This is TOO Hard | ADHD Information
snmnstrs, what state do you live in? Your principal sounds backwards!!
Do you think that there is a chance that your son might have bipolar on top of ADHD?
I feel so bad reading your post. I hate reading about kids being made fun of at school.
How old is he? Does he have any friends? How is his social life?
My son is 11 going on 12. Meds have really saved his life. He was so hyper and impulsive that he was labeled and made fun of.
Where do you stand right now? are the meds where they should be? what type of doctor is prescribing? we use a psychopharmacologist. they know all about the meds and what to do and not do , mix and not mix, etc.
Why a military school for him especially if he is depressed? Can you move him to another school in the district??? This way he can start over!! 
Is he on a 504 or IEP plan? The school needs to help you and him, but it sounds like they aren't. If the school can't educate him, it is THEIR responsibility to PAY for a school that can!!
Have you had the school evaluate him for a plan?
Sorry for the questions, i just really want to help!! 
Hi Everyone. Update on my son. Well, his SISTER just broke out in a rash over the weekend. I would normally be upset but I was so excited! This means my son's rash was NOT from the medication but a virus!!! That is so great! The Ritalin LA is working well but it seems to wear off quickly. With others who have experienced that, is it better to do several short-acting doses instead of the long acting? It doesn't seem long acting at all! The side effects on Ritalin are MUCH better than on Aderall. He has a little bit of an appetite and no rebound (well, maybe a little one but nothing like before)
Thanks for listening!
[QUOTE=BETHANN]snmnstrs, what state do you live in? Your principal sounds backwards!!
Do you think that there is a chance that your son might have bipolar on top of ADHD?
I feel so bad reading your post. I hate reading about kids being made fun of at school.
How old is he? Does he have any friends? How is his social life?
My son is 11 going on 12. Meds have really saved his life. He was so hyper and impulsive that he was labeled and made fun of.
Where do you stand right now? are the meds where they should be? what type of doctor is prescribing? we use a psychopharmacologist. they know all about the meds and what to do and not do , mix and not mix, etc.
Why a military school for him especially if he is depressed? Can you move him to another school in the district??? This way he can start over!!
Is he on a 504 or IEP plan? The school needs to help you and him, but it sounds like they aren't. If the school can't educate him, it is THEIR responsibility to PAY for a school that can!!
Have you had the school evaluate him for a plan?
Sorry for the questions, i just really want to help!!
[/QUOTE]
We're in Texas. He's not very social. I think he has a few friends, but nothing that really sticks out there.
He spent a week in a mental hospital for evaluation and they diagnosed bi-polar disorder but they also told us that they had to do that to get his stay approved, so we're really not sure. I know mood disorders can be an effect of ADHD and anxiety.
He's 11, and will be 12 in June. They were wanting to put him in "special ed" for being "mentally disturbed", but I think that is too much. Today I sent a letter requesting a 504 evaluation. The principle told me that it wasn't "education modification" and not what he needed, but everything I find said that the 504 plan is a plan for education modification and accommodations to ensure that the child succeeds in a public type school. With the "special ed" they can place him in a resource class or alternative school which would further seperate him from his peers which would probably cause more self esteem issues. They already place him in "BIC", which is an in school suspension setting. Oh....and they would get extra funding from the state for him with the IDEA. With the 504, he would stay in his current settings, but without the funding, and it would require effort on the teachers part in order to meet the requirements we set. They are going to schedule a meeting with me, or that's what I was told today. I really wish we had known about this sooner because I think isolating him with other "misbehaved" students has helped give a reason for the other kids to make fun of him, when he already knows he's different, and cause more self esteem issues.
We don't have an option of another school in our area, or I would have done that. Military school was when we were stressed out with no answers and all that was being seen was a seriously misbehaved child. I believe now that he is reaching puberty and his hormones are changing, that it is bringing out more of the other sides of ADHD. Before it was just attention and turning in work. But since they are requesting the IDEA, I found out that any child eligible for special education services under IDEA, always makes a child eligible under 504. So I don't see how they couldn't go along with our request.
This forum has answered a lot of things that we were questioning.
I've been doing lots of research and found lots of accommodations that would help him A LOT. I never knew that you could request that before. All these years, and all the struggles, and no one told us. Doctors, teachers, no one. Even though we have had all these problems these last two years. I don't know....just a little frustrated at the whole situation.
Let me know if I can help!! My son is also 11 going on 12. Poor guy having to stay in a mental facility to be treated and away from home, that makes me sad 
I went to TCU but am from Boston and live here with my family. I know that Texas is a tough state with even the juvenile justice department.
I am glad that you are finding ways to help him. Your son qualifies for an 504 plan with a official diagnosis of bipolar/adhd - lots of kids have both - treat the bipolar first then go back and fix the adhd with meds, you can't do the adhd first because it exasperates the bipolar making it worse.
