I have a 12 year old, too. We did concerta when he first went on meds, back in 1st grade. It remember it gave us good symptom control but we maxed out within a year. We switched to Adderall XR. It worked well but then we had to start upping the dose. The max dose was 40 mg. Tristan developed headaches which is a sign that the dose was too high I volunteered him for a study to find something better. We entered into a dosing study for Vyvanse ( to test out 20, 40 and 60 mg). We knew the first week that 20 mg was too low. We went up to 30 and stayed there for 5-6 months. We went up to 50 mg earlier this year. We just lower it to 30 mg for the summer.
What I like about vyvanse is it is long lasting (a good 10-12 hours), the delivery seems much smoother during the day, there is less appettite supression and less sleep problems. We don't seem to have any rebound problems.
I used to wake him up at 7:00 am to give him his meds, we are being more relaxed with the summer. I let him go back to sleep after taking his meds and he would be up within 30-40 minutes. I figured out the meds would wake him up a while ago, he just figured this out.
reruho39642.8656365741Thanks reruho for your reply! I hope our experience is as smooth as yours. We start the Vyvanse tomorrow at a low dosage. I'll re-post later in the week after we have some history to report.
Knowing that you have a 12yr old, how do you manage when Tristan is not at home? This weekend, Kyle visited his grandparents for a few days. Getting him to take the pills was a challenge to say the least - he completely forgets, yet he doesn't wanted people to know he needs to take the pill, so we called him each moring to remind him and even then he didn't manage to take them one day. He is going to a couple camps in a few weeks, and I'm not sure what to do... He would hate having to treck over to a Dr's office and his friends would wonder what was going on....He is EXTREMELY sensitive to this.
BTW, do you see much difference in behavior and effectiveness of medication depending on diet? I'm starting Kyle on a lower suger, higher protein diet at the recommendation of our doctor.
ZinMe39642.9472453704Taking the meds is our biggest challenge. Tristan is rebelling and has decided that he doesn't need them. I stand over him and nag until he takes them. When he spends a night out, he is suppose to cojme home by 10 to take his meds. sometimes he compliant and sometimes not. I often have everyone over to our house to make sure I get the meds in him. (The plus is that I keep tabs on what the boys are into.)
When your son goes to visit his grandparents, impress on the grandparents how important it is that he take his meds regularly. Now for camp, he will probably have to go to the clinic to take his meds. He can just tell the others it is allergy meds. They can identify with that.
I think dietary changes can help. I put Tristan on a daily multivitamin, calcium and magnesium. I think it helps, although I don't have any direct proof. He is growing and is now 5'5" and weighs 125-128 lbs. I guess that is proof.
Tristan is an ultra picky eater, the joke at our house is that he eats about 10 things. He does not eat normal kid food. His diet is largely meat and Rice-a-roni rice pilaf. He eats a few fruits and 2 raw vegetables. He does love junk food, which I try to limit. I do allow pretzals and Chex mix. I try very hard to limit the sugar. I stopped bringing soda into the house because he had no control over it and would drink till it was gone.
A new question-has your son started puberty?
Hi,
My ds (11 yrs old) has tried many medications including Vyvanse. He started with 30 and went to 50. I thought the medication was good but the 50 brought on tics. As soon as we discontinued and returned to Ritalin LA the tics stopped. The problem with Ritalin LA is that it doesn't last very long. We got around that by giving him a short acting first thing in the morning and right before dropping him off at school gave him his LA which would allow the LA to last the whole school day. Then if he had alot of homework or commitments in the evening we gave him another short acting.
Now having said that my dd has been on Vyvanse 30 mg and it has been great for her. However, it has effected her appetite so when 20 mg comes out I want to try that. Good luck.
hausof4 have you tried a RLA early am then another early afternoon? We used RLA for almost a year and we are now using Metadate ER which seems pretty uch the same to as RLA wihtout the rebound and we're doing one between 5:00 -6:00am and another between 12:00-1:00pm, working like a charm as we get about 6 hours although it's supposed to an 8 liek the RLA. Of course then you have to take it at school, but my daughter doesn't mind.My son is taking 27 mg of Concerta but he is starting to complain about never being hungry or wanting to eat and he thinks he is getting too skinny. My son is 10. I called his pediatrician and he wants to switch him from Concerta to Vyvanse. Is this a good idea???????????
I'm glad to see this thread actually. We had an appointment last friday and upped my ds Concerta to 36mg. Oh boy was that a mistake! He has been agressive, implusive, says he hates me - which he NEVER did before, etc. They actually called from school today to have us come get him and take him home he was so out of control.
