adhd bipolar meds? | ADHD Information
It is very individual. Usually the doc would get the bipolar under control and then add the ADHD med. Some of the newer atypical antipsychotics for mood disorders can cuase less weight gain. You would have to try them out for both effectiveness and side effects.if i was to take adderol and a bipolar med as well, what would you recomend? Aderol has worked great for my adhd, but i still have these horrible mood problems that need medication as well. bipolar and adhd both run in my family. I also wanted to know if the bipolar med ( since most are weight gain) and adderol will make most loose weight, would they cross each other out?My son has ADHD and bipolar. At this time we added Risperdol to help with the rage (I want to kill you, and kids at school) type of behavior. In addition he takes Ritalin LA, a short acting Ritalin and Trazadone for sleep, but I believe it is an antidepressant. The combo works for our little Bipolar Bear as we call him.My son is also ADHD and BP. We used to increase his ADHD meds when he would become irritable or moody like you described, but it would only work for a short time. Eventually, he was taken off the ADHD meds for a week and Bipolar meds were started. Once his moods was stabilized, then the ADHD meds were brought back. This finally helped balance him out.
So , I have two suggestions for you.
1. With the guidance of your physician, try increasing the dose on the Adderall and see if your other symptoms improve. If not, talk to your physician about BP meds.
2. If you have already tried increasing your ADHD meds with no improvement, talk to your doctor about weening off the Adderall and THEN try the BP meds ONLY until the BP symptoms are controlled. Once they are controlled, then add the ADHD meds if or as needed.
WARNING: If you become or HAVE ever become in the past; a danger to yourself or others when you are off meds, absolutely DO NOT attempt to be alone when weening off the meds! !
I had made that mistake with my son. Two days off meds, he went into a violent rage and I wound up rushing him to the emergency room, where he was admitted to a pediatric psychiatric hospital. It took them about 3 months to stabilize him and adjust all of his medication to where it was working well for him.
I totally agree with TimzMom!
My son is AD/HD & Bi-Polar and the Risperdal really works for him. It really help with the aggression.
Like TimzMom said if you're going to do any changes do them with your doctor and other support.
Best of Luck! 
well, what would you recomend? Aderol has worked great for my adhd,
but i still have these horrible mood problems that need medication as
well. bipolar and adhd both run in my family. [/QUOTE]
I think it was Hallowell or Ratey (authors of Driven to Distraction) who
said that the reason that stimulant meds like Ritalin and Adderol were
only 60% effective and not 95% or more effective was because the dose
was too low.
Have you tried raising the adderol dose? When my dose was raised, the
annoying symptoms went away -- the irritation, bursts of anger,
distraction, procrastination, etc. My doctor tried to put me on all sorts of
other stuff (SSRIs, antidepressants, tricyclics, Sickbutrin, etc.) instead of
raising the dose of Ritalin. I even tried a neuroleptic, and I was
desperately deeply depressed for days (on HALF a tablet of the lowest
dose.) Raising the daily Ritalin is the only thing that worked for me. I tried
all sorts of things and found I was only kidding myself.
(Of course, your mileage may vary... I have severe inattentive-type ADHD
and there are other types of ADHD.)
My youngest son is adhd/bipolar, and I can you what I learned from doing my own research, and that's that when treating someone with both issues, you have to treat the bipolar conditions FIRST, as most "classic" adhd meds will make the bipolar patient manic. Once you get the bipolar issues under control, then you can ease into an adhd regime to complement that, but to repeat the past few posters, all meds, whether increasing or decreasing, should be done while under a dr's supervision, as drugs interact and respond differently in different people.
My son was taking Provigil/Geodon/Clonindine, and it worked for him for about a year and a half, and has only just now stopped being effective. Just today we were prescribed Amantidine/Tenex/Geodon, so I have to learn about these drugs as they're new to me!
Good luck to you!
if i was to take adderol and a bipolar med as well, what would you recomend? Aderol has worked great for my adhd, but i still have these horrible mood problems that need medication as well. bipolar and adhd both run in my family. I also wanted to know if the bipolar med ( since most are weight gain) and adderol will make most loose weight, would they cross each other out?
I am on adderall and abilify. Both have dramatically improved my life. The abilify I was put on after an episode of borderline personality disorder hysteria if that makes any sense. Anyways....haven't had a "freakout" since i was put on the abilify a year ago. In the last year I gained 25-30 lbs...I was also in a outpatient eating disorder program and binged/overate ontop of my food plan. Since then I can't lose it no matter what...and this is me being on adderall. I gained back my appetite so that's why I binged/overate....not sure if it was the afilify which is suppose to be a neutral weighgain med. I could blame it maybe on the zoloft that I was on....just switched to welbutrin which is suppose to be a weight loss med...so far, nothing and my appetite remains in control but no weight loss. I just started that so I will nee to see what happens in the next month or so. I have been on the welburtrin for 2 weeks and my weight sadly hasn't changed. I think my abilify and adderall crossed each other out. bummer...but still, no freak out which is good.
Hi,
I'm new to this forum and have been reading all the posts. I feel so at home...
