Med side effects? Help please | ADHD Information

My son is on Aderall XR 5mg.  He started the meds Wed.  At what point do I become concerned about lack of eating?  He didn't eat hardly anything yesterday, and only two bites today.  I have tried to offer him everything with no luck of him wanting any food.  Also I am noticing at around 5 or 5:30 everyday he becomes very upset.  He starts crying that no one wants to play with him.  When I try to calm him down he then assumes I don't want him to play with anyone and becomes more upset.  What is a good way to calm him down and make him feel better.  I'm at a loss right now. 

The appetite problem sometimes gets better with time and sometimes doesn't....many times the child gets ravenous after the med wears off in the evening.  It is best to feed a good breakfast before the meds are given in the morning, and then feed the child in the evening after the med wears off...if you can get the child to eat a nutrition bar and drink juice at lunch, that is good, if not...at least get them to drink to stay hydrated throughout the day.

If the appetite does not return after a while on the med, and it is otherwise working well for ADHD symptoms, you have some choices....try a different stim in the hopes that you can hit upon one that works for the symptoms w/o upsetting the appetite, or add something to stimulate the appetite.  Tenex (guanfacine) has been known to help with appetite issues as has periactin (cyproheptadine).  It is up to you and your doctor to decide what is best for your child and your family.

The tearfulness at 5:30 sounds like it may be rebound, which also gets better many times after the body gets accustomed to the med leaving the system.  If it doesn't get better, again you can choose to try another med to see if rebound is less of an issue, or add a fast acting form of stim to avoid the sudden drop of med in the system.  Since appetite is already a concern, you may not want to extend the med in the system with another dose, however short lasting it is.  Again, speak with your doctor and discuss your options. 

He has been crying for almost an hour now.  I'm having a very hard time watching my 5 year old struggle like this.  I just laid him down in his bed to calm down for 10 min.  I feel bad I am the one that needed the 10 minutes away.  Right now I don't feel like there is anything I can do to make him feel better.  This is driving me crazy today.  my daughter suffers rebound from long acting Ritalin and it did get better during the time we added the small afternoon short acting dose. We ended up taking her off it for other issues, but it did help with that. When she took Adderall she tended to "be sad" often. I agree with Chasesmom, you may need to try some other stimulants. We used somethng with the Adderall to help increase appetite and in falling asleep. There are lots of choices.

Try to head it off at the pass tomorrow.....give him something with caffeine just before....an energy drink or mt. dew...see if that helps...I would call the doctor and tell them on Monday, but many on the boards said that after a few days the rebound stopped happening.

I wish I could help more.....

Thanks so much.  I'm headed back to his room to see if I can try again.  Definatly calling the dr on Monday.  Almost did it today but what will he do on a weekend?

Just try to hang in there with him. It sounds trite, but fortunately all the phases are temporary. Extra hugs until Monday! Good luckWe had problems with adderall too. It made my son seem at times like a zombie and he did cry at times too. He also did not eat and lost weight. We switched to concerta. It works better for all those issues but he does get irritable for awhile in the early evening.Hopefully the next med will be kinder to his system.  Let us know how it goes....Good luck. It can be a long, arduous process. Love to know how you make out.Right now I am second guessing the choice I have made with meds, but know in the long run it will be worth it.  I'm just trying to stay positive for him.  I'm thinking about going to CHADD meeting on Tues night to maybe gain more information.  Right now I just feel dumb about all of this and I have been on the computer nonstop and reading books.  You are doing the right thing. There is a steep learning curve, so you have to hit the books! CHADD also has tapes and dvds of it's annual meeting with all the latest research results. It costs, but it's available.

My son couldn't handle adderall xr either. He switched to concerta and has done very well!

At first there will be appetite issues, maybe even sleep for a bit, however, we would offer him sugar once he got out of school. That seemed to jumpstart his appetite, and prevent any type of rebound.

Adderall would really make my son angry, depressed, psychotic even.

I am glad for your son's sake that you are going to switch and try a different med. There are so many to chose from that you will find the right one! So sad to see these little once suffer.

Another board I go to recommends that as soon as the side effects occur to discuss with the doctor, even the not working as well. When increases were needed we did NOT wait for the next appointment, we called and increased the med immediately, the same as stopping due to side effects. Just my opinion.

Beth

Well here is todays update.  We went through 4 hours of servere depression.  I called the doctor we are going in tomorrow to switch meds.  This was horrible today.  Made yesterday look minor.  Thanks for all of the advice from everyone Good luck!  I will keep my fingers crossed for you and your son!Good luck!!

The struggle to find the right meds combo is so hard!!  Hang in there and don't give up, because it can be done.

Our first few weeks were pretty rough too, and it breaks my heart even now to think back on it.  But, we are in a good place right now...he is doing so well at school, and even at night when the meds wear off is much improved.  Makes me realize that all the tough nights and all the tears I cried were worth it!!

 

 

Well wish me luck just got finshed at the dr we are now starting the daytrana patch.  Hope it works much better.  It was a frustrating weekend but I can't give up that easily.  Thanks everyone.  I will leave an update tomorrow for youI just had lunch with him today.  Now normally if I go to lunch I have to ask him to sit down a million times.  He sit there the entire time (at the picnic table outside) without me asking him to set down.  He didn't eat much but we seemed to have some actual conversation.  I really looked at this as a good thing but then the teacher said she had noticed no change at all.  Maybe I am wrong and just got lucky.  I'm not the worlds biggest fan of his teacher anyway.  He goes to another teacher for reading and I called and left her a message to please let me know how he is doing for her each day or every other day if possible.  I don't really know what information I should be asking them for.  I'm really hoping this works.  You may be seeing the effects of a dose that is a little too low for the demands of a classroom. THis is a good start. We saw some effects on the low doses, but a higher dose was required for the school demands.