New to Vyvanse and scared to death! | ADHD Information

Hello!

I wanted to give an update on Chris with his meds. He is doing great! His behavior has been at a "normal" state. He focuses and listens to everything we ask him to do. His appetite is the same and so is his sleeping habits which is what I was very concerned with. I noticed one negative this past Monday, he was speaking and he stuttered his sentece. Also the week before he cried a few times for not getting what he wanted--his normal was to throw himself on the floor and have a fit.

On Monday, it will be 3 weeks that he has been on 1/2 of capsule of the 20mg of vyvanse he has been prescribed to. I will be going to the Dr's office to have blood work done. I will continue with 1/2 the capsule untill school starts and then give him the entire amount. Atleast that is what I like to do, I will discuss this with his Doctor.

I want to thank all of you for your responses.

Meshall73

 

Thanks Meshall.

We did cut back to 1/2 of the 30mg on Tuesday and today.  His teacher said he is still in control of his actions and listening so that is good.  She noted on Monday his first medicated day that his attention was so much better.  But on the 1/2 dose if he can eat and sleep better and still make it through school then that is where we will stay.

I think the larger dose lasted too long in his system and at this point i just want him to make it through school and I can rough it through the rest of the day if he can eat and sleep better.

I feel better with my overall decision because he is doing better in class but I think I will always see a differnce in him. 

Do you give your son the medicine on the weekends?  I would like to give him a break to eat and sleep but then dont want Monday to be too hard on him.

Again, I am comfortable with Vyvanse because he still talks a lot etc.  The teacher said that most boys she has seen become zombie like and she was so happy to see mine keep his personality and pay attention in class.

thanks!

Glad to hear your son is doing well.

Chris does not take his medication on weekends or holidays- i have him on it for school purposes only.

Meshall

One more question.  Does he have a hard time on Monday adjusting back to the medicine after not taking it on the weekends? 

Our doctor said summer and weekends were our choice if we wanted to give him the medicine or not.  My concern is that this is the first week so I wonder if it will mess up his system to skip this weekend. 

I really appreciate your comments.

Meshall -

 

I am so glad i found your post.  i just started Vyvanse today on my son at 30mg.  He talked all day long like I have never seen and rubbed his fingers together all day.  It is going to be so hard for me to try again tomorrow but I know i need to give this medicien at least a week.  it has taken months for me to convince myself that he needs to try medicine.  then i finally try it and his reaction has me so stressed out. 

why did your doctor tell you to take 1/2 the capsule?  Was the full 20mg too strong?

thanks for any advice

Ok now im worried about my 7 year old on 30 mgs!

We have now taken 30mg for 3 days.

Day 1 he talked non-stop and moved his hands non-stop.

Day 2 better with talking but still nervous hands and huge pupils.

Day 3 better but still wired, not eating or sleeping.  This was the first school day and he did great.  I think that he does need a lower dose though because I think 12 hours is too long.  The not eating and sleeping has me very worried. 

I am going to give it 2 more days and then I may ask the doctor if we can get 20mg or give him half of the 30.  I am glad he listened and behaved in school but I am not happy with the appetite issues.  From what I have read there is nothing out there that is perfect.  One of my main concerns was the zombie like effect and that has not happened on Vyvanse.

Itk

Chris started Vyvanse the last week of schoo last year- as soon as school was out he was on it for one more week and we removed him from the medication for the entire summer.At that time he was prescribed 20mg and we (his Dr & I ) agreed that we should start him off with 1/2 the dose and give him the full amount after a few weeks. Chris has started school this past Monday and he is now back on the 1/2 capsule which would be the 3rd week he is on the medication. There was a big difference when he is on and off the medication. I feel like he can focus on school with the amount we give him now. If this is all he needs with 1/2 the capsul, I will continue as long as he needs it. He still eats and sleeps the same- the only change is that Chris cries more than usual. I am still uneasy about the whole medication thing but do feel that this was the right thing to do for Chris. Chris is 8 and weighs around 80 pounds- 20 mg seems too high to give in my oppinion. His Dr agreed he could stay on 1/2 the dose if the amount worked for him and it does.

