Vynanse and 9 year old | ADHD Information

Well guess what? After a few calls to the doctor this morning, she called back around 11am apologizing over and over again and told us that she prescribed the wrong dose. She had meant to prescribe 30mg. I was FUMING. I understand that doctors are humans and make mistakes also, but when it's your own child, you aren't quite as forgiving, you know? I was so upset over how my dd acted last night that I broke down crying at work today. I was a mess....stressed out and beating myself up mentally over giving her medication to begin with. We have decided to give the 30mg a try over the weekend. That way we can monitor her. The pediatrician told us that we can page her anytime over the weekend if something comes up and we need her or even if we just have questions. Yes, our first experience was awful, but I'm going to TRY and forgive the ped for messing up and give her one more chance. Please wish us luck. The ped said that if this medication just doesn't work, then she wants to try dd on the daytrana patch. I guess only time will tell.... Again, thank you all for your words of encouragement and comfort. We're new to all this and I'm so thankful for this forum.

Good luck trying it over the weekend. I would have been pissed also if the doctor made a mistake like that!!!!

My daughter, age 6, just started Vyanse yesterday. So far she has had two great reports at school and is doing very well at dance. This was our third medication to try on her. I fought medicating her all last year, working with supplements, herbs and a homeopathic doctor. Nothing worked well enough. Our first try this year to medicate her (or have her be placed back in K) was similar to yours, she freaked out and hallucinated. It was awful. We then tried Adderall and that was a nightmare, she became angry, aggressive, and mean. This was our 3rd medicine and I really like it. It lasts all day, there is no rebound, and she is calm and even all day. She is on 30 mg.

Good luck. I hope you get the kind of results I am seeing. It was a difficult road, but finally hopefully, some hope.

[QUOTE=NicInNC]Thank you for the replies. DD was up until 3am this morning. That is so unlike her. Her normal bedtime is 8:30 and I have never had problems with her going to bed/sleep, so this was highly unusual. I'm not even attempting to wake her up. After all she went through last night, she can just go to school late today. My heart breaks for her.

The ped gave us the name of a new psychiatrist, so I'm going to give her a call and see if we can get in soon to see her. [/QUOTE]

Sounds like too high of a dose that didn't get out of her body for far too long! I'm sorry that your first experience with medication was so bad. Ours was wonderful -- the first time I'd ever seen my son sit and color (and he was 5). I hope you find that sweet spot soon. The psychiatrist should help, if he/she is good. I'm sure you are having a stressful day today, but this, too, shall pass (I tell myself that a lot

).

Unfortunately, this will just reinforce the teacher's ill-informed opinions about medication for ADHD. Good luck with her.

Joy2
I would definatly see the new psychiatrist. We are going to a new one in a few weeks. It just sounds like too much or the wrong med for her. I know how agonizing it can be to put your child on meds, it is none of the teachers business other than to report symptoms to you. You are doing the right thing especially if your daughter sees it herself. My son does not and we are fighting a battle here to get him to see the difference. Good LuckI agree this zombie like behaivior is not normal. I would wait to talk with the doctor. Another family of meds might be better. Good Luck!After going back and forth because of our first experience being so bad, we decided to go ahead and give the 30mg a try. DD took her first pill this morning around 10am. She is now "zombie-like". She also looks pale. It's one thing for her to be calm, but the way she acts now is more extreme than calm. My girls are upstairs playing and I just went to check in on them and dd was just sitting in front of her dollhouse doing nothing. Now she is writing in a notebook and just talking to herself in that slow voice again.

Is this normal? Will it pass? I know this is day one and things can change a lot within a week or two, but I was wanting to know if anyone elses child or themselves acted like this at first? DD was diagnosed as borderline "hyper active"...her diagnosis is more ADD without the hyperactivity. Don't get me wrong. She has always had a lot of energy and there are times that she's wayyyy too hyper, but not daily. She's always been the type of child that is full of life and constantly on the go. I don't want ALL of that to go away. I don't want her to be zombie-like. Please tell me that this will probably pass. I don't know about Vyvanse specifically, but I would try a different medication completely. You could get something like a really low dose of Ritalin LA (long acting) or Daytrana to try out. It seems like it is still too much for her. What I personally like about Daytrana is that if you start to see the zombie behavior, you pull it off, and they are back to normal in just a few hours.

