strattera and ritalin HELP | ADHD Information

Hi

My son Thomas (almost 10yrs) has been talking ritalin med for 2 yrs now and .Until about 6 mths ago he seemed to be really in ontrol of his adhd symtoms and progressing really well.gradully of these last 6 mths things have started to slip for example aggression abusive language low self esteem hurting himself (for example pulling his own hair punhing himself in the face).we meet toms psyhatrist and psyologist on a monthly basis so we decided that we wold inrease his ritalin to 30 mg . We tried this for 3 weeks and things where dramatically worse.We stopped all meds for a few days and went bak to ritalin 20 mg and strattera 18mg to help with his emotions things seemed to be piking up but slowly.we are now a month down the line and for the past week is self esteem has slipped hes taking about killing himself saying he thinks he looks ugly .

This is so heartbreaking im begging to think th meds r not helping .Tom plays football twie a week for about 1 1/2  and is doing well with his traing but last night he got into such a state he ouldnt go.

Can anyone help ?



Strat should be started at 10 mgs, and ramped according to weight. How much does he weigh? Target dose is 1.2-.18 mgs Per Kilo of body weight. A too low or too high dose will result in the side effects you are seeing. thanks ill going to call his doc first thing


But how do Iknow if its not a side effect of starttera? what i mean what if it dosent agree with him


thanks
thanks edbson yest we did start on 10mg for a ouple of weeks there was no real hange but im awrae it can take a month before u see the full effects .it was after a couple of weeks that we increase to 18mg and things did seem to be stabilisng toms doc did say that 18mg was low for his weight 5 stone or 70lbs but we thought (3/4 weeks ago that if it was working dont change)we would wait to see how he got on.

I am calling his doc in the morning to discuss a new prescription but how can i be sure this is not a side effect maybe strattera just wont work for him just feel so lost

My own experience with that particular combination of medications occurred when my son (11yo) had to come off of Strat which stopped working and start Daytrana(transdermal ritalin) at the beginning of the school year.  My son and I had never experienced anything like that rollercoaster ride.  His self-esteem took a nosedive.  He cried every night, talked about how ugly he was and yes even suicidal talk none of which my son exhibited before the change.  This lasted for about 2 weeks- I honestly don't know what made us hang on- I was scared for my son.  It was torture as you are going through now.  The Dr's script included  a week of lowest mg Daytrana and then an uppage to 15mg.  As soon as we started using 15mg the turn around started and we began to see a light at the end of the tunnel and my son has "stabilized".

I would do things differently I would ratchet down the strat instead of cold turkey and then start the ritalin and I certainly would not trust the combo in my son's body ever again.

 

for 70 lbs his dose should be between 40-55 mgs, so yeah he is WAY too low. If he is raised to target you should see actual results soon. TOMSMUM, my daughter is 82 pounds taking 54 mg, VERY successfully. She takes 2 18's (36mg) in the morning, and another 18mg after school.