I hope this helped.

Meshall

Hi!

Sorry you're in such a panic. The doctor is not going to prescribe a
medication that will kill your child! If you have a prescription it's because
he needs it.

My son is on Vyvanse. When he first went on it - the first morning - he
was like on ADHD squared. He literally could not stop talking, and he
was very emotional. That was over by the second day.

My son went unmedicated for over 2 years. I have been very involved in
this site, and have been very pro-medication. Until it came to my son.
Then I was torn to bits about doing it, and felt like a total hypocrite for it.

When we started the medication I made a deal with my son that if it
"changed" him we would stop it.

I don't want to scare you with a crazy story. So I'll give you our real story.
My son started on Concerta and he did have wacky side effects. It
changed his personality. The doctor says give it 2 weeks - if you see an
immediate change, call the doctor. My son had 2 pills. That was it. It
was out of his system and he was back to normal.

If he's going to school tomorrow call the school nurse and let her know
he's on the new medication. He will have the strongest effects at school.
When my son had the extreme reaction I wouldn't have ever known about
it because it had completely worn off by the time he came home. The
school let me know about it, so I kept him home the second day and saw
it myself. And then I called the doctor and got him off it.

It does sometimes take a while to get the correct medication and dosage.
That's okay. Nothing is permanent. The side effects they list almost
never happen.

When my son started Vyvanse his side effects were lack of appetite,
sleeplessness, and he had a racing heart. He started at 30 mg and we
dropped to 20. The racing heart stopped. That wasn't all the time,
either. Just every once in a while. But it was too much for me - I wanted
him to have as few negative side effects as possible. He isn't hungry on
the medication, and has been losing weight. But we licked that, too. He
eats breakfast before he has his pill - if your son doesn't want to eat try
Carnation Instant Breakfast. I used to blend a banana into a smoothie for
my son. He basically doesn't eat all day, but he has 2 dinners - he eats at
about 6 and then at about 8. He takes melatonin to help him sleep at
night. These are little changes we made that totally took care of the
negative side effects.

Now, for the good stuff!
My son was so frustrated with school that he was attacking kids on the
playground. Since he's been on the meds he one the school's citizenship
award twice. His assessments - part of his IEP is that he isn't supposed to
have timed tests be part of his grade, but he takes them so he's doing the
same as the rest of the kids in his class and they can track his progress.
The week before he started meds he got an 8/100 in 5 mins with his ed
tech reminding him the whole time. Three weeks after he got a 78/100
with no interventions. It's been staggering to everyone. He's able to
control himself better, he can discuss something without blowing up
when he hears someone else's opinion, he's got more friends, he's
understand and following rules and directions better, he's able to
contribute to class discussions. It's been amazing.

And, as far as his personality goes - no change on Vyvanse. I try to keep
him off the drug one day on the weekend so he'll eat more (I'll forever
think he's skinny! :-) and he's kind of physically all over - a whirling
dervish - but personality wise he is absolutely the same kid.

I hope I haven't made you more nervous. He's going to be fine. Just give
everyone a break the first week, and you guys will be great. Personality
change was what I used to judge my son needed to change his meds. He
was perfectly healthy on his first med, just not my boy anymore. If that
happens call the doc. It will be fine!

Post back and let us know how it goes.

Good luck!   

Good Evening,

Today was Chris's first day on his meds and am pleased to say he had no reaction to it. Of course it only the first day and his teachers were quite pleased with his behavior and participation in class. We'll see what happens for the rest of the week. I still have crazy thoughts regarding this medication but hope to pass over; this is best for Chris.

I will be sure to keep you posted!

 

Corrina-

Thank you for your response & story. I hope everything works out postively for Chris (my son) and myself. After creating this topic it made me feel @ ease somewhat; I be sure to continue to use this forum as a tool to help my nerves.

At what age was your son aware that he was diagnosed and needed to be medicated? I'm not sure if I should make him aware of his status.  