My advice would be -- take her off of it and wait until you see the psychiatrist.

Joy2
I am so glad it is getting better. And how wonderful for her to feel successful
at things and not attracting negative attention.
It may still be too high a dose or not the right med for her. Nine is late for
her appetite to kick in. What time are you giving it to her?
The lunch thing- I can get my grandson to eat a reasonable if not big lunch
when he is here. But at school we have the approach that he needs to eat
something, but have reasonable expectations. I feed him a snack when he
gets home and then give lots and lots of calories and good nutrition from 6-
7:30. Pushing bedtime back is not great for ADD or ADHD kids as being
tired can increase symptoms.
I am so happy for you that things are on the upswing.Yesterday, she didn't get her meds until after 10am in the morning. That is probably why her appetite kicked in so late because today she took her meds around 8:30am and she actually ate all of her supper around 6:30.

Just now getting back online after the weekend.

Sounds like the first day was rough at 30 but sounds like she's finally adjusting to it. I can't believe your Ped though doing that!! I'd be fuming mad too! Thankfully she didn't have an overly extreme OD on it.

Please overlook the IM about upping the dose. I had a slip in memory on this post until I opened it up again. It sounds like she's coming around and being more herself now.

I felt Zombish the first day or two on the 60mgs.. but then I upped it to 90 and feel normal. Of course I don't recommend that for your daughter. I was thinking 30-50 if the Dr allowed. But then I remembered she was started at 60mg.

Oh and yeah.. I've definitely noticed when I take the Vyvance.. I need to take it as 'early' as I possibly can. Because for me it lasts a good 12-13 hours and I'll have a hard time sleeping if I take it too late in the day. I skipped it this weekend so I could catch up on some sleep without having to take Melatonin.

How's she sleeping now? Any better?
We decided to give it at least 3 days. She is MUCH better today. VERY talkative though. I don't mind it though because she's talking in a calm voice and not screaming and yelling. She is calm, yet she was outside a bit ago running around and playing with the boy next door, so that made me feel better to see her actually play like a normal kid and not acting like a zombie. I had to teach their Sunday school class today and normally dd is up and down out of her chair, disrupting others, won't pay attention and gets mad when I tell her to pay attention. Today, she sat in her chair the entire time and REALLY participated. She never once acted up or interrupted. She had all the answers on the worksheet right and finished them in record time, PLUS she added more to it. The only downside is that she still had no appetite at lunchtime. She only took a few bites of her food. I'm hoping that goes away, but if it doesn't, I'll just have to make sure that she eats a big breakfast each morning (she always eats breakfast...no problem there) and I'll just send something small, but healthy to school. It seems like her appetite starts to hit around 9pm and that's not good since that is past her bedtime. We may have to extend her bedtime if that continues. I can't have my child not eat. She's already underweight and self conscious because of that (she gets teased a lot at school for being so thin). It's either don't eat or lose an hour of sleep....I'd rather her lose an hour of sleep. Ok. Things have been going GREAT the past few days....until today. DD is obviously having a bad rebound this afternoon. Is it normal to have good days and bad days while on the medication? I know the meds won't make a person perfect, I was just wanting to see if this is normal. I'm not sure about others.. but for me it's 'normal' to have good days and bad days too. Just like anyone else with or without meds. The meds like you said doesn't make us perfect.. just helps us some. She was much better by suppertime. She just had a MAJOR meltdown right after school and ripped up her homework probably 3 times. She was aiming for perfection (she had to draw a scene from a book) and I guess she wasn't happy with her work. I kept telling her that it looked wonderful, but she just kept getting mad and ripping it up. I finally told her to go to her room until she could calm down enough to work on it without getting angry. After supper, she worked on it quietly and got it finished.