He had done well on the 18mg for about 5 months, then we upped it to 27 for a couple of months and it helped a little, but not much. This latest upping of the dosage appears to have been too much.
I called the doctor today, because we are never going to make it to his next appointment in 30 days at this rate. He decided to just change his medication completely to Vyvanse. We are switching to Vyvanse 30 mg starting tomorrow.
I am nervous - but I really hope it goes well. I read that some people had less appetite suppression and less sleep problems - and that would be greatly appreciated as well. My little man is a skinny rail and eating is such an issue. And he has trouble falling asleep as well. It would be nice if those would lessen.
Wish us luck! And good luck to those of you who just switched. I am anxiously awaiting your updates to see how it goes!
Well we have upped his zoloft as well as the Vyvanse and now things seem better with Jake. He actually organized his room and threw out 2 cans of trash. yay! he is definatly more focused we see the doc for a med check in a couple of weeks. he stayed up last night and was very compliant this morning but with his great personality and I am hoping for more of these moments. let me hear from you guys as well.That's a great report Spamula! It is good to hear things are working well for you all too!
We went to the lake today and swam, tubed and skiied. Ds was well behaved, waited his turn, and didn't climb on or splash at anyone like he sometimes does. Yay! He wasn't super hungry at lunch, but he did eat what I brought him on the boat with only a little whining that he wasn't hungry. So, I will still take that as good progress. We are currently at home having some down time and he is quiet (which is very weird hehe).
I will update later, after we run some errands and go out for dinner (which hopefully will go well but ya never know once the meds start to wear off). But, so far today things are going great!
I HOPE BOTH OF YOU ARE DOING WELL ON YOUR 1ST WEEK OF VYVANSE. THIS IS OUR FIST WEEK OF A DOSE HIKE AND I AM NOT SURE HOW IT IS GOING YET. MY SON 9 1/2 IS HAVING A VOCAL TIC ISSUE(HE HAD IT BEFORE THE HIKE) BUT IT IS MINIMAL. HE DOES NEED MELATONIN TO SLEEP A GOOD NIGHT. I WISH YOU GALS WELL AS WELL AS MYSELF AND MY DS.
Day two for us on Vyvanse was yesterday and things went very well. Ds ate well, even asked for seconds at dinner - which amazed me. He was pretty calm and had a good day - one little crying episode when things didn't go his way which was tough - but he managed to push through it and was fine the rest of the day. (That is his biggest struggle - to move on when something happens that he doesn't like - he just can't stop thinking or talking about it) And he was asleep about 15 minutes after we put him to bed.
All in all I would say this is going very well! Definately better than the behaviors we were seeing on the increased Concerta. =)
Spamula - hope the increase continues to go ok for you and your ds too!
Hope it is going as well for everyone else!
I am glad to hear things are going better for both of you. Good LuckI am glad to heare he is doing well. My son is doing better, he isn't complaining of chest pain anymore and he is eating a lot more, which is very good.Excellent news mmc722! My son hasn't complained about his stomach hurting since we stared the Vyvanse either. And he is eating much better still. The sleeping has been good too.
Today was the first day back to school since the switch and he got all smiley faces on his daily report home! The note did say he needed redirection, but hey, I will take that considering he was sent home last week. =)
Still going well here. Also we were referred by his doctor to a psychologist to work in tandem with him on handling my son. I finally found one today that is taking new patients, and that takes our insurance - YAY! We have our first appointment Wednesday!
Thank you gatorsmom. I am glad to hear everything is going better with your son also. You got in to a psychologist really fast, that is great!!!!My son has been taking Vyvanse for four days now, so it is too soon to draw any conclusions. His level of focus and his mood seem stable most of the day, and his appetite is slightly better. However, by late afternoon, we are seeing some increased moodiness and stuborness, but that could be because he is attending a baseball summer "boot camp" for 6.5 hrs a day, and he is tired when he gets home. We had tried Adderall 6 months ago before going back to Concerta- the issue was rebound effect after the adderral wore-off in afternoon- so I'm hoping this isn't an issue with Vyvanase. Sleep was never an issue with Concerta, and its not an issue with Vyvanase either. Anyway, next week he will taking a pre-Algebra summer class for five days, so that should help us assess how well he is doing with school work, which is hard to say this week.
Yeah - I know it was fast. So fast in fact that when she said she had an appointment Wednesday - I asked - THIS Wednesday???? HAHA! She probably thought I had lost it.
Things are still going well today. He got all smileys on his daily report again today and this time - with NO redirection!! Oh my gosh! It is almost too good to be true! And I can tell by the comments his teacher wrote that she couldn't believe it either - hehe!
