any last tips?

im SO nervous!

so to update... she is doing "ok" with the adderal... but she can get mean and very definat. is there a pattern to it, no. so i dont think its the med per say, as much as it is the ODD coming out now.

ive tried and tried to get her to swallow a pill, but she refuses! i hid it, she found it... guess what? she chews EVERYTHING! i never realized that before... i know she had a few texture issues... and sensory issues that ive wondered about. so that means concerta is out i guess.

sleeping is still awful! never before 11:30pm and thats with melatonin. some nights shes up till 1 am.

eating is bad too... shes barely doing it at all. she is down 2 pounds in the 4 weeks now.

ok.. so any last minute tips or suggestions for the psych eval? its wednesday am... i will be sure to update here  :)

thanks for all the support everyone!

Let them evaluate her just the way she is.

Also, many kids learn to swallow pills, mine did in order to take the concerta.

I recommend writing down the questions that you have.  I know when I get to the doctor I seem to forget all the questions I had then I remember them after I leave!

Also, make sure you mention all of the symptoms/concerns that you have.  I write that stuff down too (do you see a pattern here...that my memory is horrible! ) The person doing the eval needs to know all of the things that she's been dealing with with.  Try not to leave anything out.  Especially the sleep issue.  It's so hard for any of us to feel "right" if we don't have enough sleep.

Definitely talk about the pill swallowing issue.  Maybe there are other medication options.  For instance, my son was too moody/emotional on Adderall so we switched to Ritalin and it made him less moody/emotional.  But most important for you is that it's a chewable form -Methylin. (Sorry if I've already told you that-I can't remember if I did or not.  There goes that memory thing again! )

Good luck and please keep us posted!

thank u both!

i have a list of before the adderall problems and during the adderal problems and a list of questions... some notes on different meds....

GAAH! i have to much! im litterally a nerbous wreck! i doubt i will even sleep tonight myself lol! and we need to leave at 7am to start the drive through traffic to the appt.

hugs! i'll update here!

ok!

finally back from a busy day!

actually. i liked the pschy. alot. she was very sweet. she pretty much would have done just about anything i asked her to lol! she said i did my homework very well and that was awesome.

so we decided for at least momentarilly to stick with the adderal 10mg xr. she agreed that the "anger/aggreesive" thing she has been having on it, if its not showing up in a pattern, which it isnt, that is was most likely the ODD itself. since she is being more defiant in like, i dont want to eat that, i dont want to do school... etc. and the only other problems were having with teh adderal is the tic of where she plays with her fingers, and the fact that it wheres off at 6ish and she is like a banchie then... and she cant sleep and the appetite. which she said are all normal, and probably going to happen on focalin, ritalin and vyanse as well.. but we could definately try them.

we both did agree that she needs the clonodine to help take her down in the afternoon ... and possibly adding in an antidepressant... she said the name of its, and it starts with a T and for the life of me i cant think of it! she said it would help stimullate appetite and help her to sleep... any ideas?

we can also throw in a afternoon dose of something for when the adderal wheres off... so we have a lot of choices at this point, but she wants to introduce them one at a time :

we go back next week  :)

ok yesterday she stayed frustrated and mad for most of the day. at one point around 3, she actually asked me for the clonodine pill! bed was better last night.

today she seemed great! i gave her the clonodine at 5 and by 9 she was saying she was tired. i gave her the melatonin as the doc said just incase and she was asleep by 10 when i checked... possbly earlier.

i wonder what the bout of frustration anger was yesterday.

anyways.. so now im kind of unsure what it is left that we are treating or adjusting to on tuesday when we go lol! dang... this is really tough especially for a child! i mean if it were me i could at least better say how i was feeling at times.. but for a child that cant express themselves well, its rough man!

I think the body is just in turmoil while we're trying to get these meds correct.  Sometimes it takes a week or more for the body to totally adjust to the medication so you can get an accurate idea of how she's reacting to it.  During this time you may get behavior like what you described about being frustrated and mad yesterday and it may just be part of the "adjustment period".  If it continues or becomes too intense then the meds will need adjustment (or changed all together).

I know what you mean about how it's hard with a child that can't tell you how they feel!  My son was 3 when we started so we got NO input from him.  We just had to watch and guage how we "thought" we was feeling.  He's almost 5 now and he still isn't able to tell me how he feels!  It makes it harder but not impossible to get the meds right. 