Please let me know if I can be of any help!!
ThanksGZM, That is great news that the rash wasn't caused by meds!
Snmnstrs,
A couple more thoughts...
. One, I think it is important to know whether your son truly has a bi-polar diagnosis or not. My understanding is that some ADHD meds can wreak havoc with bi-polar. (I'm not an expert on this at all, just what I've read here--like what Bethann said.) Is the doctor who is prescribing meds for your son aware of a bi-polar diagnosis?
. I would at least consider what the school wants to offer your son as far as special ed is concerned. An IEP doesn't necessarily mean that a child is placed in a resource class or alternative school. My understanding is that an IEP is an "individualized education plan" which can include accommodations and special services such as occupational therapy, counseling, help with a learning disability, a behavior plan, etc. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will correct me if I'm wrong here. I believe that, by law, the school must place your son in the "least restrictive environment" that will provide an appropriate education.
There are many parents who post on this message board who desperately want IEPs for their children but are having to fight the schools to try to get them. IEPs aren't easy to get, so I think if the school is suggesting this, it might be wise to consider. Right now it sounds like your son is being punished for having ADHD and behavior issues, an IEP could instead potentially provide him with whatever help he needs to succeed. Maybe a 504 is all he needs, but I would at least look into and consider other options.
. I understand your frustration about not knowing about any of this before. I had heard of IEPs, but I wrongly assumed that the school would let me know if my daughter needed this or qualified. I didn't even know about 504s until I made a desperate call to a teacher acquaintance when my daughter was in 5th grade, and I was actually a certified teacher myself.
It sure would be nice if all parents with school-age kids received at least minimal information on this stuff. Anyway, all you can do is find out as much as you can now and move forward.Best of luck and let us know how things go for your son.
snmnstrs your principal wants to put him in Special Ed with an IEP that states he is qualified under the category of Emotionally Disturbed (ED) rather than the Other Health Impaired (OHI) category. These are two distinct paths. If your child gets pushed into an alternative school with an ED category he would be surrounded children with serious behavior issues and the focus would be behavior and therapy which often involves the entire family. With the OHI category he'd be surrounded by children with learning disabilities and the focus would be academic.
It sounds like you need to agree to SE but only with an OHI category because your child needs the legal protections provided by an IEP.Jessica N39910.8920717593Hi there. My poor 4.5 yo ds is a mess. We've tried Adderrall, which was working very well for him at school but we can't live with the side effects. He is a mess all afternoon. And now, he has hives everywhere, which we are not sure is a result of the medication. He did have a few small rashes here and there since we started but I didn't think it was related. Then he broke out all over. Dr. said to stop Adderall and gave us Ritalin. Totally the wrong med. Zombie, eats not one bite of food. Maybe too much? This is all too hard and confusing for both my son and my older dd who is dealing with a raving lunatic for a brother and parents that are losing their minds. I really want to try Vyvanse but wonder if it might cause a rash too. We are seeing an allergist this week to see what the hives might be from. If it's not the medication, we can maybe try it again? Anyways, would love to hear that other people went through hard times like this and finally found something to help. We are also going to try and cut out dairy...we are desperate here! Thanks for listening.
hey GZM, I just posted to you on another post asking about your son.
My son can only tolerate concerta. Adderall made him crazy. I wouldn't think the hives were from the med UNLESS it is an allergic reaction.
My son didn't eat at first, lost weight, had him in slims for one season, BUT he was healthy. His ped. said he grew and gained just not that much, THEN his body adjusted and he is doing both growing and gaining healthily.
IS the ritalin concerta? Poor thing!! Keep us posted!!
the addition of guanfacine/tenex really helps our son. We upped from .5 to 1 mg and boy what a differenece. he has been at 1mg since he was 7, now he is almost 12!!My son is almost 7, and is now on his 3rd stimulant medication. Adderrall was first, and it worked for a while, but then seemed to stop working, so we were told to increase the dosage, and I swear I have never seen him so horrible.
He was a completely different child, at school and at home. I don't even like thinking about that. I joke now that our next step was to find an exorcist. It was that bad! Since than he has been on Ritalin, which I think he just metabolized way to quickly, so he is now on Concerta. Started out at 36mg. Recently added tenex to help with some of his impulsiveness. I have no complaints yet.... pretty sure he will have to go up on the dosage, but we just started and things are going better.
I would not recommend Adderrall to anyone! Although everyone is different, I am terrified of that medication.
We were told Ritalin/Concerta are in the same family...... Concerta is just made to last longer. Adderrall is in a completely different family. Yes, all stimulants, but Adderrall is different. At least that is what we have been told.
We just started it last week.... Thursday to be exact, and at lunchtime, so he has only had 1 full day of school on it so far, Friday. He did great this weekend, as he usually does, but I am sure that is because our weekends are pretty laid back, so he usually does do pretty good, it's during the week that we have so much trouble.