Tomorrow I am keeping my kids home from summer school. We pick one day a week to stay home anyway and go to the movies. Since his appt is tomorrow morning we are going to go to the movie in the afternoon.
Thursday he has a walking field trip to the new fire station they built just a few blocks from the school. I am going to take the morning off and go with them, just to be that extra set of hands for my son. I don't want him to miss it, but I think it is just too much for the teachers to handle walking along the road like that with him. I just don't trust him and this med change completely yet. =) They were glad to hear I was coming with them too.
Hope things are going well for everyone else!
Hi- I am glad to have found this thread. I just started on the site a couple days ago with concerns about my son's height issue. I am really having a hard time dealing with this. As posted on the other thread, My son is 13-5'2" and only 85 lb. He used to be in the 95th percentile for hgt. (always) and about the 50th for wgt. Now I think he is in the 5oth for hgt. and about 30th -wgt. all his life Drs. have felt he would reach 6 feet- I am really scared that his daily (since 2006) 54 mg. Concerta and metadate (10 mg.) are slowing his hgt-big time. does ANYONE know if it is a chemical process in the brain due to the medication or a nutritional growth suppression caused indirectly by simply not eating enough? I am interested to know if Vyvanse will suppress height as well. On other thread there are many posts about kids (seemingly mostly boys) on ritalin based meds who are having growth concerns. My son has not had any signs of puberty yet. We gave yesterday a try without concerta, and eventhough he skated, played hockey, swam and skateboarded he was hyper and bouncing last night. he sure did eat a lot though! i am trying fish oil now to see if that can help the concentration and impulsiveness but I wonder if that takes a while to help. Don't know if we can wait. My poor kid is as conflicted as I am, cause he says he does feel better and more in control on concerta but wants to grow. ANY hope that maybe Vyvanse will be a winner?Clarisse,
My son is about the same age as yours (12 almost 13) and has done very well on vyvanse. I see good symptom control and it seems to have a smoother delivery during the day. My son is eating better than he did on Adderall XR or Concerta. We had two years where he oscillated from size 8 to 12. My son has also entered into puberty and has grown over a foot. He, too, was that skinny little runt for quite a long time, although his weight was good. He has always weighed more than he appeared.
Try to relax and wait for puberty, he should really take off. Check with other family members and ask what the guys were like growing up. You might find a common pattern of large growth spurts after they start puberty. Also remember that males continue to grow for as long time after entering puberty, even into their 20's. Females pretty much stop once they start.
My son always appears skinny but has been up in the 120% for weight several times. The doctors told me not to worry since he has a normal looking size and that he probably had no bodyfat. I got a note from the school nurse (during kindergarden) telling me my son's BMI was too high and he was in danger of becoming obese. If you pulled up his shirt his ribs were showing. Again, the doctor said to disregard the notice and use my common sense--did he look like he was at a healthy weight? Yes. Does your son look healthy? If he does, then stop worrying too much. Continue to monitor it with the doctor. Ask the doctor if you should be worried?
Have you thought about lowering his concerta for the summer or maybe the weekends? We do not do med breaks, but lower the dose during the summer. We still get some symptom control but I think he eats more. He is difficult in the evenings but I am putting up with it for his sake. We will increase his dose after schools starts. Ask his doctor, they might agree to a trial period to see if it helps with weight gain.
Now a positive story--My friend Chris and her husband are both of good heights, she is probably 5'10" or 11". Her youngest son was 5'4" and about 130 lbs all during high school. After he went to college, he started to grow. Matt is now 6'1" or taller. In fact, he is the tallest one in the family.
reruho39653.4846875great to hear about the Vyvanse and your son's growth. Was your friend's son, who is now 6'1" on ADHD meds during his adolescence? do you know which? i may just try the Metadate alone for awhile or may ask the dr. about Vyvanse. does anyone know if it is usally covered by insurance?.My insurance covers vyvanse but charges me a higher co-pay than any other med (.00 instead of .00). What is the metadate for?
