matsdad
My son has tried Strattera and Abilify, he took the Strattera in the am and Abilify in the pm. The first time he took this combination, he took a three hour nap (very unusual for my son to nap) I called the doctor and he said to discontinue the combination. He is now taking Concerta and Strattera in the am and Risperdal in the pm. We are in the process of weaning him off the Concerta. Hope this helps. Good luck, Kim
Kim,
Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. I believe it is we parents who know better how these meds affect our children and this forum is a great help towards answering those questions/concerns. Our family doctors are licensed to "Practice & Prescribe" but they do not live with their patients, we do! I will be seeing our doctor next week addressing my concerns directly to him.
I wish you well weening your son off Concerta. It took us aproximately one months time converting over to Strattera but it was well worth it. I hope it works well for your son.
Thanks again,
Matsdad
My 13 yr old sons medications were recently changed. Previously, he was taking Strattera, Risperdal and Lithium in the mornings and then Benedryl prior to bedtime. This combination worked fairly well but not without difficulties.
Last week his meds were changed to Abilify in the morning and Strattera at dinner (6:00 pm) time. I realize it can take up to 30 days after a med change before you see the full effect(s) whether they be good or bad. However, its only been a week and we are seeing them, and they are not what we'd hoped for.
My question is; are there any other parents currently using this combination of meds for their children and what effects have you seen? Additionally, is it a common practice for doctors to switch an AM med to a PM med or is this something new or something they do with Abilify?
Thanks in advance
Matsdad
Dear Matsdad
Please be careful. I have a 13 year old Aspbergers, ADHD son who was on Concerta in am for 5-6 years. 3 weeks ago our Psychatrist added Abilify in the evening. Exactly 7 days later my son's extremeties started to tremble. We were on vacation in Cape Cod. We took our son to Mass General Hospital, they are seeing this side effect in children that are neurolgically fragile. We are having him evaluated next week for his difficulty in swallowing (earliest appointment we could get). The tremeries are less now but still present. The doctors feel that they will go away from 3 weeks to 6 months. This was such a shock and we were never told of this side effect. I just wanted to let you know my experience. We went down the Abilify path because of behaviors. How I wish now my son could raise his leg to kick the wall.
Good luck in your choices.
Be careful with the abilify, my son was on that and gained over 30 pounds in a very short period of time, ( less than 3 months) he was also taking Concerta and Clonadine at bedtime, he was eating non stop like a bottomless pit, as if we were starving him to death, as soon as he put down his fork, he was looking for something to eat. We stopped it and now have him on Concerta and Welbutrin, still taking the Clonadine for sleep, we have seen some changes, but he the mood swings are still there, hope this helps/my son has been on abilify for about 2 months now.. before he was on risperdal and was doing great except for the drooling and weight gain.. i haven't seen any weight gain on abilify but i have noticed that he is more winey and his temper seem to be alittle worse then when he was on the risperdal... he also takes trileptal...i wish i could put him back on the risperdal..he was so much happier and nicer...My son has been on all of them, the risperdone, made him compulsivley eat, but he was more tolerable, the abilfy did the same, though we really saw no change, he was also on trileptal for a short period but I was not happy with him on that because of what it was meant to be used for, my son has rebound, which affects him severly when coming off the meds, that was one of the reasons why he was on all of those other phycosis meds. for manic depression, bipolar,schysophrenia etc...he was diagonosed with ADHD and that is all he has, after switching doctors, he stopped all of them, instead now, he is on 54 of Concerta and 150 of Welbutrin in the AM and 0.1 of Clonadine in the PM..the welburtin helps with the coming down of the high, and if he is having a really hard time, where he is off the wall , screaming yelling, or just plain out of control, I will give him 5 of ritalin to bring him down off the Concerta a little slower. Is it a miracle, NO, is he better somewhat, not great but functionalble, I too wish I could find a good mix to make him a happy friendly, kid, unfortunalty it takes a long time to find the mix, and when you finally do, they grow again, and the meds have to be adjusted all over again, feel free to pm me, if you want to. I have been doing this med thing for 5 years now and it is nice to know you and I are not alone.My 15 yr. old was recently switched from zoloft to abilify 15mg taken every morning and takes 80mg strattera every night. He has been on the stratterra for quite a while now, but the abilify has made a world of difference for him.