Ritalin prob after 4 yrs HELP | ADHD Information

I am new to this and wondering if anyone else has had this exp. before My son is 8 1/2 and has been on Ritalin LA 30 mg for about 4 yrs aside from his skinniness and moodiness at times he worked hard at school had good grades (with alot of help) but not too many friends.  Over the summer in camp his anxieties which have always been somewhatbad became EXREME. He started to worry about things kids his age should not worry about took him to the Doctor we all spoke and for some reason he could not come to himself a day later ended up in the hospital he was taken off of the Ritalin that I thought had worked so well was put on Resperadal was told that he pob has OCD with ADHD was also put on Prozac had to fight to get him out of hospital and now seeing a phychiatrist that is really great. BUT!! the thoughts have not completely subsided and within the last two weeks he has been taken off of the Prozac put on Tenex now as of yesterday off of the Tenex and soley on Resperadal .25 in morn and afternoon with the hopes that it will push away the thoughts that still upset him without making him sleep in class and then putting him on maybe Ritalin or Dexadrine to help with the ADHD and maybe this time while taking the Ritalin with Resperadal he'll be able o manage his thinking process without having a complete meltdown  SORRY so long its hard to keep this inside just when you think youve come so far you have to start all over again.  Anyone with sim. experience???

In a word, YES. We have had similar experiences. DS (9) has been on Ritalin for over 3 y. At first we did 20mg Ritalin-LA, but seemed too much & went to 10mg. In 3rd grade we dropped to regular Ritalin in AM only 10mg. Even though the dose was lower and he seemed more "himself" in the afternoons, he developed more and more anxiety. Around spring break he developed such a phobia he could hardly function. We started seeing a psych & she was great and eventually he got over it.

In the summer he was off meds completely and was a fun-loving (though volatile & impulsive and exhausting) kid. Couldn't sit still to read a book all summer and his handwriting was almost illegible in things he brought home from camp.

So... have started back with Ritalin for school. 4th-grade is much harder and he requested the all-day Ritalin-LA 10mg. BUT, I see him slipping into his sadder, more worrywart self now and it scares me.

I just read elsewhere here that maybe Focalin is better for kids like this? It's a refined derivative of Ritalin, but maybe doesn't cause as much anxiety? I don't know but will talk to my doc.

There's not a chance of your DS going without ADHD meds, is there?

Good luck. You're not alone. Those fears and anxieties are so awful to watch in a kid.

Mom2Bean

I am an adult w/ ADD/ADHD.  I have taken Ritalin for about 3 years.  After 1.5 years, I started having high anxiety (in runs in my family) and even had a couple panic attacks.  I had recently increased my Ritalin and went back to the lower dose when I recognized the anxiety because I thought that was contributing to it.

A therapist who specializes in panic disorder gave me some information about anxiety, some coping strategies, and a trial packet of Clonopin (anti-anxiety).  I took the Chlonopin only about five times over the course of a couple months when I felt myself starting to panic.  I don't use Clonopin at all now, and I still take Ritalin. 

I've heard many ADD/ADHD patients are treated for impulsive/compulsive/obsessive thinking with Prozac or other anti-depressants.

One of the coping strategies for anxiety/panic that helped me was, anytime I started to feel panic, I was to focus on external objects.  For instance, say to myself "there's a tree", "there's a stop sign", "there's a cat" instead of "why is my heart racing", "what's the pain in my chest", "oh my god I'm going to die".  It sounds kind of silly but it really worked for me.  I think there was a link between these impulsive/compulsive/obsessive thoughts and the anxiety I was experiencing.  Since anxiety is a physical manifestation of thoughts, training myself to think of something different put an end to the physical affects.
Out 9 year old is on FocalinXR(8hr) because of his anxiety problems. This seems to have actually helped the anxiety some and we are hoping not to have to add another med for the anxiety. It is a cleaner form of Ritalin and supposedly has less side effects. We are in the early stages so it is too soon to tell. 2 more weeks till our progress meeting with the doc.I am an adult with ADHD and I've always had problems with depression, I remember even as a little kid being a little down and always feeling like something was wrong with me.

Now as an adult allot of my problems have manifested into different behaviors and I'm pretty sure that ritalin really gets me in a mode where I'm obsessing over my ex-wife. Everywhere I turn I'm thinking about her and what not. I'm staing away from the ritalin and need to see the Doctor in regards to Panic Attacks.