Picking at sores? | ADHD Information
My son is on 29 mg of Adderall and he chews his fingernails and picks his arms.
I ask him why he cant stop and he tells me he doesnt know, he just has to do it. I thought this was just another aspect of his personality, but maybe it is meds
related.
I do this! i bite my nails anyway but when Im taking my meds (dexamphetamine) I pick and bite til my fingers bleed, also seem to curl my hair as well, If i wasn't already nuts it would drive me so :) am not sure what this is, is for me one of the worst side effects of this medication. ya add meds and a quarter of the time pressure seem to cause me to actually itch at my head. sometimes to the point where is will be bleeding if i get real bad. i thought it was funny because if this got bad enouth i would pay more attention to my head then to a teacher in class. scabs on me last a day tops.and i just wanted to kno does ne add person find stupid things that seem to not matter at all very annoying? i dunno im doing horrible in english because when i read a story i gather the meaning and really dont care about specific names and people. i mean what will do u more good understanding a lesson or remembering some stupid character
My son has the same problem of picking at and around his finger tips. He is frequently down to new skin around all his fingers. We have been afaid that he will get an infection and his teacher has been concerned that it might gross out some of the other kids.
Is this a result of the medicine?
ANy tips for helping the kids?
cindy, my duaghter has a slight fear of nail clippers but she will let me clip her toenails. I don't even have to try and clip her fingernails because she bit them off almost completely. My son picks at his fingers also but not to the point that they bleed. It is so strange, he will sit for like 15-20 minutes just picking at his finger tips. Does your Daughter have a fear of nail clippers?Interesting, my son has SID now known as SPD and this could very well be the problem. His medication helps him calm down and focus, but doesn't do to much for anything else and he won't be seeing a therapist until next month. I will be sure to bring this up! My son is pretty bad with the picking to the point that his face and hands or what ever sore he has bleeds. The mosquito bites in the summer are horrific!
Your post helped a lot! Thanks!
MY DAUGHTER IS SIX YRS OLD. SHE STARTED TAKING RITALIN LA ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO. SHE IS DOING THE SAME THING. AS SOON AS HER MEDS KICK IN SHE STARTS PICKING AT HER FINGERS. I AM NOT SURE IF I SHOULD TRY A DIFFERENT MEDICATION OR NOT. I AM GOING TO TALK TO HER DR ABOUT IT. WHEN I DO, ILL TELL YOU WHAT HE SAID.I'm a recently diagnosed adult woman, taking generic Adderall for about three months now. I have always picked at my cuticles, but I notice that when I get my dosage right (and that takes some work!) I do it a lot less.I'm finding it works better for me to cut my pills into smaller doses and take them more frequently, about every 2 - 3 hours. I actually end up taking less over the course of the day, and I feel better and eat more, too. The downside is it's a little difficult to maintain - I keep a written record to help remember what I've taken and how it's working, and sometimes that seems a little obsessive when you are doing it 4 times a day...
My son picks at his sores and scabs (if they ever actually get to be scabs) before, during and after meds. It is worse when we put him on meds. He has been on meds for about 2 weeks now and his face is cut up all over. I asked about the same thing the other day on this site and I got the same response with him maybe having SID. I asked the psycologist and she thinks that he might have anxiety disorder and the meds make him concentrate on it more. We are waiting to get into a psych doctor. That's another story in itself. I don't know what to do about it either and I am trying my best to remind him not to pick. That sometimes works and sometimes backfires. There really isn't anything that you can do about it without some more insight as to if it is the meds or if it is a mental thing. It sounds like for you it is a med thing since it didn't happen before that. My son has been doing it once we started seeing signs of ADHD. He has one sore that he has had since JULY!!! It hasn't gotten infected thank God but I am worried about it getting infected. If you have any questions about it, maybe I can help. I can totally relate!!! There was blood everywhere yesterday because he got 4 of them on his face bleeding and 2 on his arms. I have more things stained from him than I can count. It's hard.
My son is on Ritalin, and when he is not on it he is bounceing off the walls. But when he is medicated, he fits right in with the rest of the boys in his class. The thing that is bothering me is that he picks at himself. If he has the smallest scratch or cut, he picks at it until it becomes infected or massive. He also picks at his fingernails. I suspect that it is because he is so focused on it that he can't leave it alone...or maybe not?
Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I don't think that he is over medicated because he is on such a small dose. But who knows?
Hi Cindy
My son does the same thing. I think it must be a side effect of the medicine, but I'm not sure. I will be interested in what others have to say about it.
-Susan
OMG! My 8yo son was on 20mg LA/10mg Ritalin, morning and afternoon doses. We switched him to Concerta about 4 months ago, but not before he picked at his fingers and toes so badly that he is now missing two full nails on his left hand.
He use to chew holes in his shirts. He would lean to the left, and then to the right, and open small holes that for a while I thought were moths. Then one day I decided to wash a brand new comforter cover (Nautica of all things!), and found it to be covered in holes...everywhere!!!
It seems that this was his nervous tic, and when asked he doesn't recall putting his fingers or clothes in his mouth. It drove me crazy for almost a year - the nails are very recent.
I've now given him a washcloth that I wet down for him to chew. Removed all nice bedding - he use to sleep on Ralph Lauren sheets....they also have holes in them, lol!
The chewing hasn't stopped, though, and its something I'm bringing up with his pediatrician on Wednesday when we meet.
