I notice that with my son and concerta. I was actually having this conversation with my husband tonight!
When my son has a bad day on meds, it is as if they aren't working at all. He is not really moody unless he is tired/hungry or even emotional from meds. Usually he is just layed back and quiet. Even at baseball camp I notice that he just goes and plays baseball, no real conversations with anyone, just plays the game and does what they ask.
We were all set to increase him 18 more mgs of concerta, however, today was a great day with his current dose. I hate to bring him up too high.
We decided we are going to try the higher dose and watch him.
I think these guys have so much going on, including the meds in their systems, that they have bad days sometimes.
thanks for the replies. She has been on it for 15 days. The moodiness has been there the whole time but not to the extream that it is now. You could start to see the frustration and some times head it off, but now its there with out warning. I will say she has figured out that the best place for her when she is like that is off by herself.
She goes back on the 17th and I am almost sure he will up the meds to 15mg or 20mg. He said at the first meeting, that he thought she would need between 20-25mg. Lets hope it get better. I know she can feel the difference and has a hard time when she's not feeling good.
Our house is having a hard time being able to tell if my 10 yr old's daughter meds (focalin) are the reason for the mood swings or if it's the child. She had a friend over that had stayed the night monday night so they got to bed a little late, not bad though. She woke up had breakfast and her pill, played hard untill the afternoon and was great . She cleaned up the mess they had made and was the wonderful girl I know is there. I made sure to put her to bed early in hopes of warding off the crabbiness from going to bed late the night before. Today she has gotten up and same routine, and has been a bear all day. It's like the mediction didn't work at all. She is frustrated all day long and no one can do anything right even her. Is this normal, considering we are still trying to find the right level of meds, some days do they work great and some days not? THis is the third time in about two weeks this sort of thing has happened. I wonder if some days she's in a mood and she expects the medication to change that mood. I always tell her that she has to want to improve her mood and that will make it easier. I want her to be responsible for the actions she makes even though sometime she can't help it I will not let her say it's because the pill didn't work. Maybe she is just having a bad day? maybe she is tired, hormonal?hang in there it will get better.
My 6 yo DD started Focalin in March. We went several weeks on 5 mg of the xr and saw a big difference, but her impulse control was still a big problem. We increased her to 7.5 (which is a crapshoot, since the time release beads aren't simply divisible in half!), and then to 10. When she was on 10, the moodiness was out of control. She was way worse on the 10 mg of Focalin XR than she had been without meds. We backed off, tried Daytrana (same crazy moodiness), then started Tenex with no stims. Got the Tenex to the right (we think) dosage, added back in the Focalin, with good results (for the moment).
As of this week, the psychiatrist has her taking:
Morning: 1 mg. Tenex, 5 mg. Focalin XR and 2.5 mg. Focalin short acting.
Early afternoon: 2.5 mg. Focalin short acting
Evening: 1 mg. Tenex.
For the last two days, she has had next to no moodiness. I hope it lasts!
I hope you get to the right dose. We have had moodiness with both Focalin and Daytrana.
[QUOTE=Shannon6103]I have the same problem with my 6 year old son. He has been taking focalin for 3 months and he seems to be worse now than when he takes no medicine at all. His aggression has gotten out of control. He takes 15 mg of focalin XR and then 25 mg of seroquel at night. When he takes the medicine in the morning he does fine for about 2 hours, then all the sudden the aggression kicks in and he is horrible the rest of the day until he takes the seroquel at night then he seems to calm down again. I truly believe that the focalin is not an option for us. But not sure what to try next. I have heard that Adderall came out with a new medicine in June that is suppose to really effective, but adderall XR did not work for us so will the new one?
Is there a BP diagnosis? I am asking because of the Seroquel.
[/QUOTE]
Shannon there are so many options out there. Call your doctor. The new medication is Vyvanse. It is not the same medication as Adderall. Same family of meds, but it is a different delivery method, absobed totally differently by the body. It is a 14 hour med, so if you have sleep issues not sure how this would work. There are a lot of others in the methyphedinate family, Concerta (as Bethann mentioned), Ritalin LA, Ritalin SR, Metadate, Daytrana (patch).
Keep trying. How solid is your diagnosis? Just curious as you say his aggression and symptoms increase with stimulant. Also what is the Seroquel added for? To help with sleep?
I have the same problem with my 6 year old son. He has been taking focalin for 3 months and he seems to be worse now than when he takes no medicine at all. His aggression has gotten out of control. He takes 15 mg of focalin XR and then 25 mg of seroquel at night. When he takes the medicine in the morning he does fine for about 2 hours, then all the sudden the aggression kicks in and he is horrible the rest of the day until he takes the seroquel at night then he seems to calm down again. I truly believe that the focalin is not an option for us. But not sure what to try next. I have heard that Adderall came out with a new medicine in June that is suppose to really effective, but adderall XR did not work for us so will the new one?
Hi Shannon6103,
It sounds like the meds your son is on are NOT the right ones for him. Any meds that cause what you describe should be stopped. Something is wrong.
Call his doctor ASAP and let them know. I would discuss trying a new med. There are so many out there.
My son couldn't handle adderall xr AT ALL. He has been on concerta for over 3 years now. We increased him recently after having on the same dose for 2 1/2 years. He also takes guanfacine for overstimulation-it relaxes him. He also eats!!