About Matt, I don't think he was on any meds.
the Metadate is a long acting low dose form of ritalin. My son's Dr. prescribed it to go along with the concerta 54 mg. as he said he started to lose focus in the afternoons. the Dr. also has me giving him another metadate at night when he is doing a play or a class. i think it may be overkill. My insurance covers Vyvanse. We have great insurance so I don't have copays at either the dr offices or for prescriptions. (I know - I am very lucky!) I didn't have any trouble getting them to pay for it though.we use metadate the ER not the CD. It actually comes in a generic Methylin ER (same thing). This is the the only stimulant my daughter has eaten on. I dont think her growth as far as height has really been affected, although we were on and off stims always. She is almost 14 and about 5'3" and 83 pounds. Very thin, always was. She's always been in the 10-15th % for weight and about 50% for height and it's never changed much..............gatorsmom- how is the vyvance going? feeling any better? more focused? just wondering how it was going now. We are doing fine so far at the higher dose. I wish you well.
my ds has been doing better in the morning. for 2 or 3 days he was a crazy person right when he took it!! it didnt seem to be normal. now he is more calm. he does seem to cry easier. not typical a boy that cries. i definately agree with u on the concerta switch!! he had this tic where he would sniff atleast a hundred or more times a day and we werent even sure it was a tic until now. since vyvanse he only does it a few times a day. we are hoping that he doesnt pee the bed anymore. he started it when he started concerta and it got worse when we upped it to 27mg. so far he has been dry at night and we are crossing our fingers that he stays that way. it really upset me that he was doing that and i know he was embarrassed. also rebound is nothing compared to concerta! but we do have problems with sleeping and eating. he is still awake right now and its 11 pm. and he used to go to bed at 830 every night for the last few years and wake up at 7am. now he isnt up until 830 9am. im going to try and give him his meds early in the morning and see of that helps him to go to bed earlier. we cant do this next week when school starts. he will be exhausted losing all that sleep. also he will eat but its really late when he does so it interferes with trying to get him to bed early. im thinking of trying that pediasure or carnation stuff. he hasnt gained the weight back from the concerta. he is really skinny. only in the 15th % now from 30. 46 lbs 4'2" hmmm...so we have a few more things to figure out but over all we are doing really good. i do have to watch him to make sure he is happy. i havent seen him smile alot lately. he says he is nt sad or mad and that he's happy but some times he just seems blah. well i really apreciate this post it has alot of helpful info on it and i look forward to hearing how your children are doing on vyvanse. thank u!
kim
HI--well I decided instead of going back to the Dr. and trying any new meds I would have my son try going withour meds at all. He was previously on 54 mg. Concerta and my big concern was his growth (or lack thereof). he has now been off of all meds for three weeks but after reading another post I have had him on fish Oil cpsules (EPA,DHA).hi i have been reading this post b/c my son just switched from concerta 27mg to vyvanse 30mg. today was the 3rd day. i was just wondering how all of your children are doing now? are they still doing good? are they doing better than when they first started or the same? my dr says this med makes your body produce the chemical that it needs and that it may work better over a few weeks once it gets into your system. is there any truth to this? also i was wondering if your children have a huge burst of energy as soon as they take the pill? my son is hyper distracted and can not sit down. its like he has drank a pot of coffee. he goes on like this for about 1- 1 1/2 hours and then he says he is tired and then he is the best little boy ever for the rest of the day. i just wondered if maybe this craziness in the first hour will taper off or go away. so far its the only compaint i have. he still has the eating and sleeping issues so far. but i just have him eat dinner twice so he isnt starving when we are trying to get him to go to sleep. i am worried about him getting to bed early for school though. i would love to know if your children have had the same effects and how they are now. i put up a post but im not sure if any of u saw it and i am really looking for some advice or help from your experiences. nothing better than getting help from people who are going through the same things and on the same meds! this message board is truly a blessing!
kim
Hi - I have been on vacation so I am just now seeing your post. I think I posted to the other one too. Vyvanse definately takes about an hour to get going. And that hour can be one of the longest ones of my life. So, I feel your pain there. I just make sure he is up at least an hour before we have to be at school or anywhere and give it time to kick in.
As far as how it is working goes - we are still doing great! He is sleeping well, and his behavior has been great. He starts school - 1st grade - on the 19th, so we will see how that goes. Summer school went great though once we switched so I am hopeful that this year will go the same way.
Eating is our worst issue. But, I am not sure how much of that is related to his ADHD meds, and how much is from his sensory issues. He was a horrible eater even before his ADHD diagnosis and starting the meds. So, that is a tough one to gauge for me. I will say that I think he eats better on Vyvanse than he did on Concerta - so this med has been an improvement over that one.
Hang in there on that rough hour in the morning. We call it the "witching hour" here. His personality is so different that hour it is like he is someone else! Personally, I will take the hour of craziness over the side effects we were having with the Concerta!
Hey spamula - thanks for asking. Things are still going really really well for us on the Vyvanse. Today has been a bit rougher day, but yesterday was a VERY busy day and I think he is just tired. We went to the lake yesterday morning, and then to the park for an ice cream social with friends. Last night my husband and I went out with some friends we haven't seen in 10 years as they have been overseas, and the kids went to grandmas where they swam in her pool and went to McDonalds playplace. So, I think he is tired and recovering from yesterday.
