med and doc problems HELP please! | ADHD Information

Hello,

My son was diagnosed with ADHD in August this year.  He has been on several different meds and none of them have quite worked.  He was first put on Ritalin 5mg then to 10mg and we saw no change.  Then they put him on Adderall 10 mg which helped allot but in turn gave him insomnia and night terrors.  They then switched him to Strattera 10mg, 15mg then up to 25mg and we saw no change in his behivour and it gave him major mood swings.  I called his doc this morning and told him of the mood swings and that we have still not seen a change and he nows wants me to take him back to a psychologist.  I do not understand this?  He has already seen a pschycolgost and is seeing a counsler once a week.  It is my understanding that it make take quite a few med changes to find the right one for an AHHD child, am I wrong?  I am so lost now.  I called the psychologist to explain and they had me make another appoinment but its for a month from now.  I feel so unimportant.  My son started kindergarden this year and has been suspended from the bus twice for behivour.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Is there anything else I should be doing?

How are you measuring his behavior?  The number of times suspended from the bus is not a good measure.  The number of times removed from class for disruptive behavior might be a better one.  Establish weekly meetings with the teacher and set three basic goals.  For example, calling out, physical contact and name calling.  Give a score of 1 to 3 and use that as a measure of effectiveness of the meds.  By the way, my son is now 13 and we still do not allow him to take the bus since it's usually the minimally supervised situations where he gets into trouble. 

We've also found that the family doctor is really good for fixing broken bones, colds, giving shots and diagnosing ADHD.  But for treatment of ADHD, we use a pharmacologist (psychiartrist who uses a prescription pad instead of a couch to deal with mental health issues).  Medical professionals often forget that med stability for an adolecent is a transient state because of their constantly changing weight and maturity.  So you need to have an ongoing relationship with psych who is close to home and can see you at a moments notice and not a month from now.  They are out there, you just have connect.  I'm sure you've run into other ADHD parents, ask them about their psych.   

Finally, we had similar challenges with the same med changes as you.  As a result we finally ended up using Focolin for focus / inpulse control and a low dose of clonidine in the evening for sleep.  But remember, every child is different and so what worked for us may not work for you. 

Good luck and keep us informed.

Paul

Hello,

I let my 5yr old with adhd ride the bus(after many suspensions before we knew it was adhd going on). Gabe rides with a 6th grader(very trustworthy) and they sit behind the bus driver so my child still gets the experience of riding with the other children but is still not quite on his own.

Adderall did not work at all for us but we're starting focalin this friday and Im optismistic because Ive heard many good things about it. Four different meds tried so far but we are slowly getting there. We wish you the best of luck and everyone on here has been so helpful.

Best wishes

B.J.