I'm so happy to hear that you're getting some good results here!!! I hope they continue for you! Please keep us updated!   

thanks so much! u guys have helped me so much more then u will ever know!

yeah.. i guess we will see tuesday what more she wants to do with the meds. again today dd asked me for a clonodine this morning, and i told her again... she cant have it till 5pm. so i guess maybe thats where we should start our conversation on tuesday! lol! shes still somewhat ... im not sure what the word would be... its a combo.. easily frustarted/angry/grumpy/short/short tempered.. and i dont like seeing that in her. her grandmother is bipolar & manic and out of the clear blue can be happy and then litterally attempt to kill u in a split second. just knowing that in my head doesnt make me feel comfy with what im seeing so far, even though we talked about bipolar and manic with the pschy and dd... i just personally dont like to see this trait.

Did the frustration/anger/etc start after the you started the medication or was is there before?

well.  it was there before the clonodine, so during the adderal... but i thought that it was the ODD coming out more, which is what the psych thought as well since there was no pattern really to the anger/frustration as in time of day or something leading up to it really. thats why we didnt change the adderall but yet added the clonodine.

now tonight she had the clonodine .05 at 5 pm and although she was calm, she started to get angry/frustrated again around 8 o clock when she didnt get her way.

so now... im kinda clueless as to what to think lol!

Part of the problem that the doctor's had with my son was that he just didn't have a pattern!  No matter what we did, no matter what the side effects- he just didn't stay consistant at all (good or bad).  So we knew we were on the right track when he actually started to be consistant-even when it wasn't consistantly good we still knew we were on the right track.  Hopefully your doc will get it all straightened out for you soon!  Hang in there! 

true thats a good point  :)

well... now it will be hard to tell anything for a few.. i thought her allergies were acting up, runny nose.. but she started running a low grade fever.. and was up ALL night last night! she litterally slept less tahn one hour total .. and still only just now fell asleep at 10:30 pm! GAAH!

okie dokie!

well. her allergies turned into a sinus infection so shes off to the pedia tommorow!... but the pschy today went pretty good. the main problem i went in with is the "anger/frustration thing". its like vicious. and theres no pattern to it at all. like on the way down there... she started raging a major fit because she couldnt join a something that my other dd is involved in that they had auditions for weeks ago and she had no intrest in what so ever. but in the car... it was the most important thing in her life! and she even called dh and i mean! cause we wouldnt some how get her in! GAAH!

sp the psych left all as is... adderal 10 mg xr in the am... clonodine .05mg before bed (she may increase this in a few weeks but wanted to hold off for now).. and she added celexa 5 mg for a week and then up to 10 mg. she said celexa can help with mood disorders and anger and may be the med to balance her out. so she starts that tommorow am! and we go back again in 2 weeks. she said we should know fast though if the celexa is bad for her, and to call if anything.

so thats the new update!  :)

It sounds like the psych is helping quite a bit.  I am going to see one soon with my 3 1/2 yr old who sounds a lot like your daughter.  Any suggestions for what I should ask?  My daughter has tried ritalin (developed a strong tic) and adderall (VERY MEAN whe this wears off!).  The only thing that has worked is clonidine in the pm for sleep.

Thanks!

she is thanks!

oh boy... im the wrong one to ask! lol! ive gotten lots of help from everyone though...

um.. hum. theres still a few other meds u can try... focalin, vynase and concerta off the top of my head.

keep us posted on how it goes!!

sweetsouthern, I'm happy that your doc seems to be willing to make adjustments pretty quickly.  That's the key!  Your doc said you would know right away if the Celexa was bad for her...any signs so far?

There's2, one of the main questions you should ask the psychiatrist is: will the doc be available after hours/weekends so you can call while you're trying to get the meds right? During this time a good doctor will take your calls in the evenings if necessary to make changes to the dose or timing etc.  I believe this is absolutely necessary! If they're just going to give you an Rx and see you in a few weeks then that's not a good sign! Not to mention it is extreemely hard to get the meds right that way.

Also, just a thought, but if Ritalin worked except for the tics then you might look into adding Tenex or similiar type drug.  They are supposed to help with the tics.  That way you can still get the benifit of Ritalin without the tics...just keep it in mind. Good luck and I hope they get you in soon!

logans mom,please see my other post from eariler today...

its all going bad now! she angry and cant sleep!  :(

I'm sorry it's not going well for her! Hugs to you  I didn't see a post from you from earlier today.  Is it in this string or another?

it was in another thread sorry!

she hasnt been sleeping and been really angry and mean...

but so far she was ok last night (we gave her benadryl though) and she has been ok today so far...

gosh this is really a long experimental road huh?