Please give me input on meds | ADHD Information

I posted a question similar to this but no one answered really. I really want to know others expierences with Concerta vs Adderall . My son (8) has been on it (concerta) for 3 years and now he's up to 54mg. He school performance is getting pretty bad, but he's sooo smart. He really hasn't been able to focus or remember and alot of his Adhd symptoms have returned this year. The up in his dosage has not helped at all and I think 54mg is too high for his age and weight, he is very thin-- another really bad side effect. Should I consider switchig him and see if improves on Adderall? And are the side effects of Adderall the same as Concerta. Please give me some input.

 

I'm sorry to hear that things are a little out of sync at the moment! ....Well, first off, stimulants aren't prescribed according to age/weight, the dose is prescribed according to the individual's brain's metabolic rate of the drug. If it seems that the concerta isn't working the best, perhaps your child is developing a tolerance and maybe trying an alternate med would be a good option (many people do this.) Side effects vary from person to person with each med, so it's hard to say what possible side effects that your child will experience...unfortunately it's a try-and-learn situation. I have personally taken both concerta and adderall. I am currently on adderall xr and quick-release and find that it works very well for me; and I don't even have any side effects which is a bonus! I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted!Thanks for writing me, seems like this is not an interesting topic.. I've posted twice. Any way, after doing some research I think I'm going to see about another medication. I think he is really starting to have a negative reaction to concerta. After talking with others he seems to be having the same symptoms... depression, dizziness ( too much), etc. And he has actually told me that it doesn't feel like it use to, and that he has weird thinking. So i guess I don't see any reason to keep him on it . Thanks for your reply.

Definitely good call on stopping the concerta with what you're posting. I can imagine that it's a difficult decision due to the fact that it was working for your son at one point. A lot of times, stimulants will cause people to show depressive signs, or they will exacerbate already prevalent ones....Sometimes people are even diagnosed as AD/HD when, in truth, their behavior and thought patterns are due to depression. Interesting, yet complicated stuff.  Keep an update on what you guys end up trying and how it works for ya! Good luck!

p.s. your topic is interesting, I think that I must have missed your previous post, sorry!

My daughter, now 14, was diagnosed in the third grade (took long
enough!). She started on Ritalin, but was so sensitive to it that the
side effects made our whole year very miserable. We finally found a
prescribing psychiatrist who specializes in medication management.
We tried Adderall for quite a while, shifting dosages, adding Paxil,
etc. She is now on Concerta and is doing quite well. She is still on
both Paxil and Concerta. My daughter's experiences are a bit
different from what you describe - she definitely feels an
improvement with a very low dosage of Concerta, but one of the
things her psychiatrist said has really stuck with me. She said that
many kids (people) with ADD have very sensitive nervous systems -
she asked my daughter some very interesting questions, like "Do the
tags in your clothes bother you?" (she's cut them all off since she
was five). I was really impressed when she asked me if I had trouble
getting her to brush her teeth - and it had been a constant battle.
The stimulant medications can really exacerbate those sensitivities.
You might want to find someone who specializes in medication
management, I would certainly recommend it. I would also
recommend, from personal experience, that you head more towards
Strattera instead of another stimulant.

I can say that my son is on Adderall, I know I've said it a billion times now in different posts. I think it's been great in just these past few days we are now on day 4 going on to day 5 and he's been great. He hasn't seemed to have any side effects from the Adderall which inlcude ( this is from the hand out the doctor gave me) blurred vision, changes in sexual ability of desire ( adults and teenagers) constipation or diarrhea, dizziness or lightheadedness increased sweating nausea vomiting stomach cramps decreased appetite loss of appetite headache mild stomach upset nercousness restlessness or difficulty sleeping weight loss, oh and here is my favorite side effect *a sence of well being

I'd just hate for my child to suffer from a sence of well being! I can say that his appetite is down a little later in the day but when he wakes up in the morning he's rareing to go so I just make sure he gets a really good breakfast then around 7 he gets hungry enough to really eat again and he'll eat a lot. He's been snacking all day long however and eats his lunch at school. I've not had to worry about his weight yet and hope it doesn't become an issue. Good luck with what ever you descide