I am glad to see/hear good things about this tenex. I am hoping it helps with his issues at school, so he can go back to a somewhat normal life, without being looked at or labeled as the bad/mean kid.
Hi Everyone. Thanks for your support. Well, after talking to a different doctor and doing some of my own research, it is completely possible that the Adderall was causing him to have hives. (he was COVERED). Yesterday was bad when we first tried the Ritalin LA but we tried a lower dose today and so far so good! He was good at school and has seemed reasonable so far this afternoon. We'll see what tonight brings us! If he is having hives and bad rebounding from the Adderall then I'm guessing we need to stay away from meds similar to that? Concerta has to be swallowed as a tablet so that is out for us right now since he can't swallow a tablet. We'll pray the Ritalin LA does well. Does anyone have experience w/Ritalin LA vs 2 doses of Ritalin? Thanks again for everyone's support!Oh wow. My son couldn't swallow meds at the beginning of this either. I think that is another reason he was started on the evil Adderrall!
So then he was moved to Ritalin LA.... didn't last very long for him..... then he learned to swallow pills (after his younger brother showed him up and did it). For a few weeks he was on Ritalin LA and Ritalin SR..... before we saw a child psychiatrist. Now he is on Concerta.
Anyway, when he first started the Ritalin LA it was pretty good, but my son metabolizes everything extremely quickly, so it didn't take long for him to "adjust" to it, and the doc to add another dose of the SR at noon.....(once she knew he could swallow that pill).
Pretty soon it was almost like he wasn't taking anything.... So that's why we are trying the Concerta now.
Every child is different, we all know that, but I just wanted to tell you how my son did with the Ritalin. It is MUCH better than Adderrall in my opinion. Hopefully it will be the right medication for your son!
My son has also just been started on tenex as well, to help with some of his impulsiveness. So he is on Concerta 36mg once a day, and Tenex 1/2 mg twice a day.
Glad things are looking better frstmomof1!
GZM my son couldn't swallow any pills either, but he had to. He needed concerta more than it needed him!! He took it like a champ at the age of 6. We just made him do it, nothing more, nothing less. ANd he did! He also has sensory integration stuff and was still able to swallow the pills.
I think everyone likes the idea that we can sprinkle the adderall xr on food if necessary. So we try it but unfortunately it does not like many of us.
I just wanted to respond to the positive posts!!
reluctant to even try a new med. But he needed it, so he went on Vyvanse.
It's a miracle drug for him.
My son still can't swallow pills. I (in his words) "shove it down his throat." I
squeeze the pill between the tips of my index and middle fingers and place
the pill behind his tongue. He just swallows it down - doesn't even need
water. Of course, I insist he drinks afterward. But there's no fight about it at
all - he just opens wide and I pop it in.My son could not swallow pills either thats' why we went the Vyvanse route (derivative of adderral) and had many problems. Concerta has been the only med so far that has worked for him at all. we are at 36 mg and will probably go up or add something in the future. We tried Focalin (cleaner version of Concerta) and it blew up in our faces and we got a zombie it was too much release in the begininig of the meds release in the bloodstream. I wish you luck in finding the right meds for youI'm not sure whether my child psychiatrist would chuckle or flat out laugh at the statement that side effects are the same for all stimulants...
Jessica N39905.9005208333I agree with you completely every med comes with it's own side effects or for those lucky enough none. Every Med is different on every child. It is the balance of finding the most bang with the least side effects. At least for us it is. Focalin was hell for us yet it is like gold to others. everyone is different completely.
My son has been on medication since he was 5. We have always had issues. Everything seem to cause anger issues, or other side effects that weren't worth it. This year has been the worst. The doctor that we were seeing completely started him over and started with really low doses. So, then we had a hyper but happy child. Needless to say the school couldn't deal with that. It got so bad that he has severe depression from kids making fun of him because I believe he feels singled out because they are always getting on to him. He was in a mental hospital for a week so that we could better figure stuff out.
We've tried: adderal, concerta, vyvanse (horrible "kill people" type anger issues), focalin, metadate, etc.....
Now he's on ritalin (generic), 2 20mg slow release pills in the morning and noon, 10 mg prozac, and 1 mg respirdal morning and noon.
So far so good. The prozac compensates for the depression and crying issues we had. Super sensitivity so matter what you do is so frustrating. The respiradol compensates for the anger issues. The ritalin with the current dosage seems to compensate for the sudden drop off that we used to have making our evenings super horrible for homework.
His school is now wanting to put him in special ed, and I don't think it's necessary. The medication issues that we have had this year have caused him to almost lose a whole year. Apparently being ADHD means your "mentally disturbed". (According to his principal anyways)
We have been pulling our hair out for 6 years. Some teachers have been great, others not so much. Apparently when you ask for communication between parent and teacher you are asking too much. Now I believe they are seeking things out to write him up so that he goes to BIC (in school suspension basically) and they have an excuse to send him to alternative school or special ed.
