Ritalin LA and the after effects | ADHD Information
My 6 year old is taking 10mg Ritalin LA in the am. She gets through school and after school care but getting home is just plain misery to me. The nights are absolutely horrible for us as a family! She throws fits...throwing herself on the floor and screaming for no reason, running around, yelling and throwing things. Is this how it's suppose to be or could she be on the wrong drug? She just started on the Ritalin LA about 2 months ago...it seemed to work...for the most part when she has a task at hand-she can get it done. But her attitude and her impulsivity seems to still be there even on the Ritalin. We tried Medadate...didn't work long enough...and she didn't eat. Any idea...I am so new at this and I feel like I am starting to lose my mind! Any advice will help! Thanks all, Kim It could be rebound. When you say the Ritalin is not helping with attitude and impulsivity, is that after school or on weekends? What do her teachers say?Who is the prescribing doctor? We started with our pediatrician and then switched to a psychiatrist - they know the drugs better. Who made the initial diagnoses?
Don't lose your mind. There are a lot of medications out there and it may take time to find the right one but most people do. Our evenings were rough on Ritalin LA too but it helped get my son through 4 years of school. We just switched to Daytrana this year. I'm a huge fan because he is amazing about doing his homework now and there is less rebound.
It could also just be too low of a dose. If you are not getting good symptom relief it's not the right med or not the right dose. I agree with Enbmom that the eveings sound like rebound. WE also used RLA for almost a year last year and had rebound issues, my daughter got extremely silly. Better than outbursts, yes, but a 12 year old at the middle school dance talking about bathroom talk , wasnt good............we also used Daytrana briefly this year and I agree, MUCH smoother, no rebound.
Thank you for your information! I don't feel like the Lone Ranger anymore!
She's with a psychiatrist. She' very very conservative, which I don't mind...these are powerful drugs! But I think I will ask her about the Daytrana...is it still a ratalin product? She told me that there are different versions and that it does take time to figure out which one works best. We go to see her again on Monday...it's good to go armed with info!
Her teacher sees the difference but in the last 6 weeks her grades have started to fall. I think we may just nee dto try someting else and keep looking until we get it right!
I am starting the marbles concept with my kids this evening. So hopefully that will help too?
Thanks for your help!
yes Daytrana is also methylphedinate, like Ritalin.we switched from ritalin la to focalin xr, and had no rebound. i loved the focalin xr but neither one of them lasted more then 6 hours for my daughter.See, with the Medidate...it only lasted about 4 hours! It was suppose to last 6-8.
How long does the focalin xr last?
the focalin xr is supposed to last up to 8 hours. i have heard of it lasting 10 hours in other threads. however with my daughter she would get it at 8am and it might last till about 2pm if we were lucky. she would get frustrated because her mornings were always fantastic and then she would wind up in trouble at the end of the day. also her class always does math after lunch and i was noticing that she was not retaining any of the lessons.
What is she taking now?
right now she is taking vyvanse. she has been on it for about 3 weeks and so far so good. it does last at least 12 hours, so her reports back from school have been very positive and it does last thru homework time. she also has big issues with impulsiveness. i really did like the focalin a lot. and i have also heard a lot of good things about the patch, lasting longer. there is no way my daughter would wear one, so we never tried it.Was the patch FocalinXR? What strength is it available in if so? My son is on the 10 mg. capsule, once a day, sprinkled on his food. He is 5.I actually have a hand out about Vyvanse on my desk right now. Is Vyvanse a type of Ritalin also? (methylphedinate)
How old is your daughter? I am wondering if because they are girls they have a higher medabolic rate? Mines 6 and weighs about 50 lbs.
I guess we just have to try them out and see. It's just hard when it's off and we have to wait to see the doctor...that's the hardest part!
My daughter is 6 also (born in april of 01) and is about 44 lbs. the is a little taller then average 47" but very thin. i don't know if her metabolizim is faster or not, i have not read about too many people that can get 8 or more hours out of focalin or ritalin la. from what i gather some people either give an additional pill in the after noon or can better handle after school with out meds.
vyvanse is not a methelphenidate (sp?) It is a prodrug or 'conditionally bioreversible derivative' of dextroamphetamine, one of the main ingredients in Adderall, Adderall XR, and Dexedrine Spansules (i got that last bit off the net.) my daughters developmental pediatrician first suggested vyvanse. his son was on dexedrine years ago and he has had positive feedback from his patients that have been on it. it is mixed with a filler (i think that it is a protein) so the starting dose is 30 mg. from what i hear it is equal to 10 mg of adderall xr. the first two weeks or so were an adjustment for her, but even when she was having a hard time at home, she was doing wonderful in school. the only rebound i have really seen, is she can be moody on or off meds, so it doesn't surprise me that she can get moody sometimes, and she is a bit ocd to begin with, and it is a bit more pronounced on vyvanse. although i do see less of it some days.
try not to get too frustrated, we have been thru almost all of them, and everytime i think we hit the jackpot. i think that it would be so much easier if she was old enough to really comprehend what is going on, and then articulate it. i am at the point now where i am not looking for perfect just good enough. right now she is doing well in school and we can get thru homework and that is good for now.
