Hi Guys!
My son is 7 and on 20mg of Adderall XR. We started at 10 and saw improvement the first week. The second week was horrible. It was like he was in rebound all day long, very cranky, irritable, moody. I asked the dr to increase to 20mg. We did. Again, the first week was pretty good. Now, this past week it is as if he didnt take his medication at all. He's bouncing off the walls. I'm sure we need to increase again! But is this what it will be like until we find the right dosage? These ups and downs?
This is our second medication. First, he was on Metadate. He did really well, until he started having hallucinations of bugs crawling all over him. We were up to a 30mg dosage and then took a week off meds, then switched to Adderall.
All in all, I like this medication as the side effects arent bad, no halucinations, but I can tell we need to be at a lot higher dosage. Would it be bad for me to ask the Dr to double up from 20mg to 40mg this week? Or is it suggested that we only do increases of 10mg at a time?
I'd rather have him bounce off the walls, than be so moody! So I'm afraid if we only increase to 30mg, we'll be back at that early rebound stage and I really dont want that!
Hi...In an earlier cycle of ADHD medication my son (8 YO) started on Adderall XR at the lowest dose and did experience aggression particularly in the early afternoon. The pediatrician did add an early afternoon booster of regular adderall (5 mg) which my son self reported was more beneficial than the XR.
So that might be something to discuss with the doctor and to experiment with. The School nurse was very willing to adminster the extra booster dose in the early afternoon.
It is very interesting to see how the extended release dosings work. Some release 50% of the drug in the 1st hour others release 25%. It might be interesting to see if you could map the release to your child's daily rhythm.
Now for my son, we did take him off all meds for a while per the diagnosing psychiatrist's recommendation. It seemed that adderall was introducing more harm than good for him. and we were suspicious that perhaps something else may be up.
So we are about to embark in a combo of behavioral counselling and new meds (concerta). I will say this has been quite the adventure.
I'd be surprised if your doctor agrees to go to 30 mg so quickly... let us know what he says! For me at least, when I started taking Adderall it was a bit of a roller coaster--what with getting used to the changes in how my brain worked (beneficial effects) as well as all the sensations experienced when the medication enters and leaves your system (side effects). And it took a good month or two before all these effects settled down--that is, my body adjusted to them (more or less). So I guess my point is that you may want to keep things going as long as you can bear at the current dose to see if things settle out. And remember, the goal with taking these stimulant meds is to take as low a dose as possible that provides benefits.
Thanks for your point of view! The dr did increase the dosage to 30mg. He wouldnt go up to 40mg. Today is his first day taking the new dosage, so we'll see how it goes.
The dr said that my son has a high metabolism, and a more severe case of ADHD, so he'll probably need higher doses of medication.
He doesnt have any side effects from the medicine so far. The first two days he has a very slight tummy ache, but not even enough to alter his eating habits. Then the second week with the moodiness. But that was it and he isnt experiencing that anymore. So, because he has no current side effects, the dr is willing to increase the dosage every 2 weeks until we find the theraputic dosage he needs. On 20mg, it was as if he didnt take medicine at all. There was no signs of having reducing focusing issues, no reduced impulsivness. These are his big issues in school.
My son gets a little irritable each time we increase. I think he just needs to get used to the medicine.