My son is highly intelligent and just chose not to do the work that wasn't turned in. He may be forgettful, or turn things in late, but he used to be an A & B student until the stupid medication was messed with.
His last write up was for finishing a chapter in a book before the class did. (said he had to go to the bathroom). Now tell me that's not just looking for something to write him up for.
When you speak of frustration, I completely understand. We have talked about military school....can't afford it,.......private school....can't afford it.....home schooling.....can't afford for one of us to stay home.....etc. Don't know what else to do, but hold ourselves hostage to "the medication".
Another option is focalin. It has the least number of side effects, generally. Jessica N39908.3888078704Below is a chart of the common side effects of the medications used for adhd. Common side effects are all the same for all stimulants and there is no such thing as one stimulant with the least amount of side effects. Everyone responds differently. Because response to medication is individual, there isnt one better or worse than the other. Ive seen many misconceptions here advising people to stay away from one med and go with another. My daughter has been taking adderal for two years and for her its a wonder drug. For someone else it may not be. Life can be real tough for both parents and the child until you hit on the right treatment Read side effects for all stims below.
Common Side Effects: • Decreased appetite • Sleep problems • Transient headache • Transient stomachache • Behavioral rebound
Possible Strategies for Common Side Effects: (If one stimulant is not working or produces too many adverse side effects, try another
stimulant before using a different class of medications.)
Decreased Appetite Behavioral Rebound Irritability/Dysphoria
• Dose after meals • Try sustained-release stimulant • Decrease dose
• Frequent snacks medication • Try another stimulant medication
• Drug holidays • Add reduced dose in late afternoon • Consider coexisting conditions, especially
depression
Sleep Problems Exacerbation of Tics
• Bedtime routine • Observe Depression
• Reduce or eliminate afternoon dose • Reduce dose • Stop treatment with stimulants
• Move dosing regimen to earlier time • Try another stimulant
• Restrict or eliminate caffeine medication
We found Focalin to have too big of a med dump in the begining and my son waas like a zombie on the lowest dose. So Concerta is the one for us. spamula39906.5627430556Hi Everyone. An udpate here for us. So we took my son to the doctor because he had HIVES all over his body. We are all thinking that it's from the Adderall, even though it's not really listed as a side effect. I have seen lots of anecdotal stories, however, saying it has caused rashes and hives. Anyways, we were told to stop it immediately, which I was happy with because even though school was better, the afternoons and evenings were pure hell. So we tried Ritalin LA for the first time. Got first dose on Sunday and he was VERY tired. I poured a little less out of the capsule the next morning and sent him to school and teacher said he was WONDERFUL. Then, when he came home, he was great too! I couldn't believe it! And by Tuesday, he was even eating more. So I got another prescription for a lower dose but I've ended up giving him the original one and now he is great on it. (I think just that first day it hit him hard, has that happened to any of you?) Anyways, he is SO much better but still himself in many ways. In the evening when it wears off, he's pretty active, but not he crazy person he was on Adderall. Anyways, we are SO hopeful that this is the one. Someone mentioned that Ritalin didn't work very long for them and that makes me nervous. IS this common? Anyways, the journey continues...Thanks to everyone for listening!GZM,
Do you mean not work very long during the day or stay effective for the person taking it and they need to change meds all together?
We are on concerta (a form of ritalin) and my son just has doseage increases, ever so many years. HE usually lasts about 2 yrs on each doseage, if not longer. He is on the time released version of ritalin and usually gets around 8-10 hours. He is right not in need of an increase, but holding off.
I am glad that you found the right med for YOUR child. Please post us as the journey continues, which it will!!
I think my son just has an extremely fast metabolism. The Ritalin LA and Ritalin SR both didn't seem to last very long for him, alone or together. Maybe a few hours, if that!
He is now on Concerta, and it seems to be doing a great job. It is his 3rd medication we have tried, so I hope the third time is the charm for us!! Everyone is different, and responds different to medications, so it is very interesting to read all the stories on here, and relate to some of them as well.
As for the stimulants all being the same, with the same side effects, I choose to believe what more than one doctor has told us, that different stimulants DO have different side effects. Some have fewer than others, and I have also SEEN proof of this. To each his own, but I know what I have been told, and I know what I have seen.
Each medication comes with a detailed explanation of the side effects when you pick it up also. I would advise everyone read it completely if your child is going on the medication. Some of them ARE different!
Right.... They ARE different. According to our child psychiatrist and pediatrician. Come to think of it, our child behavioral psychologist too. The stimulant medications and the side effects are NOT the same. There is such a thing as different side effects.
Glad to see some of us KNOW this....