((NicInNc))

My daughter (age 6) has been on the Vyvanse for a week today. I have also noticed that on some nights, not all, she seems to rebound from it. I thought this medicine was supposed to not cause rebound? She also had a bad day at school yesterday but had a good one today. I don't like the rebound effect and hope it goes away. Does you daughter lose control when she rebounds? My daughter seems to lose control of her mouth. It's a difficult time.

"She was aiming for perfection (she had to draw a scene from a book) and I guess she wasn't happy with her work. I kept telling her that it looked wonderful, but she just kept getting mad and ripping it up. I finally told her to go to her room until she could calm down enough to work on it without getting angry"

Oh my gosh, that sounds like my daughter. This is usually what causes her meltdowns also, striving for perfection, then getting frustrated and ripping up her papers. I keep telling it looks fine also but that just seems to make her more angry. What is it with the ADHD and them having to do their school work perfect?

[QUOTE=NicInNC] Thank you for the replies. DD was up until 3am this morning. That is so unlike her. Her normal bedtime is 8:30 and I have never had problems with her going to bed/sleep, so this was highly unusual. I'm not even attempting to wake her up. After all she went through last night, she can just go to school late today. My heart breaks for her.

The ped gave us the name of a new psychiatrist, so I'm going to give her a call and see if we can get in soon to see her. [/QUOTE]

Hi all-

I want to get in on this conversation. I have been following your posts and they are very interesting to me. Not sure how much background you want, but the short story is my son w/ ADHD was on Focalin XR + short acting for 4 years. We JUST switched him to Vyvance because the Focalin was wearing off too quickly. He was taking Focalin XR- 2X's daily--YES, I said 2X's daily on top off another 20 mgs of short acting. Anyhow, we met with his Psychiatrist this week (NOT PEDIATRICIAN) -that's another story--and he suggested we try Vyvanse. He put my son on 30 mgs for 5 days, then we go to 50 mgs for 5 days then to 70 mgs for 5 days...We are day 2 on the 30 mgs....He told me not to expect anything too wonderful right away..It takes some time...We'll see....On another note, he also had tried Adderall, Concerta, Straterra and the Patch..(the one that pediatrian never heard of!)..I know how you both feel as this has been a long winding road that we just take one day at a time. I look forward to reading more on this forum. Take care and good luck...oh, one more thing..my son had also been taking Melatonin for several years only when he has trouble falling asleep..It's another thing that his Psychiatrist (NOT PEDIATRICIAN) suggested..It has been wonderful!

AMom2Two, Do you live in NC because if you do, we need to get together for support. Our daughters sound so much alike! My dd used to not care much at all about her school work. Now she is constantly wanting perfection and is worried all the time about her grades. I'm glad that she actually CARES now, but it's almost as though it's bringing on anxiety over it. Does your dd literally lose all control when she had a rebound? Mine does. She' screams and cries. This morning, she was WIDE OPEN hyper when she got up. That's a first. She used to be grumpy and miserable in the mornings. Now, she's hyper and running all over the place. I guess I'd rather she be that way than grumpy though. I finally bought some melatonin today and am going to give her one tablet tonight around 7pm. Maybe it will help her go to sleep a bit earlier. This 10-11pm business has GOT to stop.I can relate to your daughter there. The meds are finally clearing her mind allowing her to focus. With me I tend to hyper-focus on things of interest to me to begin with (without meds). I'm also a graphic designer and I too get very frustrated when I'm creating something and it's not working out how I want it to. That's normal to me. Vyvanse seems to make me hyper-focus more on things when I'm taking the higher dose (still working on it to see if that's where I want to stay at). Today I tried something different.. 2 30mg caps and opened another one and disolved it in 2oz of water and drank 1 oz so it would be 75mgs instead of the 90mgs. Not sure I care for this dose though, it seems to distract me too much and I haven't gotten much work done today.

Sorry.. another problem of mine.. rambling on! But from what you're saying your daughter's doing... she sounds like me. I have to Physically remove myself from my office and cool off and then I can go back and work on it just fine.

