Which way do I go? | ADHD Information

My 11 year old daughter has adhd without hyperactivity.  She was diagnosed when she was 8 and we tried adderall xr, focalin and most recently the daytrana patch.  The first two made her extremely moody and every evening when the meds wore off was a nightmare.  Daytrana didn't seem to work at all, we doubled the dose of daytrana and still didn't work. We have done our best to manage it without meds but it's getting harder now that she's in middle school and reaching adolesence.  She is really moody which I know is due mostly to hormones but she is constantly loosing her work, notes, etc at school.  Changing classes six times a day is a real challenge for her.  She is also becoming defiant sometimes and stays mad all the time.  I think alot of this is due to the fact that she's frustrated with herself, etc.

Is there any other meds out there might work better?

Has anyone else had any experience with this? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sound very familiar!   It really hard to know what is "normal" hormonal teenage issues vs. ADHD issues.   My daughter was very moody, defiant and angry all the time when she was struggling.   Finding the right combination of meds at the right dosages made a huge difference with my daughter.  

She is currently take concerta and tenex and is very successful on this combination.

I have a DS(13) and I know how hard it is to distinguish between teen bahavior and ADHD behavior.  I don't have any answers for you, just wanted to let you know I understand.  My DS was on meds for years (successfully) but we took him off this past summer because things were off (I imagine caused by puberty among other things).  I wonder if the meds can make normal teen moodiness worse - any thoughts anyone?  Anyway, he is doing okay off meds (he seems far less moody).  He was doing well in middle school (I worked hard to help him stay organized) but I did recently put him in a charter school that sounds a lot like the one inspiredbymusic's DD goes to.  I am hoping that by having him home I can really work with him on organization.  I found it hard to do when he was in the brick and morter school (as we cyber schoolers call the school bldgs).  I also just ordered a book called LAte, Lost and UNprepared: A parents guide to helping children with executive function.  It sounds good.

Good luck!

My daughter also has inattentive-type ADHD. She is 12 1/2 and in 7th grade.
I am not anti-meds, particularly since I have read about so many children, here on this message board, who have been helped tremendously by meds. However we have chosen not to medicate my daughter, at least so far. She was diagnosed back in kindergarten. She takes a number of allergy and asthma medications, so we really wanted to avoid using more meds for her.
There have been struggles and one particularly nightmarish year (5th grade) throughout her school years, but she is doing great now! Not perfect, but no kids is.

Some things that have helped:
- We chose to send her to a charter school that specializes in performing arts for grades 6-12. She loves this school. Every day she gets to study things she loves and is excited about in addition to regular academic subjects. She's made great friends at this school who share her interests and are creative. We are fortunate to have this choice (even though it means lots of driving).
- A 504 plan. Does your daughter have one, or an IEP?? She may be eligible for some accommodations that can help with things like losing work and being distracted. If your daughter doesn't have one, I strongly recommend that you look into it. This could also help to lessen the frustration and negative feelings that your daughter is having.
- My daughter takes some supplements that I believe are beneficial. She takes omega 3s, an amino acid supplement called phosphatidyl serine (PS), and a good multivitamin. You might want to check out the alternative and complementary medicine forum here on this message board, do some research, and check with your daughter's doctor.

Best of luck and let us know how things go.
We have ADHD, my son 10, takes Concerta and Zoloft for anxiety. the concerta doesn'tlast long enough for him , only through school, I may ask the doc next week for a booster for afterschool. It is hard during puberty to find the right combo for a child as some symptoms are not going to change until after puberty.