Is the dose too high? There are a number of focusing meds. I would recommend seeing your psych and changing over to something less agitating. Strattera of course is in a totally different group and maybe considered. If you need to stay with the adderall types, then look at focalin; it is often better tolerated and does not necessarily have the rebound that adderall does.
Paul
Thanks Paul... we did try Strattera and it didn't work... we also tried everything else. Adderall was the best and the Dr. deemed the dosage appropriate for him. .....Is Focalin new? Thx!This summer our 11 yo son begged us to take him off Adderall XR. He told us that he hated the way that he felt on them, so my husband and I sent him off to camp without it. The camp was aware of the situation and were informed to call us if they felt that he truly needed them. Anyways, no call came. When Dylan came back home, he was so much calmer and much more agreable. My husband & I both commented on the fact that we weren't as aggravated with him as before. He listened more than he ever had nor was he on the pc as much. Well.. school started 2 weeks ago....we gave him his meds and we immediately noticed how intense he became...the first few nights, Dylan was pacing the floors at midnight because he couldn't sleep. He became attached to the computer again. The second week, he begged my husband to allow him to go to school without the meds... I had my reservations and still do....I spoke to the teacher this am... he told me that if I had called him the first 2 days, he would have asked me to put him on the meds again.. now he's saying to wait another week...he's aware of the situation and is willing to help us. Anyways... has anyone else taken their child off their meds? What have you found? What about school, friends, etc? We would love to hear what others have experienced. Thx!I read these posts with more than a frisson of terror. At 9, my son takes his meds without any drama. We tell him that he needs them to do well at his 'job', which is school. He is on 10 mg focalin XR, 1.5 clonidine at night. Not sure how much sway an 11 yr old should have regarding his meds. Only he truly knows the drugs make him feel. Trial and error, I know. Sounds like your eyes are wide open regarding meds. Puberty must throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans. Wish I had more advice, thanks for alerting me to future concerns.We took my 13 DS off meds this summer for the first time since he was 5. He really didn't want to go off the meds but agreed to give it a try. I wanted him off because I wanted to see what he was like off meds. We had a really bad school year last year for many reasons but with him going through puberty I wondered if some of the issues were the meds somehow. In all of the research I have done thins summer I do think some of his moodiness, etc was being increased byt the meds (he was on Concerta which he had taken for years and it had always worked great for him). As I look back, my DS was 11 when I saw some of the slight changes which I thought was puberty but now think it was puberty AND the meds. Anyway, he had a good summer and did well off of the meds so we sent him to school without meds. I figured if he has problems at least the teachers see him off meds so they have something to compare him to on meds so we can figure out what the best med is at this point (may not be Concerta anymore). SO far his grades are good and he seems okay without the meds (I'm shocked to say the least but very happy). Today I am sending in a form for the teachers to fill out to see how they think he is doing. I hope he can stay off of the meds but he is so unorganized and at home really struggles with focus that I fully expect he'll have to go bakc on. Sorry for the long rambling post. In summary and to answer your questions - DS has done well off meds (I should add that we have done some dietary changes during this time that I beleive has helped). He seems okay friend wise (no worse than when he was on meds - he doesn't have lots of friends but he hasn't lost any being off meds) and so far school is going well.
Good luck with your DS. I hope you can figure something out that works for him. If the school is willing to work with you then give no meds a try - make sure your DS understands that if he is having problems then he will need to go back on meds but maybe something different. My understanding for this board is that med needs change during puberty and it is possible that a med that didn't work when he was younger may work for him now. It is like starting all over again (which is one reason we stopped meds - so I could get a benchmark).
I'm not sure meds need to be changed during puberty. MY thoughts are that hormones sort of throw everything out of sync. Meds maybe are just not enough to compensate. My daughters hormones seem to be a little more "regular" if you will and not so out of control, but for sure some days it is like she is no meds AT ALL and the she's GREAT for a stretch. I don;t think adjusting would make much difference, now I think we have to just "ride it out" and things will settle on their own.Hi All!
Thx for all the advise and good wishes.. anyways, we had a bad weekend...my DS wasn't listening very well. He had several baseball games this weekend....during 2 of the games one of our coaches asked me whether I had given him the meds as he was all over the place. He was saying inappropriate things to our pitcher, was super hyped, etc. The thing is that he hit the ball so well in the last inning, that it caused his team to win the game ensuring our place in the finals. From then on, when I tried to tell my husband what the coach had noticed, he just didn't want to believe it. We've told our son that if he doesn'tr behave, listen, focus, etc. we'll put him back on meds....he gets mad at us and tells us that we're not listening to what he wants. We switched schools this year as he was being bullied and had issues with the other kids. It seems as if he's making friends now however, I don't want him to start turng people off again... If I can't handle him, then how can others? Anyways, sorry... I'm just so confused....I'm going to call his Dr. this afternoon....
OMG, i am reading the post (pookie) and we are in the same boat right