My 3 1/2 yr old daughter was diagnosed in June. We have tried Ritalin and adderall. The ritalin was awful. She was very moody and developed a motor tic of clearing her throat. The adderall seemed to work until we went to an extended release. The the throat clearing returned with a vengeance! She also became very emotional, easily agitated, and well, mean, when the meds wore off and stayed that way while it was out of her system. We took a break for three weeks to let her system clear but had to start the adderall again when preschool started. She takes 5mg. So far, so good but it has been less than a week. I think she may also have ODD but I don't know much about it. We are scheduled to see a ped psych so I will let you know what he says about the meds.
One thing I have discovered is that this will be an ongoing and sometimes very frustrating struggle. I feel thankful that I came across this board so I could see that I am not in this alone and that my daughter is just a different kind of normal. A great book to check out is The Gift of ADHD if you haven't seen it.
Best wishes!
Can you belive my Doctor never heard og Methlylin? It is a form of Ritalin (generic) and we ended up with the generic for Ritalin 5mg ass a booster for my 11 year olds Concerta. We are using it in the am and after the 1st few days of working it is now doing nothing. we will probably bump it to 10 mg as you are marcie. We debated on medicating or not for a long time then once we had deciuded to my son refused. He is in the 25th % and they say he will catch up later. I hope this is true. Good luck on your decision and I know you will make the right one for you.My 11 year old son is taking 5mg at 3pm as a booster to his 54 mg Concerta. Today he will start 10mg. So far no bad side effects. He does take melatonin each night to help sleep. My son's doctor said that Methylin is a short acting Concerta (ritalin).
Good luck
My 4 1/2 yr old son is on Methylin and has been on it for about 6 months or so. It works very well for him! We tried Adderall 1st and it didn't work out for him-he metabolized it too quickly, it gave him rebound when it wore off, and he was overly emotional on it. Even with all that, it did WONDERS for his hyperactivity and impulsiveness so we knew we should stick with stimulants. We then swtiched to the Methylin and he tolerates it MUCH better. He doesn't have any rebound when it wears off and he's not as emotional. He is still somewhat emotional though and anxious so he's also on Tenex to help even that out.
I know it's a scary decision to make (whether to medicate or not) but I can say from experience it's the BEST thing we could have ever done for my son! He literally can't function "normally" without it! It is a long journey sometimes though and can be very frustrating. It took us about 5-6 stressful months but it finally paid off. It does get better if you have a good and experienced doctor and just stick with it!
Hang in there and good luck!
Bear in mind that everyone reacts differently to ADHD meds. For some people methylin works wonderfully, but others find more success with Concerta, Adderall, etc.
The good news is that it's a pretty fast acting medication, so you don't have to wait very long to see the effects. That means you can stop quickly if you feel like the side effects are too much or the medicine isn't helping.