The meds can cause Anxiety so I wouldn't be surprised if she does have it a little. Vyvanse doesn't seem to cause it so much in me (but I already have Anxiety issues) but that doesn't mean it's not causing it in her.

It definitely sounds like your daughter was having rebound as the meds wore off. The appetite suppression is commom with all stimulants but does tend to get better after awhile on the meds. I agree with all the posts above. I do think 50mg is definitely too high to start a child who has never taken meds before. SOme of those behaviors I saw when my kids tryed vyvanse but not the other stimulants. It seems different to me. My son literally talked the ENTIRE day he was on vyvanse. He does do this on adderall XR. My dd didn't do well on vyvanse either but she has had success with adderall and currently concerta. So hang in there maybe the dose is too high or maybe vyvanse isn't the right medication for her.

Good Luck!!!!!!!!!

You're not alone.. I don't think any parent WANTS to medicate their child. Nor do most go into it lightly. I certainly felt the guilt and such when my now 18 year old son started on meds when he was 6 for ADHD.

The way she was acting out for wanting the meds isn't anything like a drug addict.. she's not addicted after 1 pill. However, despite her teachers disapproval of 'not being right' and your guilt of medicating her.. I'm sure she had a moment of clarity that allowed her to focus for once in school, and not struggle so hard.

Her teacher's actions deserve to be reported. I don't know how the law is in your area.. but in Virginia, it's against the law for any teacher to recommend medicating or to be against medication or treatment for medical reasons. It is not her place to mention anything. My daughter's teacher thankfully is very understanding and has called me because she observed behavior one day last week that wasn't like her. She did ask if she had any changes in her medication because I told her before school started to please watch her closely because we just switched to Concerta. I am thankful for her teacher calling because what she observed were absence seizures (my daughter also has Epilepsy- mild form) She normally has Tonic-Clonic (Grand Mal) seizures so this was something new and not related to the Concerta actually.

However, That dose does seem very high for a 9 year old on their very first medication. My daughter started at 5mgs. Her actions sound a lot like I felt yesterday and today at 60mgs Vyvance and I'm a 36 year old (very overweight) woman. I could not imagine giving my daughter that high of a dose. (My daughter's 6 1/2 and also has ADHD and is currently taking Concerta 18mgs).

I'm not getting on you for giving her that high of a dose, you're just doing what the Dr prescribed...I'm rather surprised her Dr. gave that dose to start out with.

Losing weight while taking Stimulants is common.. Unless she's severly underweight to begin with it's not something you have to worry yourself sick over after the first pill. Give her med breaks on the weekends and school holidays and she'll make up for the few meals she doesn't eat. The meds effect on the weight loss will taper off and shouldn't last too long. I give my daughter Carnation Instant Breaskfast in the morning along with a good breakfast and I will not allow her to get on the school bus without eating. Mostly because I know she probably won't eat much if any lunch. I've gotten to the point that I'm not going to make it any more of a struggle other than making sure she eats a good breakfast. She's not lost any weight since starting Stimulant meds in March. We did not medicate over the summer.

Nic - I think you received a lot of good support and advice. I hope you are feeling better. I feel bad that you struggled with the decision to medicate and had a somewhat frustrating experience your first time out (and I want to thunk that teacher on the head for her lack of support!). I'd echo Joy2 on the suggestion to consult a psychiatrist if your daughter's pediatrician prescribed the Vyvanse. My ped did not feel comfortable diagnosing or giving new med prescriptions for ADHD to either of my kids (she's fine with doing the refills once they've been on a med for 3-6 mos). She's a great pediatrician, it's just not her area of expertise, and psych meds are not something you want to mess with unless you know them well. Anyway, I thought it was amusing when I brought my kids to a new ped this summer (mine went on maternity leave) and she'd never heard of the Daytrana patch. Later she asked me to write down the name -- she mentioned it to the other peds and they'd never heard of it either!

Good luck, I'm sure with a little adjustment you'll find just the right dose and med for your daughter.