Good post - I thought it was just my kid!
http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm
AMENCLINIC.COM
A great site with some tests that identify subtypes.
The site I was referring to
http://www.fmsnutrition.com/adhd_self_testing_or_test.htm
It wasn't one of the questions I was wrong. I am sorry.
i am normally pretty good about that sort of thing but just jumbled that one. I assume I was thinking of the sensitive to touch question when i made the connection.
I compulsively picked at a pleather couch in our den while watching TV. I destroyed the arms. I never chewed my clothing but, I don't see the two behaviors as all that different. I picked a scab on my thumb from a minor cut so many times as a young child I have a 1/8 inch scar still today. I never chewed or pulled my nails off. I did chew them down to the bed till they bled and chewed on the skin in front of them, and the sides including toes. I would get little bits of skin hanging on the sides that would become inflamed and hurt. . I did it unconsiously. i think I did it at "stop" or "quiet" times not when engaged in anactivity. I was as unconsious as shakling my leg is still today I am sure of that.
The chewing on the skin and biting nails behavior, picking at furniture or blankets faded for me. I am not really sure when I wasnt paying attention. It was some time before adulthood thoguh. I still catch myself absentmindedly picking at my nails...I never have to cut them I do it so much still. It's a nervous habit??? liek shaking my leg ot playing with everythign I touch I think. I figuire as far as absent minded neurosis that's pretty harmeless today.
Now, the other part to that is my home enviroment at the time was pretty insane and I was a very stressed out child above and beyond being so bored I could scream most of the school day. In fact at one point it was the reason both my family and school attributed my underachieving too. All those behaviors might of come from living in an enviroment akin to no man's land in WW1 and always waitng for the explosion at home. I never really gave it much thought since they were long stopped till I read your post and related a bit.
I can't imagine what it is like having a child and watching them struggle with this. It may seeem odd coming from an Adult with ADHD but, although I never had kids I was fortunate enough to marry a woman with them. I can not imagine the anguish I would of felt over her youngest if he had been diagnosed with something like this and the torturous decisons about how to deal with. Kids that young are jsut so dependent on Parants and vulnerable.
After his Mom and I divorced she remarried pretty quickly as we had after she divorced his Dad . His Dad blew him off, i have had the pleasure of a continueing relationship but there were a couple years of real concern about him and he spent some time in therapy. It was painful to watch a child I love tell me he wanted nothing for Christmas...It screams pain when an 8 yr old says it. My heart and prayers goes out to you. I never felt so helpless as when I couldnt make him feel ok about himself enough to deserve Christmas presents.
my son is 9 and has adhd... he too picks at his nails all the time! we don't have any other 'nail biters' in the family but now it seems from what i've read it may be connected to the adhd... odd eh?
When my daughter was on Ritilan LA she did the same thing. If got so bad she picked the dry skin off her lips and all that was left was a open sore. Also when he changed her to concerta she stopped.Did the Concerta work as well on the ADHD? Where there any other differences between the two meds other than she stopped picking? Cindy38370.8243402778with the Ritilan some time she was more aggressive and outspoken, couldn't sleep, and worried all the time. When we changed it she was not picking, was more polite and calm. This did not happen over night. And the being worried all the time was what really bothered me. She would flip out it I was in the laundry room outside if she was in the shower. But with the concerta it let her be more herself. She is now no longer on Concerta due to medical reasons(weight loss severe) I am going the 27 to see a spec.I was undiagnosed as a child but chewed my fingernails to the nub and was always chewing on the skin around my fingernails and picking at cuts. It's a behavior I dropped as I got older.
For what it's worth one of the online tests I think it's at the amen site askes that question so someone thinks it's rrlated to ADHD not meds. My heart goes out to parents struggling with kids with this.
Bobel----
what site is it your talking about? I'd be interested in looking at it.
Thanks!
Another just diagnosed adult adder here...
I've picked at nails, skin around nails, scabs... since I was little. Still do it although I try really hard to not pick at sores now since I know it's a bad thing! I sometimes succeed at that one, but not usually. I seem to pick more if I'm bored/don't have something to do with my hands. For example, when I'm watching TV. If I don't have something to do with my hands I will pick at my nails and chew the skin around them. That's also a contributer to my over-eating. A bag of chips gives me something to do with my hands. I've picked up a number of crafts (cross-stitch, knitting, quilting) because it gives me something to do that doesn't involve eating! Not sure how meds factor into all that since I just started on Ritalin 3 days ago.
So you took her off the Ritalin. How many days or weeks did you start her on Concerta afterwards? Did you start right away?
Picking at his body is the only side effect that my son has... AND IT BOTHERS ME!! Other than that, Ritalin has given my son a chance to be a "normal" kid.
But like I said, It really bothers me when I look over at him and he is just picking at his fingers. I always say a mother knows best, and in this case.... I think something is wrong.
http://www.add.org/articles/index.html
I am sure most of you knopw this site. I found it very educational.
http://www.add.org/articles/whats_it_like.html
Plus which, you're spilling over all the time. You're drumming your fingers, tapping your feet, humming a song, whistling, looking here, looking there, scratching, stretching, doodling, and people think you're not paying attention or that you're not interested, but all you're doing is spilling over so that you can pay attention.
Is this only when he is on meds?
My girlfriends daughter did this, so bad that her hands & face bled, & is diagnosed with Sensory Integrative Dysfunction.