Thanks

My son had his first round of testing at age 3 for autism, which was
completely wrong. When he started kindergarten they started testing for
ADHD and he got a 504. I truly didn't see it. He's my only child, and the
first boy in our family for about a generation. I just thought it was "boys
being boys". Plus he's so smart and he hyperfocuses - I though ADHD
meant they couldn't focus ever - I was really thrown by the suggestion. I
think that helped a lot - I never saw him as someone who needed to be
fixed, instead he needed to be helped to have the best life.

He saw the neuropsychologist (genius - I would recommend one despite
the cost to anyone!) mid way through 1st grade. We got formal
recommendations for accommodations in school and he got an IEP at that
point. When changes were made for him the effect was tremendous; it
was almost as if he was medicated.

Until they stopped working. I was told there would be 2 situations to
watch for to consider medication - 1) if he dropped below grade level
(he's reading at an 8th grade level - uh, no!) or 2) if the accommodations
stopped working. Which is what happened. Even if he was completely
out of the classroom in a small blank room he couldn't concentrate. It
was time.

He's only been on the meds about 3 months now. He's 7 and he's
completing the 2nd grade.

As far as telling your son he has ADHD, that's totally up to you. By my
son was known by his classmates as being "crazy." It just about killed me
when we went out to ice cream and one of his former classmates came up
to him and asked him if he was still being crazy. I think it's made a huge
difference for my son to know what's going on with him. Every once in a
while he tries to use it as an excuse, but usually he uses the knowledge
about his condition to give himself a break. He used to get really
frustrated with himself when he was fidgety and it was keeping him from
doing something; now he's learning to recognize it and do something to
help himself, like request a motor break to burn off energy.

I also put some of the ownership for his behavior back on my son. Yes,
he has this condition and I need to give him a break about it, but he
needs to learn to recognize the symptoms that he's getting out of control
and what he can do to control himself. It's like a kid who wears glasses -
they have to learn to be responsible about them and not lose them. Every
kid has their thing. My son has ADHD. No biggie!

Keep talking - this is a great place to vent to people who know what
you're going through without judging you and learn about tips you could
try with your son.

Hi-

My 8 year old son will start Vyvanse tomarrow 6/1/09 and I am scared that putting him on this mediacation will kill him. He has been pescribed only 20 ml and I am to start him off with a full breakfast and give him the medication mixed in apple sauce. I have read all the side effects and other information regarding this medication and it scares me. I do not want to see any a drastic change in my son, I love the way he is. I am so frustrated with the school, I feel like I am being forced for to medicate him just so the faculty is happy to deal with him. But I know that is just me being defensive about this whole situation. From what I read I know this medication will help him with his work and behavior. I just want to know that I am not the only parent that feels this way and should I be more worried about the side effects in a week, month, 1/2 a year, a year, 5 years and so on.

Thanks

 

My son is by far the more inattentive/unfocused part of
ADHD. He does have his hyper moments (and he's
definitely not as bouncy when medicated) but overall,
it's the lack of focus/inattentiveness that alerted us
to the fact that we needed to do something to help him.

He LITERALLY OVERNIGHT went from a kid who was having
the HARDEST time with reading/focusing on work, etc to
the exact, and BETTER opposite. The ONLY days he doesn't
finish his work at school is when he doesn't take his
meds. Yes, he knows he takes meds and he understands
why. But he's a very mature 7yo.

Our only side effect were less than stellar sleep habits
(which weren't completely great to begin with) and his
weight dropped off initially. He's maintained the same
weight now for about 6months instead of losing so he's
doing pretty well. He's a small, infrequent eater to
begin with (always has been) so we weren't overly
concerned.

I am considering taking him off the meds for the summer,
but will only do this if our doctor says it's feasible
for our situation. I think it MIGHT be for us, but not
totally sure.

HTH! FWIW, my son is on 40mg, started out on 30mg in Dec
and upped to 40mg in February and has been doing great
on it ever since.