I also struggled about giving my grandson medication. We started almost
3 years ago. The very first day, he came home from school and when I
asked him how he felt with his medicine, he told me that he felt as
though someone had glued the pieces of his brain together. Needless to
say, even though we have gone through many struggles to get the
medication right, the dose right, and have had to switch from time to
time as he starts metabolizing it way too fast, we have never looked back.
He asks for his medication. He even asked to have medication late in the
day so that he would still have some in his system when he tried to go to
sleep. So I don't think you need to worry that your child is behaving like a
drug addict but rather telling you how much better it felt on the meds
and how scary it is to go back to what my grandson calls having "his brain
feel crazy".
About the behavior you saw as the medication was wearing off, that is
unfortunately a part of the deal. And it takes quite a bit to figure out how
to deal with the rebound effect.
The lack of appetite- we work on a really big breakfast with lots of
protein, several snacks during the day, a big dinner with lots of protein,
and then a really huge snack before bed once the appetite suppression is
wearing off- and even though he only weighs 50 lbs, he is getting plenty
of high quality calories.I don't know what the rationale was for starting at 50 mg, but I would guess that the dose is too high. I have seen those behaviors in my son when the dosage was too high (not Vyvanse, but other methylphenidate concoctions). It sounds like she had a huge rebound at the end of the day, too. The not eating thing seems to be normal. We eat big breakfasts and big dinners, and my son basically gets any snack he wants at any time (we keep pretty healthy snacks around so that he gets some nutrition). Not eating at 7 is kind of late and would indicate to me (if it were my child) that the medication is still in the body. I am not a doctor, so don't take this as the last word. These are just things I've observed with my son.

My thought, while reading your post, is that you should go to a child psychiatrist who is more familiar with these medications. I once observed one pediatrician going down a list of ADHD meds with another pediatrician and asking her what she would prescribe to a certain patient. The one asking is a good pediatrician, but I think it goes to show that they have very little training in medicating ADHD. I wouldn't mess around.

I felt so sad for your daughter because she is afraid of getting a "code." It's a little disturbing that the teacher is so against medication and yet apparently still punishes your daughter for her ADHD behavior, which she is powerless to change. I also can't imagine that your daughter already feels dependent on this medication -- she probably just recognizes that she could function at school today and that felt good. Couple that with an extreme rebound and you get one bad temper tantrum.

Joy2
I'm so sorry she had such a bad reaction to it. I have had to take Melatonin to help me sleep the past couple of nights while on Vyvance. With the Focalin XR sometimes I needed the help, but most nights I was fine to sleep without it.

If you're not familiar with Melatonin.. it's a natural herbal/dietary supplement you can buy over the counter at any drug/health food store. Most places have 3mg caps, but I found 1mg Cherry Flavor melt on the tongue ones at GNC which are perfect for children. My 6 1/2 year old daughter takes 3 of those.. but we started her on just 1mg.

I'm very glad to hear that you got the name of a Psychiatrist. Keep us updated on how you and your daughter are both doing. My kids' Pediatrician won't touch evaluating or treating anything to do with ADHD or Neurological stuff. She did agree when I had concerns about ADHD that she felt that my daughter had a good likelihood of having ADHD but referred me to a Psychologist for testing, and then I was sent to a Psychiatrist for Treatment/Med Management.

Hi,

I feel for you. But, that dose does seem very high. My son's doc (psychiatrist) always starts low and builds from there. However, my daughter is also on stimulants and her ped starts much higher than my son's doc. I can't remember but I think it was 30mg of Adderall was the first med we tried. What a nighmare. She talked way too much and was angry when it wore off. She even hit and kicked me when she didn't get her way. She had NEVER behaved this way prior to meds. We changed mg to 20 and started her on Ritalin LA and it is perfect. She is doing great in school and has no rebound. I do give her 2mg of chewable melatonin to sleep. Please don't give up, finding the right med is difficult. Most children try several to find success. Good luck.

