So we've now tried 2 different meds. Adderall xr (not good) and metidate cd (not good too) I finally got a hold of the pediatric neurologist who has been prescrbing these meds to tell him about the reaction of the latest one (the metidate). He basically was telling me that I have to remember that my son is barely 5 ( he will be next month) and that a 4 year old should be a 4 yr old and that in the long run all these meds are the same whether they are extended release or short acting. Whether they are from the ritalin family or not...if my son is having these adverse reactions then he's more than likely going to have them on a different med.
Now, I am no physician, but after speaking with family members whos children are adhd and also speaking to you very well educated moms who have had to try multiple different meds with different doses before you found the right one, I know that this is simply not so. I was kind of surprised to hear this from him and am starting to question whether or not I am making the right decision about medicating my child. He kind of made me feel bad but I could be taking it personally too.
In the end he did prescribe me one more med. Focalin. I said I'd like to try one last time and if I still am seeing adverse reactions then i'm going to wait a few more years and see what happenes with him.
what do you guys think??
We had tried ritalin, adderal, and straterra when our son was almost five and a half. We were seeing a psychiatrist who supposedly specialized in children. We tried each drug for a week and then he would switch us on to the next.
My son was very moody on the ritalin and the addreal and even bit his brother which he never did before. The straterra he had a horrible time swallowing and I was sick of just switching meds.
We quit trying and about 9 months later we are now trying Concerta which seems to be helping without the moodiness. We have only been on it a week but it seems to be helping.
I don't think doctors always know what is best. We have seen so many doctors with wrong diagnosis and not much help. For me it is very discouraging.
It is your son, and you need to do what you feel is best. The meds might help even if it is just so your son function through the day.
Good luck it whatever you decide.
RDMT,
Have you tried concerta? The only reason I ask is that my son is very hyper and impulsive as well. I think a lot of adhd'ers show signs of aspeberger's/autism. My son also has sensory integration.
He has done well with concerta and guanfacine. The G helps with his impulsiveness and anxiety. It relaxes him.
Ask your doctor, it may help your son. Everyone is different but my son couldn't handle adderall or strattera, bad side effects for him.
there are so many meds out there, there is something that will help your son.
We also use a psychopharmocologist, who specializes in these meds. He is great.
Please ask any questions, we are here to help.
My wise friend who had traveled this road before me told me outright "Your kid will be a guinea pig"--meaning it may take several trials before finding the right med and dosage. I hated hearing it but I was prepared. THe hardest part of finding the best med for my son was this stage. Strattera, designed to minimize tics in children prone to them, gave my son extreme tics. We finally tried focalin, then focalin XR, and this has worked for my 9 yr old. Plus he takes clonidine at night. His pediactric neurologist is on the cautious side, which was a comfort. Plus, there are some children that do not respond to medications. We did not medicate my son until he was 7. His adhd was managed by OT and diet and behavior therapy. I hope that you are able to find the right medication, it is not easy and there are alot of choices. But I am here to tell you that for my son, the hard work has paid off. He has responded well to the focalin XR. His social skills, academic progress, and behavior have improved better than I ever expected. You should also see developmental maturity as your child gets older and learns how to self-regulate.I disagree that kids will basically have the same reactions to all of the medicines. My son DID NOT do well on the regular Adderall because he metabolized it too quickly and rebounded at about 2 1/2 or 3 hrs after the doses.
Then we switched the the long acting Adderall XR and the rebound virtually disappeared but he still had moodiness issues. We ended up with Ritalin and it has an altogether different effect. So I don't think you should give up on meds just yet. Maybe a psychiatrist will be better with the meds??? They are basically "medicine specialists"...that is all they do. My son hasn't seen a neurologist so I don't know how experienced they are with ADHD but after seeing a pediatrician, child psychologist and a psychiatrist I have to say that the psychiatrist is the one most equipped to handle our issues.
