Increased Hyperactivity on Stimulants | ADHD Information

I will tell you if you get the school to write how your child is on the medication  the doctors will pay more attention to the schools words than anything cause they all want kids do well in school at least they do here in iowaI'm new here-been lurking for awhile but I would love to hear some input about my son.  He is almost 13 and recently diagnosed with ADHD.  We first tried Straterra and it worked wonderfully for his focus and attention but after 3 weeks I couldn't keep him in school because he was constantly getting sick (mostly on the bus).  He ended up in such bad shape that he had to quit taking and had 2 weeks completely off medication.  Then we tried the Daytrana patch.  The 10 mg. didn't do much for him so we went up to 15mg.  After a few days on the 15 mg. patch I hear from a couple of teachers that he is actually EXTREMELY hyper and can't keep his hands to himself like a younger child!!  Of course this was the week of State Testing!!!!!  He was also having some pretty bad mood swings and said that he felt angry all the time.  He was worried that he would lose it at school and get himself in serious trouble.  Needless to say we stopped the patch and are now going to a psychiatrist this Friday for more evaluation.  I was just wondering if any of you have seen this type of increase of hyperactivity on stimulants??  Before treatment my son was usually pretty hyper at home and had major inattention problems at school.  With the medication he was hyper & angry most of the time but also more attentive if that makes sense!! 

Is it posible the stimulant increased his anxiety? If so, increased anxiety can make ADHD symptoms worse, and it can come out as anger in some kids (like my daughter). A different stimulant may not cause the same problems, or you may need to look at the 3rd line of meds. A psychiatrist will be better able to evaluate for co-existing conditions and managing meds for your son.

His pediatrician did pick up on some anxiety during the first evaluation.  He got really fidgety and started lightly banging on the arm rests of the chair once we started talking about school and teachers.  Normally when doing homework I see a lot of this table & pencil tapping.  How will this evaluation with the psychatrist differ from the evaluation or "interview" with the pediatrician?

My daughter has also had increased anxiety and increased ADHD symptoms on higher does of certain stimulants. Not only does every stimluant work different.ly, each variation of each stimunalnt is different. For example we had different reactions to regular Ritalin than we did to the slow release Ritalin LA, and even different on Concerta (also Ritalin). Your goal is to decrease symptoms without side effects (or minimal side effects). The psychiatrist will definitley be better at knowing if the side effects are from the stiulant directly. We are actually going to 3rd line meds this summer. That is what were doing last year after 2 years of stimulant use that didnt work out. This year we swicthed back becasue f the new 10 hour Ritalin (LA). We are having side effects (tics) so we will go back to third line this summer. In our case it will be Desiprimine which is a tricylcic antidepressant. We do howeever have co-exisitng anxiety and LD. Keep trying you will find something that works. It is quite frustrating getting there.

The psychiatrist will ask questions, observe your child and probably have you and the teacher fill out forms (conners or other forms). It is just that psychiatrists are more experienced at picking up all these issues and managing them.

As you go through this with your son, we will be here for help and support.

You're right it is frustrating...and we are just getting started!!  If I hadn't seen the intial improvement on Straterra and what amazing difference it made then I would already take on the attitude of "We made it this long without it" and just deal with the symptoms.  But after 2 days I was amazed and had already heard from several teachers that they could see a major improvement.  Kind of hard to stick you head in the sand after witnessing that!!  Too bad he started getting sick!I hear you. My daughter does so well with focus and attention, following through with things on most the forms of Ritalin, but she SO thin and has tics we cannot live with. She asked me one day, "why cant I take a pill that doesnt make me tired, make we twitchy, but also stops my head from spininning"? The poor thing! Breaks my heart. She tells me she is too "spinny" without any meds. Kepp trying something will work.Thanks Diane and Vickie!  I'm really glad that we are going ahead with the psychiatrist.  It has already been rough for him but the good news is that unless something drastic changes in the next 3 weeks he will be on the honor roll for the first time since starting middle school!!  Even after missing almost 2 weeks of school!  I love this forum already!may have to try give it at a different time my son got sick on it to we had to give it to him at least 45 minutes to an hour beforehe rode the bus then they changed it to bed time and also gave him adderal in the morning [QUOTE=busymomof3]Thanks Diane and Vickie!  I'm really glad that we are going ahead with the psychiatrist.  It has already been rough for him but the good news is that unless something drastic changes in the next 3 weeks he will be on the honor roll for the first time since starting middle school!!  Even after missing almost 2 weeks of school!  I love this forum already![/QUOTE]

Terminally coolers! Best news I had all day! YAY FOR HIM!
We were giving him the Straterra at night because my son already has trouble getting to school without getting sick.  He has problems with motion sickness and absolutely refuses to eat before riding the bus.  He stays on the bus for an hour each way but seems to have a lot more trouble in the a.m.  Although on Straterra he actually got sick in the afternoon too.  We live in the country so of course the roads are very curvy and the stopping and starting gets to him.  I drove him to school for a week and half so that he wouldn't miss anymore (if he got sick on the bus they made him go straight to the office to call me) and that worked out fine but I had to be late to work all those days and can't do it everyday.  Now for next year he will actually start school later in the day so taking him won't be an option at all.  His math teacher loved the results on the Straterra so much that I could probably talk her into picking him up everyday! LOL!  I have some e-mails from a couple of teachers that loved the attention and focus he had on the Strattera so I will print them and take to the doctor tomorrow.  Thanks for the tip, I hadn't thought about that.