Thank you for the replies. DD was up until 3am this morning. That is so unlike her. Her normal bedtime is 8:30 and I have never had problems with her going to bed/sleep, so this was highly unusual. I'm not even attempting to wake her up. After all she went through last night, she can just go to school late today. My heart breaks for her.

The ped gave us the name of a new psychiatrist, so I'm going to give her a call and see if we can get in soon to see her.

Hi,

I just wanted to say please don't feel bad for trying medication. I will never forget the first day we gave our son medication. I felt like I was failing him somehow, taking the easy way out, not sure how to explain it. After making peace with medicating and seeing what dramatic results it can have (mostly positive), and felt much better. Even at 6 he was able to tell me how much better he felt to concentrate, to be "still," to have people react to him in a more positive way. Soon after my daughter was diagnosed and I wasn't as conflicted because I saw that seeking medication was far better than the family battles and difficulty with school. We've tried a few different meds -- you don't always get it right on the first one, and sometimes you have to adjust dosage. Reactions such as dizziness are common (maybe too high a dose, ask your Dr.), as is loss of appetite (both my kids have had that, but my daughter seems better at finding something she will eat despite not feeling hungry. My son eats nothing in the middle of the day :-( Excessive talking might also be an indication that it's too high a dose. The mouth movements and rocking don't sound usual. They warn that some stim meds can bring out ticking, so again, I'd talk to your Dr. We found that the "crash" coming off AdderallXR, especially for my DD who is very sensitive as is, was pretty rough. Much better/smoother coming down from Daytrana patch, which she's on now. It may be the wrong dose for your daughter, and a lower one is all it will take. It might not be the right med, and a trying a different one will work better. Please don't give up or let anti-med reactions like the teacher's discourage you -- you are right, it's none of her business. You have to do what works for you and your child. Good luck!

DD and DS, both on Daytrana patch

monkeygirl, Thank you so much for replying. The ped called back and left me a message (I wasn't home when she called back) and said to NOT give her the pill tomorrow. She said she will talk with me about it sometime tomorrow. DD became VERY angry tonight and she has been crying since 7pm. She's literally freaking out that she won't get her pill tomorrow. Today was the first time she has EVER had medicine for ADD. It's not like she's been on it for a long time and has become dependent on it. She doesn't even know anything about the medicine and how it is supposed to work! Her behavior reminds me of a drug addict and it's worrying me something awful. We went to the store where we got the prescription filled and she was begging and crying in the store for me to get her a different medicine for tomorrow. I explained that I can't just get medicine...the doctor has to give us a prescription. She was practically having a breakdown over it crying and pleading saying that she was going to get a "code" in school (they get codes for misbehavior, missed or incomplete work, etc....and if they get a code, they don't get a toy at the end of the week). Have you ever heard of that happening? I don't want to ever give her anything after her acting like she has today. She also ate no supper either. She just can NOT afford to lose weight! ***I'm sorry, I spelled the medication wrong*** I am SOOOO glad that I found this forum. My dd was diagnosed with ADD (borderline hyperactive) 3 years ago. We have always been against medicating, but things have gotten so bad with her innatentiveness that she is failing everything, despite extra help. Our household was so stressful and causing problems between us all. My hubby and I finally decided to get the prescription filled that the doctor gave us (she had another appt. last week and the doctor really tried to convince us to give it a try).....Vyvanse 50mg. I've cried so much over this because I HATe to medicate my child! I have such mixed feelings over it, but I HAD to do something. I would read her diary and it would depress me so much. She was practically screaming for help. We gave her her first dose this morning. I just picked her up from school and I notice a HUGE HUGE HUGE difference. But I'm not sure if I like it. I do, but I don't. She's extremely calm. Almost too calm. It's scary. She won't stop talking to me though. She's not talking in a hyper tone....she's just calmly talking to me over anything and everything. She also keeps holding her mouth to the side....like she's rubbing her teeth together. And she's rocking from side to side while doing her homework. Also, when her little sister took her pencil, she didn't jump up screaming and hitting her like she normally does. She just calmly said it was her pencil and found a way to proove it to her sister. I was SHOCKED. Normally, dd is loud, cries all the time and is defiant at home. Her teacher is HIGHLY against medicating ADD/ADHD kids and she wrote me a long note today saying that my dd wasn't herself, she ate no lunch and she isn't acting "right". DD told her that she took some medicine to "help her in school", so her teacher wrote another note and I could tell by her tone that she's NOT happy. First of all, it's none of her business and I already feel guilty enough giving dd medicine, so I don't need someone else making me feel guilty. I had a hard enough time deciding to give it to her and I need support. Not guilt. Is it normal for the medicine to make dd act like this (dizzy, rocking, weird mouth movements, etc). Will she get her appetite back? She's already underweight and can't afford to lose any. I'm waiting on the doctor to call me back, so I'm not looking for medical advice. I just want to know if anyone else or their kids have had this type of reaction and if it will go away. NicInNC39371.5310069444Ok. I know it seems like I JUST posted, but dd is suddenly getting EXTREMELY hyper and she won't shut up!!! Is this normal when it starts to wear off? Does it usually wear off suddenly like that? Just an hour ago, she was almost zombie-like.

