My son was diagnosed w/ ADHD (inmpulsive) almost 4 years ago. We tried concerta and adderall firt and they didn't help so then we switched to straight ritalin. It worked and he took 20 mg 3 times a day for over 2 years. Then one week I received 3 different days of phone calls from his school nurse or teacher asking me if he had been taking his meds that week because he had not been acting normal. I told her yes that I give it to him every morning. I called to make a doctors appointment the following Monday, but would be a while before we could get in to see if his meds needed to be changed. A few weeks later my youngest was getting a box of noodles and found some of what she knows as her brothers pills. I asked him how they got and he said he spit them out and them there the week that he was in so much trouble at school. The next day my mother called to ask if I had noticed his newly developed tic. I had saw him making strange faces one day and squinting his eyes when he would blink, I didn't think much about it. A friend of mine that is an RN told me to get him off ritalin so I paniced and when we did go to the doctor I told them to take and find something else and it has been downhill ever since.
We have tried concerta, at 2 differeent doses, not counting what we had tried before the ritalin, and now he is on focalin XR 10 mg. It really doesn't do much to help and now his grades are slipping and we are having difficulties at home too. I would sure like to get some advice from anyone especially if they have had the same problems as us. I am now debating on whether or not to put him back on the ritalin like he was before. Any help would be great!!!!
How old is he? Did you notice the tics when he was spitting the meds out or after hew ent back on them?I agree, when did you notice the ticks, after the spitting out or while he was spitting out? You need to speak to a qualified child psychiatrist or a neuropsych to get properly medicated especially when there are other issues. A pediatrician is not enough.
My son is 8 and will be 9 in May. After I realized he had been spiting out his meds, I began watching him every morning and checking his mouth after he took his pills. The spitting out occured in Oct. and we could not get in w/ the dr until Dec.
I don't know much about tics, but is it possible the tic was a reaction to restarting the med. at the therapeutic dose rather than working your way up to it? Maybe the original med. is OK for him, but he needs to let his body readjust to it as you slowly climb back up to a therapeutic dose?
You're not alone w/ a child who tries to hide meds. We have to watch my child very closely when he takes it. He knows the meds help him a lot and his life is so much better when he takes them. However, the impulsivity sometimes used to be too much. His fav. place was under the fridge.
ADHD meds can be very tricky. There are some good sources I haveOur son developed tics on concerta- so we took him off all stimulants. He has been doing poorly in school- now 4th grade. The tics came back and he wasn't taking anything but natural. Took hin to ped. neurologist and he has tourette's syndrome. The meds didn't cause it it just came out when on concerta. we started i
him on clonodine and his tics have slowed way down. We are gonna put him on focalin XR and are so excited that he may get some relief at school- He has been struggling soo much and his self esteem has fgone way down. I have also heard that Tenex is a good one for tics. Do a google search on clonidine and ritalin and a study should come up that was done on the combination of the two meds. Says they work well together. The study was fro 2002. Hope this helps.