Angry Child

My 12 yr old daughter is on her second med. for inattentive ADD. First she took Concerta, which worked really well, but the side effects became too much. Wasn't hungry at all, but more importantly became very quiet and moody (seemed to get worse after the 1st month). Switched to Vyvance (30 mg). Wears off sooner so she eats a lot in the evening which is great. Now though, after 5 wks, her mood is getting downright mean again. She's normally the happiest, bubbliest kid around but she's turning into a snippy, nasty, yelling kid. I'm about ready to pull the plug on this med too

Has anyone else had trouble with stimulants in general making their kid angry and mouthy. Is there no hope for a stimulant?

Maybe the med and then again maybe entering puberty and going through changes? I have one of each (boy, girl), both generally outgoing and happy, each has/had been moody and mouthy during the teen years.

My DS, ADHD, was described as happy-go-lucky at school but not so at home this past year (he's 16); not a happy camper.

Good luck to you and your DD.

My son became very angry when he started puberty. We have him on Lamictal to help stabilize his moods. I think it helps.I noticed the same thing with the Vyvanse but my son takes Zoloft with it to help with the moods. you might need an increase, when my son was like that he needed an increase in dosage and that took care of the other issues. he is 10 and on 50mg.My son was on concerta, did well at first then became very angry and he
could recognize it too. Now we are on Adderall, seems o.k. but he gets sooo
serious, not really like himself. He also has anxiety so he takes 10 mg. of
prozac. I am sooo stressed about what these meds are doing to his
"growing" brain, that I am ready to pull the plug. I ordered the herbal
"Focus" formula. I'm willing to try anything besides the meds at this point.
He definately has little impulse control when he is off the meds.jo cahill, my daughter's didn't do well on Concerta AT ALL and Adderall also made her "flat". Keep trying, there are SO many different meds and different releases out there. I know, believe me I know, how frustrating it is trying different meds and thinking your child is better off without them, but to watch them able to control themselves and be more funtional with the right med makes it worth it. I am not suggesting you NOT try alternatives, some people have success this route. I'm just telling you our story and we tried a LOT of different meds and have now been using the the same meds for 6 months (almost a record for us!) and we plan to see the doc in October and I doubt we'll change much if anything.What is she currently taking? I saw the FDA warnings on Strattera .....

There are warnings on all meds.

She takes Strattera and Methylin ER. The Strattera allows us to keep the stimulant dose low an minimize side effects. We see the doctor every three months and would stop a med right away if we had any issues, we've done that quite a few times. She's been on Strattera since last November.

Yes, most certainly a response to meds from some kids. My granddaughter was the same. Some kids can not take the stronger stimulants, i.e., Ritalin, Adderall, etc. My granddaughter got even more hostile while on both - she was off within a week and a half with each - that's how bad she responded. Did ok on Metadate CD though, at least for the while it worked!.. She appears to be better focused now, but still "angry" a good deal of the time. We are trying just Wellbutrin now to see if that might work with her anger and her ADHD. Hope it does and good luck with your daughter. I have been dumping out a small amt. of the 10mg. adderral to see if it
makes a difference. He is definately more happy-go-lucky, but haven't
heard from the teacher what his observations are yet........ it goes on and on
and so does the worrying. thanks for everyone's input, it is really helpful.Just hang in there! We're all in the same boat. I think a mother's gut instinct tells her if her child's responding well or even borderline, but you know when something's really going funky. In that case I have always called the dr. to see if I could either stop it completely (Adderall you can), or if I needed to start weaning off. Then we tried once again and repeated the whole cycle! Good luck to us all and especially to our kids!

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