Wow I have also been following everyones troubles. I can relate to the not wanting to do the medications. ME TOO! after a year of all natural foods, Focus & Brightspark and 5 school suspensions I gave in.

This is our 3rd week on Daytrana 10mg and I love it! Other than 2 nights of difficulty falling a sleep, my bad for forgetting to remove it when he came home from school by 4pm, its great.

I do notice he sleeps much better the nights he has soccer practice. Good old fashion exercise to make him sleep. I wish he had practice every night! This is the 1st yr we have allowed him to play because he was so off the wall and you would think he was never disaplined. His anger was such an issue.

Good luck to everyone in finding a happy medium for our kids.

Oh yeah, the appetite thing! Thats an issue too. I am feeding him ALL his favorites and I let him help me make a milkshake w/ice cream if he finishes his dinner.

I use a large dinner plate for him but a regular childs serving that way it doesn't like a full plate!

Yes, anything with Vitamin C, and that includes pretty much all juice as it is
even added to apple juice, will make the medication metabolized much more
quickly. Our doctor said to avoid it for one hour before and one hour after. It
takes a lot of reading of labels.
I am not familiar with this medication, I am not watching any foods with the patch.I would give it a few more days but call the doctor. I might be a possibility that you need something different or a different dose or his body might have to get used to it. The latter possible. I wish you luck.

We would have constant outbursts of anger with everyone, home, school, etc and what a difference. Even when I can see he is upset he is able to keep it in check.

Hang in there with the meds.

[QUOTE=floridayank03]

This is our 3rd week on Daytrana 10mg and I love it! Other than 2 nights of difficulty falling a sleep, my bad for forgetting to remove it when he came home from school by 4pm, its great.

Good luck to everyone in finding a happy medium for our kids.

[/QUOTE] The doctor said that if the Vyvanse didn't work, then we would try the patch next. Things were going WONDERFUL with Vyvanse until Friday. Ever since then, it's as though it will only last 3 hours.

[QUOTE=twcooke]

My youngest son, 6yrs, was on Vyvanse (until today) for about 2 weeks. He was really calm, but also clingy. We noticed the past 2 days that he was having eye tics so my husband didn't give him the meds today. He took son to Dr. (yes, PED) today and Dr. gave Strattera. I did not want DS on Strattera. He is already having to repeat Kinder this year and now it is Nov. and STILL DOES NOT know all the alphabet and sounds. (We homeschool). I don't think we can keep jeopardizing his learning. We've been thru all this (ADHD) with our other son who's on Adderall XR (Dr. is NEURO). I wsa thinking to just switch and try another kind/type of med. Should I take this son to the NEURO? Keep on with the Vyvanse?

I need help in NC!!

[/QUOTE] Hello to another North Carolinian! What dosage Vyvanse was your son on? When they accidentally gave my dd the wrong dosage (too high), she had terrible tics....just from one pill. On the 30mg, she hasn't experienced any tics though.

