has always worked was not effective and the quick release was. The doctor explained this as building up of the meds causing her to hyperfocus. She became too focus/ anxious and indecisive.
Having her off meds was an eye opener for all. She is a great kid but needs focus. . Off meds, she was happy and fluent in her speech. She described this as having a clear head.
So we are now back on just quick release every 4 hours - this should be interesting!!!!
Perhaps she is old enough now to remember to take it regularly every 4 hours...does she have a reminder watch or some kind of alarm to go off to help her remember? I think I remember that she is at boarding school during the week.....
I am glad you got the puzzle solved....is Ritlain LA available there? It's release is different than Concerta, and when the Concerta stopped being as effective for Chase, we switched to this....he says it is MUCH better....50% of the med releases right away, and then the other 50% releases 4 hours later.
Thanks Chasesmom
You said that concerta stopped working - it was so good for her for about 2 1/2 years and then she lost weight, became very serious, anxious and obviously the learning was greatly compromised. Very interesting. She has had ritalin LA - she did say that is when she has felt the best!
What symptoms make you think the concerta had stopped working?
I have a sneaking suspicion that the same thing is happening to our very troubled 14 year old son. But he metabolises the meds quicker and he would then need two doses at school. This would be awful for him.
I think a valuable lesson for all - never think the meds will be effective forever.