My son has ADHD and they believe BD. He is on Neurontin and Ritilin short acting. After a battle to keep him meds free for the past 5 years, I gave in when I brought him to Indonesia thinking I could home school. I am working here as a teacher and doing missionary work. Well, my denial about the severity of my son's issues was smashed. I could not control him and still have a very hard time with it, even on the medicines. Unfortunately, I am not able to return to the US for another year, and we are perhaps moving to China. He is managing better with the medicines but we still have issues regarding rage and violent thoughts and play. I just had to deal with how he made lego guns and pointed them at children's heads at Sunday school, and threatened to kill the teacher numerous times. Sean is now on these meds and is able to study in a school here with a very patient teacher. His class is very small with only 6 other students.
These violent thoughts and play are so disturbing to me. Its been like this since he was three years old! Always talking about bombs and guns. When he is angry at me, he threatens to kill himself (he is 9 years old by the way). I've tried all forms of disapline. My husband says that he has a very self centered character. He believes it is because I did not give Sean any responsiblities at a young age. I've spoiled him essentially. I had him in martial arts in the USA but it seemed to just make his violent thoughts worsen. He regularly shoves me, shows blantant disrespect, and night times he is so "high", he nearly laughs himself to sleep.
The doctor I have taken him to, is not a children's doctor but is the only qualified physician in this city.
So i feel quite welcome here. I am sure to post more as time goes on. We have some kind of issue a few times a week. Maybe you can all help me to get through this. My husband is out of town now... and it makes things slightly unbareable at times. I trust God can heal Sean somehow.
Lamictal is another med used with bipolar conditions. My son isn't bipolar but we are using as a mood stabilizer. It has been wonderful in helping him with his depression and anger issues. It took about 6 weeks to get up to the target dose and I really didn't see the full effect until he had taken for 2 months. You have to titrate up slowly because of Steven Johnson syndrome, which is a serious type of rash.
Dawn,
I have found that my homeschool day is shorter because I do not have to spend 90 minutes with my son to do a literacy lesson or 60 minutes to do a math lesson. At the elementary level in our district, the day requires a 90 block of literacy, 90 minutes of reading, and 60 minutes of math daily. That doesn't leave much time for anything else in the 6.5 hours they have. We can spend 15 minutes working on a math lesson and I know if he understands the information. Tristan is now a 7th grader. Our school day is from 10:00 am till 2:00 pm. We covered 7-9 topics in that time period. The point is, you don't have to have as long a school day as they do in pubic schools.
You can still have social interaction by having him get involved in sports, scouts, or church. My son interacts with more adults now and has become more mature. He still has friends that he hangs with, there are two other boys his age within a block of our home. Social interaction is one of the biggest things that people fear or say could a be drawback. For us, getting him out that classroom away from those mean kids that picked on him has helped. And, he was very bored at school. He could pick up a concept and wanted to move on but could not because of the rest of the class.
Homeschool is not so much creativity, but organization. You know this from teaching. Good curriculum is esential. Give him the structure and Sean will blossom.
I understand your exhaustion. My son has always been a handful, but to add pregancy does make it harder. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Dawn,
Sometimes our friends mean well but they do not live with our children. Often they hear something from a friend of friend who child did something strange. And, sometimes they listen to all the negative stuff in the media.
If you child had needed glasses or had allergies your friends would not have hestitate to condemn you for get getting them glasses or medication. So many people are out there saying that ADHD is a fake/ madeup disorder.
I love my friends but there are somethings that I do not discuss with them. I guess it is like politics, as many opinions as there people.
I always tell people to research, research, research. Read about 50 websites and you will see the common threads. This website is good because we can honest about what works and what doesn't. You can any question and someone will help you find an answer.
Enjoy home schooling. We have been doing it for 2 and 1/2 years. You can incorporate the baby into your lesson plan. You could mark your due date on the calendar and he could help you count down. Sean can read stories to the baby. He could do baby math-- if you x number of diapers a day, how many will you use in 2, 3, 4 days. The options are limitless.
Wow, I don't know where to start. I have a 6 year old boy and he has adhd and BP. We started on Strattera and Risperdal and have increase each as I felt that they were not working. I retained my son because I felt developmentally he was not ready for Kindergarten. He at times has a hard time expressing himself. If you ask him what he did iver the weekend, he would say :i don;t know or I can't remember. (Even if we had just gotten back from Disney World!) His Dr. has just switched him over to Ambilfy. I am scared to death after reading all of the side effects, just as bad as risperdal... He can be such an angel and then lose it in a tantrum. He has started crying at every little thing. (thats why the switch came in the meds.) I don;t know what to do. Can someone offer any advice. I really wonder at times how these meds really make him feel.
Help...
MHenry320
Hello MHenry,
Sean also has memory problems. I had not relalized it was associated with ADHD or BD. It makes sense. I'm having trouble placing him in school again, since he got expelled last semester for being rude and threatening the teachers. His ritalin was increased and he seemed to improve but the damage was already done. I'm going to have to homeschool for a while. Looking forward to getting back to the USA in December. I am expecting now (due in February).