Lexi is 6 (Jan 01) but she's already 52 inches tall...and yes thin too. I just want the rebounds to stop...that's the hardest part. She does all these crazy things and then really can't remember any of it in the morning. Her grades have started falling and I think that's mostly what the doctors worry about...school. So I'm hoping we just try something different. I'm fairly sure that the doc wants to keep her on the ritalin type medication...I'll wait and see what she says on Monday.
Thank you so much for your help. I was feeling like a fish out of water and it sounds like our two girls are a great deal alike! It's good to know I'm not the only one! I added you as a Buddy on here..not sure what that means, but at least I'll be able to tell you what I find out on Monday!
Thanks again for the support,
Kim
please let me know. i also added you as a buddy, (also don't really know what it means.)
kristen
We saw the doctor today...she's puting Lexi on Concerta 18 mg. She's hoping that it will last her longer and hopefully keep her from rebounding at night. *fingers crossed* I'll go get it tonight and we'll try it tomorrow. She gave me a hand out on it and it's very intresting. The pill has three compartments that release throughout the day through a laser small whole in the top of the capsule. There's even medicine on the outside of the pill and if you touch it with wet fingers it will start releasing in your system.
Cross yoru fingers y'all...I hope it helps.
i hope it works well. from what i remember it releases a gel like medication and is supposed to be more evenly released. which is a good thing. let me know how it works.
good luck, many people have great success with Concerta.Not to follow the sabotaging of the RLA thread. But i was so excited when my daughter could swallow a pill. Now even when she needs antibiotics she gets pills. and she has had some pretty big horse pills. fyi, my sisters boyfriend (24) still gags with pills. you should have seen the look on his face when she took her vitamin (also pill). it's funny what makes us happy.
I hope it works for Lexi, I'm having a hard time as well finding something that works without the terrible rebounds. My son is 5 and we considered Concerta, but thought he would fight us trying to swallow the pill.
An interesting fact I read...the capsule itself does not digest, in other words, ah, you may find it in her um, stool.
Good luck, Please post the results!
I'm like your older daughter, I still sometimes gag on pills and I am 30! Since you had sucess with a 5 year old, maybe I should try. I know you have mentioned it before. If we could teach him to swallow a pill, I know it would open the doors to new medications.
When I was younger, my grandpa taught me how to take the pill by drinking out of a 2-liter soda bottle. Holding your head wayyyy back was part of the trick.
all I did was put a tic tac in ice cream, went right down, so then we tried it with water...........went right down. So today I gave her the first Omega 3, I bought MorEPA junior, they're smaller, but bigger than any prescription med you'd use and she swallowed it right down, no problem, I was shocked and thrilled at the same time! Try the tic tacs and ice cream or pudding for starters, like I said no pressure, you already have a different alternative........it's a skill they need at SOME point........helps once they're big enough for 200mg ibuprofen too, cheaper to buy Walmart or Costco iboprofen tablets that the whole family can take!
Sorry not sabotaging your RLA thread with pill swallowing .
My 9 yr old DS was on Focalin and it lasted a full 10 hours for us but did have some rebound. This is not the case with everyone. Some get a booster of short acting(or long) in the afternoon to get through the evening. Ask your doctor. The patch and vyvanse are 2 other long term options ,also Concerta is a 12 hour med.Sorry, i am sure my post was confusing. as far as i know the only patch is Daytrana. The Daytrana patch is made by Shire Pharmaceuticals, it delivers the active ingredient of Ritalin (methylphenidate) via the skin. Focalin xr is dexmethylphenidate hydrochloride. i think that focalin is hard to explain so i copied this from About.com "
FocalinThe theory about the superiority of Focalin is that it is made of just one part of Ritalin, and leaves another part, which is inactive and may contribute to side effects, out. This is supposed to work because medicines are made of two isomers or parts and you really only need one of those parts for the medicine to work. Xopenex, one isomer of racemic (mixed) albuterol, which is used to treat asthma, is made the same way.
In addition to supposedly being more effective and having less side effects, making a medicine by taking away one isomer often allows you to use a lower dose of the medicine. And in fact, Focalin is often prescribed at half the dose that someone taking Ritalin might take."
personally my daughter tollerated focalin better then any methylphenidate. her rebound was very smooth. initially she wouldn't swallow a pill either, but given a choice she decided quite early that it would be easier to swallow then to eat something with sprinkles.