Ritalin LA and fast metabolism? | ADHD Information

heather1, an increase in the dose will not make the medication last longer. The effectivenss of stimulant medication is not based on the amount of the dose but rather how well the individual responds to the medication and the dose prescribed. Thats why each patient is put through a trial of medication to see which medication and which dose brings optimal results with the least amount of side effects.. The length of time that the dose is effective is based on the metobolic rate of absortion and each child is different. If you feel that your child needs to sustain control in mid afternoon speak to your childs doctor as he can prescribe  short acting ritilan which last between 2.5 and 4 hours depending on the individual. However, if you give your child a booster dose in late afternoon he may then have sleep issues. Talk this over with your child's doctor.
My son(9yrs) has been on Ritalin LA 20mg for eight days.  He started on Concerta, but 18mg was not enough and 27 was too much.  We then tried Adderall XR 20mg, DS had bad side effects.  Now he is on the Ritalin LA.

It seems to me that the med is only working about 7.5 hrs.  By mid afternoon he is losing control(not in a terrible way, but I can tell the med is wearing off), and his appetite picks up.  I would like to keep him on this class of drugs, and am wondering if he goes up to 30mg if that will help, or if we should look into giving him a Ritalin booster in the afternoons.  He is having almost no side effects, mainly the lack of appetite, he seems to be tolerating it well.

Thanks,
Heather
heatherr139301.8004166667A higher dose may make the Ritalin LA last longer.  This was true for my child when he took Focalin XR (in the same family as Ritalin LA).heatherr1, my daughter took Ritalin LA 20 mg for a while with some success. We had the same situation with losing effect in the mid-late afternoon. Our doctor gave us 2 options, add a 10 mg Ritalin LA at lunch time, or a short acting after school. Both are good options. The RLA 10 at lunch is nice as it is the same release which you know works. The only problem is he'd have to take it at school. A short acting after school shouldn't really affect sleep if taken by 3:00, although you never know. This was our choice, but my daughter just never did well on short acting meds (side effects) so we had to stop. We couldn't do Concerta either.Diane V.
What side effects did you see with the short acting meds?Heatherr1
How is the Ritalin LA going? DId you had a short acting later in the day or
increase the a.m. dose?

My 7 year old metabolized the Rit. LA in 7 hours as well.  We boosted with a short-acting.

Now we take Methylin ER (a 6-8 hour which he metabolizes in 5) 2x/day.

 

Well, it turns out that DS was metabolizing the Ritalin LA 20 in just 6hrs.  So today we went to the psychiatrist who put DS on Daytrana 20mg patch.  I am anxious to give it a try, hopefully it will work well for DS.  The psychiatrist it reluctant to put DS on med that he would have to take at school, so we are trying this and will go back to Ritalin LA and add a booster if this doesn't work.

Thanks!
Heather