Up until today the eating has still been better. He does sometimes say he isn't hungry, but we can usually get him to eat even if he says that, so it may just be a habit at this point. He is out every night to sleep within 20 minutes of being put to bed still.
At school this week he got all smileys every day - and even did well on his walking field trip to the fire station. Major improvement. =)
I think this med is definately doing good things for him. We will get through today and see if a good nights rest will make tomorrow a better day. I am hoping he will nap a bit this afternoon, but that may be a pipe dream. =)
Glad to hear the higher dose is going well for you all. I know how scary increasing/changing meds is. Best of continued luck!
Hello all-I will say that my son eats better on Vyvanse. He tends to eat more after the meds wear off, so that means to evenings.
We have had good sucess with vyvanse.
reruho-- I see I missed one of your questions about puberty. My son is on the small side, and is 40% of avg for height and 40% of avg for weight. He has always been about 40% on height, but until this year when he started meds he was above 60% for weight. Our doctor is watching this closely, but he thinks it isn't unusual for kids to thin-out a bit at this age. He is tracking to historical on height, so I think we are OK. He seems to have learned in the last month to eat a lot at ight, He eats the equivalent of second full dinner at about 9pm. And he eats and OK breakfast, so I think overall he is getting enough to eat in total. Regarding puberty, he has not started. He is about 85lbs... and not showing any signs of puberty yet. I was a late bloomer but my wife's side of the family was not, so who knows.
I think your diet is working-- 120lbs and 5 foot 5 inches sounds great!
BTW, we decided to wait until the weekend when we can observe Kyle for the whole day., this week he has basketball camp 9-3:00 every day. I'll post our experience next week. The following week, he is taking a pre-algebra camp, so we'll have more to say after that as well.
[QUOTE=gatorsmom]We are switching to Vyvanse 30 mg starting tomorrow.
[/QUOTE]
Good luck! I'm a novice at this but most of what I've read about the experience with Vyvanse is positive. I hope it works out. Let us know how your son responds.
ZinMe39645.7929282407Reading another website, it was claimed that Concerta only releases 22% of each dose during the first four hours, and the peak effect is between 5-7 hours. This makes no sense for kids in school and probably explains why we need 54mg for a positive impact on school performance-- he needed that much for school, and them by the early afternoon he would get the peak dose which made him too sluggish and spacey. My son still didn't eat much today, but he hasn't been so "out of it". It is great to hear how well your son did today though. Maybe we will have a better day tomorrow. dON'T BE NERVOUS, VYVANSE HAS BEEN THE BEST MED WITH LITTLE SIDE EFFECTS SO FAR THAT WE HAVE TRIED. WE ALL GET NERVOUS TRYING SOMETHING NEW, BUT THE VYVANSE HAS BEEN THE BEST SO FAR. GOOD LUCK Well we started the Vyvanse today. Still to early to tell probably. I hope he does better on this then the Concerta. He is also taking prozac for his depression. How did your first day go?
First day of Vyvanse for us as well today. I personally think he did much better today than he has done the past couple of days on the increased Concerta. He ate all 3 meals today - and he isn't usually hungry at all.
And I think the medicine delivery was smoother - by that I mean - my son usually says a few times a day that his stomach hurts. I think it happens when the time released Concerta doses again. He didn't say his stomach hurt once today.
My ds seemed focused and in control all day today. We went to the movies, and he sat quietly and watched. We did a little bit of shopping this evening - and he stayed with me and didn't run all over. He has kept his hands to himself and hasn't invaded anyones personal space. Even tonight he is playing quietly - whereas last night he was bouncing on the furniture and running around like a madman.
He had one little crying jag earlier, but he was able to stop and get himself back under control and not continue to dwell on not getting what he wanted - which is MAJOR improvement for him. That is one of the hardest things for him - to just let it go and get over it when something happens that isn't what he wanted.
I know it is only day one - but if things continue like today - things are definately looking up for us. =) I am anxious to see how he sleeps tonight - that is another one of our hurdles.
Looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing - but so far here (knock on wood) things are going well.
Just wanted to update on the sleep. Ds was asleep 20 minutes after we put him to bed - which is BIG improvement. We would go an hour, sometimes 2 hours after putting him to bed before he could finally settle down and go to sleep, even with the same routine every day. So that went well too! I will update again tonight on how today goes - but so far so good!
mmc - I am really keeping my fingers crossed that you are able to see some improvement, and relief as well with the Vyvanse. Glad to hear you saw at least some improvement - hopefully today will be great!
gatorsmom39647.2559606481Clarisse: