Daytrana | ADHD Information
mommy2david...there are other options for your son to utilize during the time that it takes for the patch to work. If the patch is working well for him, while he's on it...don't give up. It sounds like the 30 mg was too much for him, sounds to me like huge rebound in the middle of the night. We have done Methylin (a form of short acting Ritalin) in the morning right away, it kicks in fast & carries thru until the patch kicks in. That quit working for our DS so now he takes 2mg of Guanfacine in the morning to carry him thru until his patch kicks in and another 2 mg of Guanfacine at bedtime. Guanfacine is a calming drug & helps them relax so it not only works for his ADHHHHHD in the morning until his patch is able to help, but it helps him sleep better at night & counteracts the rebound. It also increases appetite, so if you've had any trouble with appetite supression with the patch (as our son did) the Guanfacine will counteract that & help him be hungry. There ARE other options to go along with the patch to help until it kicks in...do not give up and ask your Doc again. Maybe if you go back with some of this knowledge, he will realize that you've done your research & will be willing to try something for you. The patch works great for our son when it's fully kicked in...its the "before" time that we've struggled with but our doc does whatever he can to get us through that time cause he doesn't want to change altogether when we've found something that works. You almost have to be your own Doc with these meds, with the help of the prescribing Doc. We've made dose changes on our own when we aren't getting the results we like. For example, our DS was taking 3mg Guanfacine at night & only 1mg in the morning (his max is 4mg per day for his weight) and we were finding that his mornings at school were becoming a struggle so we split the 4 mg dose in half and did 2 & 2 on our own, to see if it helped. We are going on 3 wks for that trial & it seems to be helping. Our doc is fine with our judgement calls, as long as it's within the total recommended dose because it's finding the right fit for the child. Good luck & again...DON'T GIVE UP!Oh..and as far as the rash, be sure to alternate hips & areas of the hip. We noticed VERY red skin the first couple of months but that seemed to subside as his skin got used to it. My 9 year old daughter started the 10mg patch over the weekend. She is having really bad stomach cramps after we take the patch off. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm hoping it's just her body adjusting to the change from the Focalin to the patch and it will stop after a few days. Any help is appreciated!so sorry to hear this ..poor little guy- and you too! def get rid of doc, that isunacceptable!Thank u! Im trying to hang in there! He went back on the 20mg until he can be seen at KKI
He is doing very well on it! But one problem.. his hips have a rash on it from where the patch has been! theres no where else I can put it and it still work??!! You can try the shoulder for awhile, maybe that will give the rash time to clear up. I think you can rub some cream on there when you remove it, just make sure the area is clean of cream before you put the next patch on.
Good luck, Daytrana has been great for my son.
Thank u so much! will do so
My son has just been put on Daytrana 20mg. He was on Folican for a while and started not to like it. Dont know much about it and wanted some feedback. How long does it take to kick in? I gave it to him today and it took a while (few hours) for him to chill out. And any side effects? Can you put it on the back or is it just in the hip? Thanks :) My DS has been on Daytrana for 2.5yrs. It takes about 3hrs to kick in. Side effects for DS are little appetite and tics, but both are helped with Tenex. We have tried it on the shoulder, but it didn't work as well. Now, we just alternate hips.
Good luck! Daytrana has worked really well for DS.
I hate to sound stupid but what is DS?? DS=Dear son :) OK :) Ya it took a while to kick in. He was a little hyper but nothing I couldnt handle! And WOW he ate!!! He said he was hungry - I almost fell over!! Something he hasnt done in years!!! Very sad the he never knew what being hungry was!!! Search the old messages there have been many discussions on Daytrana.
We have been on the drug 3+ years. Started just as it came out.
As other posters have mentioned we find it takes 2-3 hours to fully kick in. That was not a problem in grade school as we patched DD at 6:30 am and classes started at 9am.
Now in middle school she needs to be there and focusing at 7:30 am for some extra activities. We initially added low dose Focalin for those mornings. But she did not like how the drug made her feel.
So instead she takes a low dose of Stratera twice a day and that seems to do the trick.
Update - Still have and having lots of trouble in the morning. Took him back to his doc and he said there was nothing else he could do other then up the patch to 30mg and it should help. Sounded good. Tried it and didnt help any sooner and no change at school. But that night was a different story... He went to sleep at 9:30pm like always. And he got up at 1pm raging!!! He didnt sleep ALL NIGHT!!! He was hitting, biting, screaming, breaking things ALL NIGHT... I was so scared!! It was snowing bad so no one could get to us and we couldnt get out. I made phone calls to see what I could do...no answers! I called his doc when they opened (after NO sleep and night from hell) - he never called back!!!!! I called his pediatrician - she got him in and she even tried to call him and she couldnt get a hold of him!! The 30mg made his brain go nuts!!!
She told me to fire his doc and take him back to kennedy Krieger Institute - they have been the only ones who can help him! So we have went throw hell with my poor son! Lets pray on the 17th when he sees her we get help!!We've cut patches before when we've been in a bind or if we are trying a new dose. It worked just fine. It sucks to have a whole new prescription written if you aren't sure it's going to work and waste patches if it doesn't. Although if you find that 15mg dose is working, I would just have the prescription written correctly since they come in 15mg doses, it would be easier than cutting them. As far as the itching...can't say we had any problem like that so I can't relate.
Well, we tried 15 mgs for about 3 days and he became horribly emotional. I then gave him 10 again and he was still just out of it in the afternoons.
the last 2 days we have gone down to trying 5mgs, yesterday and today.(Trying to peel half the patch after it has been cut is very frustrating). He did great yesterday, but I feel like I am in lab with my dd as the guinea pig. If 5 mgs work, why is that? Especially after 10 mgs worked for about 5 weeks?
Also, does anyone have suggestions about sleepovers, visiting grandma out of state, camps where the kids are away for several nights? What do you do about the meds then?
Thanks everyone for your help and encouragement:)
My son has been on Daytrana for about 5 weeks, and before that vyvanse for 3 weeks. I have been very happy with daytrana. Vyvanse had really bad rebound for him.
With Daytrana 10 mg, it's been great, but lately I have noticed the ODD effects again in the afternoon. It's hard because that is the time he has sports and hangs out with his friends. I talked to his ped and we thought we would try 15 mg. Since I have more than 2 weeks left of his prescription, we agreed to give him one patch and cut the other in half. Has anyone done this? His ped said that the reccommendations are to not do that, but has had other patients do it successfully. The strange problem was that the 1/2 patch was itching my son like crazy after 1.5 hours. Not at the beginning, but later and he had to take it off. We then stuck it on his upper arm for yuks, but I don't think it would have stayed on.
Any suggestions?