Sean is now 9 and turns 10 in December, and is just barely able to grasp 2nd grade lessons. I wish I had put him on meds long ago when he first started kindergarden. I was afraid and listened to my friends too much.
Best wishes with your child.
Dawn
wow. wonderful suggestions! My husband started giving him lessons at home on friday and he already noted a total change since last time. It is such a relief. I will pass along all the suggestions to him. He does play sports with Sean. They played basketball on Friday. Good idea about letting your son use the keyboard instead of physically writing. Does he have a physical handicap or is that due to his ADHD? Sean really hates writing. I am afraid if I don't keep him writing he will suffer when I go back to the USA and he goes back to public school.I am feeling ok. I just got over a virus that had me in bed all weekend. Yuck. I am feeling better today.
Dawn
Thank you for the fantastic advise. I was thinking I had to keep with the public school's requirements. Which makes for an exhausting day. Right now, I am teaching during the day, so I can't teach Sean in the day time. I have to teach him in the afternoon when i come home. But the trouble is, he takes short acting Ritalin (becuase that is the only medication available here in Indonesia), so he can't take any dose past 2pm. I will have to structure his dose time to allow him to focus when I give his lessons at home. My husband does not have any patience to teach him. He tried before when Sean was not on medication and it did not work well, and was simply scared off by the idea. I'm thinking I may employ a part time teacher to come in and teach him to suppliment my lessons since I can't do it all. I am going to go by the books next week which are a continuation of what he did last year. Thankfully, I now know where to buy the textbooks.
So, it is ok to teach a topic for only 15 minutes? Sean gets a lot of Science lessons from watching "Discovery Channel", "Animal Planet" and "National Geographic". Maybe I can create some sort of a writing assignment around those programs he likes. He just loves Science, and also History. He watchs lots of history programs (that i find to be very boring).
Any suggestions on how to deal with his frustrations when it comes to reading and writing? I think he is dyslexic. I wonder if there are any online resources that can help me to teach him better.
Thanks again, and God bless you
Dawn
Dawn
Make sure Sean gets plenty of exercise, it will have a calming effect on him. Try getting a little mini-tampoline that he can jump up and down on. He could jump on that and practice him math facts or practice his spelling words or answer questions. They don't take up much space.
If Sean is taking the short acting Ritalin, does he take more than one dose a day? If he does, readjust his dosing schedule. Talk to the doctor about a lower booster dose for the evenings.
Why should you spend 60 minutes on a topic when he understands the concept in 15 minutes? It will just make both of you crazy. Perhaps your husband could try again with one or two subjects, now that he is medicated. Have Sean read to his dad or have him play basketball to get some exercise. Maybe Dad could take Sean on nature walks. Try having Sean write the list of errrands (writing)and then keep track of them as they do them (reading and sequencing). And remember, house repairs can be a math lesson (measuring, geometry, addition and subtraction). Everything can be a lesson, even house work. Remember life skills are important to everyone and there are valuable lessons in everything we do. Setting the the table can be a lesson in math, how many dishes do you need set the table for 2, 3, or 4 people?
Employing the science channel is a great way to use media in teaching. Often these channels have teachers guides for their show, go online to check it out.
You can also use one topic to do a multitude of subjects. Example geometry, you talk about the shapes (math), you practice drawing the shapes and coloring them (art), look for these shapes in art,architure or nature (science) and then write about it (writing). So one lesson, maybe 60 minutes long, has covered 4 subjects.
We had Tristan watch movies and then write his opinions. He has a problem with the physical act of writing so we let him use a laptop and it was amazing. He went from writing the minimum, ( I mean 2-3 short sentences), to writing a page and a half. His opinion were very insightful.
I also have Tristan on a 4 day schedule. If he does all his work everyday, he gets Fridays off. It also allows us to take a day off to do shopping or doctor appointments. Friday is the makeup day, if you nothing to makeup, then you don't have school.
How are you feeling these days? I hope you are getting enough rest.
thanks for the message.
Sean is very difficult to home school. I tried it before, but he was not on meds. I am hoping it goes better now. It is better if he is in school, since he has social interaction. I can't wait to get back to the USA so he will be in a better environment. Home schooling is only temporary until we can place him in another school here.
You seem like a very creative person. It takes a very creative person to home school. I am teaching Science here to Jr. high students, and it zaps all my energy by the time i get home. And now I am pregnant, so it is over the top. My husband wil try to school him at home temporarily.
I should have not listened to friends, like you said, but what is done is done. I just pray he can catch up and we can correct the damages done so far in his self esteem.
Take care
Dawn
Hi,This is a complicated situation. I believe that the safest thing to do is to try to stabilize the mood - and then worry about the ADHD after it (if you truly have Bipolar and ADD).
I think the best first steps for medicines for bipolar are the atypical antipsychotics - like Risperidone, Seroquel, Olanzapine, Abilify, Geodon, etc.
Then, there are other mood stabilizers - like Lithium, Depakene, etc.
I found this page that is all about Bipolar meds - I hope it helps!
Bipolar Medication Article
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