I think I would try lowering the dose and see if that stopped the tic's. You have nothing to lose with trying that approach. My dd is 6 and is on the 30 mg also. I believe that may be a little too strong as it is lasting 14 hours. She has been on it for 10 days. I'm thinking about reducing it some to see what it does. Here is a recommendation I found on how to do this.

"With a medication sensitive child/adult you may want to divide the dose in 1/2 to get started: Take the capsule, pour contents into 2 oz of water in mixing cup, drink 1 oz each of the first 2 - 4 days to start slowly. I have two children perfectly dosed with only 1/2 capsule/AM in this manner. "

Clipped from this article on Vyvanse...

http://www.corepsychblog.com/2007/08/addadhd-treatme.html

AMom2Two39387.7353472222

I need help in NC!!

Well, it looks like my youngest son can not even take the Strattera b/c he can not swallow pills!! I'm glad to say the least. Evidently, both my husband and the Ped. Dr. forgot to address this. Anyway, I do believe that I'm calling the Neuro. in the morning. Any additional advice on the Vyvanse and his tics - stay on it and see if the tics go away or get worse?

Oh! When I called the Ped office the 'Advice Nurse' (to verify that the Strattera pills could NOT be opened and sprinkled on food) told me that their computer was down and to call and ask the Pharmacist. Not very reassuring!

my daughter gets tics from stimulants. IMO they wont go away on the Vyvanse, although others here say their children's did pass after some time. Ours never did until we stopped the stim. We have never used Vyvanse. We are currently using Daytrana, she did have some tic acitivity start up on it, but it is so intermittent I wouldn't consider it an issue at all. The least amount of ticcing I've seen. It used to be really bad and interfered enought o have to stop the stimulant meds for a year and half once and most recently for 6 months. Daytrana is also a patch so no pill to swallow. She's now been on the Daytrana about a month and we're still deciding on the side effects. Soem days she is FINE, others, less fine, but our days seem to be getting better and better. It is also a 12 hour med which we need at least 12 hours.

I would take him to the neuro or to a psychiatrist. Psychopharmocologist would be your BEST choice, they have the most experience with meds and their side effects.

Twcooke -

Strattera can be made into a liquid form at a compounding pharmacy. It costs between and to get it done. Look in the yellow pages and there are mail order compounding pharmacies also. We get it made into this thick chocolate flavored compound. It's still bitter but bearable.

((NicinNC))

Did you find out why the Vyvanse is only working 3 hours now? I've read that Vitamin C supplements can effect it how it works, citrus drinks too. What did your dd doctor say?

So far, DD is 10 days on the Vyvanse and it is work great at school.

We love the Daytrana patch. thankfully no side effects. It is like my son has been reborn. He is not finding friends that want to play with him. Enjoying playing a sport. Excelling in his school work.

What a difference!

Hi Nic,

I just wanted to say that on the school issues, ADHD is a co-morbid with many LDs and also things like auditory processing disodery (CAPD), which can all affect learning to read, learning alphabet, etc. My son (who is ADHD and is now 7) is a perfect example of how ADHD is only the first layer. He is CAPD, and was also discovered to have an LD in rapid naming -- I have always strongly believed he had dyslexia, but the public school system will not test for that specifically. The thing I have learned is that addressing his ADHD with meds has helped me peel back the other layers of his roadblocks to learning. And despite his obstacles to learning, he is advanced in beyond his peers in other areas (3D spatial, math) so it's important to encourage his strengths in the process of addressing his weaknesses. I wish it were as simple as ADHD, but having that under control has allowed us to figure out the rest (little-by-little) and he is finally learning to read and write better. It will be awhile before he is caught up with his peer group, but we're getting there. Ironically, my DD has ADHD and she is a brilliant reader -- funny how two people from the same family, who are both ADHD can follow such different educational paths. That is what brought home to me that his issues were more complex than hers and I needed to keep digging. Please don't get discouraged -- you will find the right mix of solutions to help your child.