I'm curious, how long is the doctor letting you try each med before switching? With each of the meds my son tried we tried every combination of timing, dosages, etc on EACH medicine before we gave up on it and switched to another. You may have the right medicine but have the wrong timing or dose or both! You'd hate to discard a medicine too early before it's been fully explored adn bypass the one that may actually work for him!
Good luck and keep us posted!
Hi, I'm new to the board... I needed to find a place to share and acquire info, and also to just plain "vent". My first born was "diagnosed" with ADHD between K and 1st grade. He's also been labeled (but I disagree with these) as a child with Aspergers and/or high functioning autism, and Sensory Intergration Disorder. But it was the ADHD that came to the forefront once he started 1st grade. He was already behind and falling furthur behind each month. We had been consulting with a child psychologist and a neurobehaviorist, and we started trying meds late last year: Daytrana, Adderall, Vyvanse... all in the stimulant categories. ALL failed miserably with more negative side effects and NO positive effects on his ADHD symptoms. His neurobehaviorist had wanted to try Strattera, but had hesitated because our child could not swallow the capsule whole. Finally, this past April, she said she had seen data to indicate that the capsule could be split open and the contents could be "hidden" in food. It tastes BAD, but we manage to have our child take it with a tsp of applesauce. Finally, some success! Good response in the attention/focus areas, and significant improvement noted by his teachers (both regular and modified classrooms). My only "complaints" are: 1) he can be very grumpy and/or have mood swings; and 2)because my ex wanted to give the med at night (to avoid the moodiness and because we seemed to notice "sedation" around 2 hours after administration), we have found that IF our child wakes up at night, he often has trouble getting back to sleep, if he can at all. Last night, he woke up at 2:30 a.m., and never went back to sleep. I think I've decided to go back to administrating the medicine in the morning. Has anyone else had this problem, and what has worked the best for you? The neurobehaviorist also wants to increase the dosage from 25 to 40 mg at the next refill, because impulsivity, "silliness", lack of focus, etc all seem to return by 3 or 4 p.m.. When we first began using the Strattera, we did give it in the morning, and though we felt he seemed "zoned out"/sedated at home, his teacher insisted that he was very alert in the classroom arena. As an aside, before going to pharmaceuticals, we had tried Calm Child, Attentive Child, EFA's (I still continue to give), and vitamin B supplements, with no positive improvement with any of them. We avoided red food dye and I tried to avoid overly processed foods. We also had him tested for gluten allergy and other food allergies - he tested completely negative on all, and because he has no "digestive issues", our neurobehaviorist said she didn't recommend we try the gluten-free diet. Bottom line: We have had some success with the Strattera, but I am wondering if this is going to be "as good as it gets". The moodiness and grumpiness has gotten to be really old, and I am wondering if I'm doing something wrong - I'm a bit at wit's end! 8-}It's interesting that the stimulants had no positive effect at all...my experience with them was that they immediately made a difference in some symptoms but the side effects were worse. My son's psychiatrist told us that the stimulants usually have the most beneficial effect on the hyperactivity and impulsiveness and Stratera is good but usually less effective on these symptoms. So it's interesting that they would have no effect and the Stratera would be better...Is it possible that the most bothersome symptoms are actually not caused by the ADHD but by one of the other coexisting disorders? Or maybe his system just likes the Stratera better.
About the moodiness, for my son that was a side effect of the stimulants. But they were working so well in other respects that we didn't want to give up on them so the Dr. added Tenex. It helps with his "anxiety" that is aggravated by the Ritalin and we think we've hit the right cocktail because he's been doing very well. I don't know if this has anything to do with your situation or not because Stretara isn't technically a stimulant???
You might want to also ask your Dr. about taking Melatonin to help with his sleep. It's been good for my son.
Good luck and hang in there!
Well...I don't recall your previous posts...but generally meds don't matter until elementary school when they have to fit in the box. I think the later you can start the better, but it's all case by case.