My daughter, 5, was officially diagnosed w/ adhd in Sept. and we are already on our fourth med! She also has sensory processing disorder and lots of anxiety.
We are on our third week of Zoloft for her anxiety, and the doctor recently suggested we add Concerta. Zoloft alone activates her more - she is very happy and not anxious, but much more busy than she was before. The Concerta, 18 mg, slows her down a bit, but does nothing for focus and attention. Currently, she is worse than she was non-medicated.
One day we tried 2, 18 mg pills - the doc recommended this - and she was overly focused. She tied her shoes - this is a new skill for her - for 94 minutes and just would not stop. Very sad to watch.
The idea, as explained by the doc, is to keep going w/ the Zoloft and wait until it is fully in her system, then up the Concerta dose again.
Will this work? Is three weeks not long enough? Can the rest of us endure the wait? I am thinking about asking to try Straterra, but I don't want to give up on this combo too soon.
Anyone else successful on Zoloft plus a stim? How long did it take to see a difference?
You seem to be having the same problems that we are having with zoloft and stim medicine. My son was diagnosed with anxiety at a very young age, separation, social and now OCD. He is currently taking 25 mg of Zoloft and that works well for anxiety and a much happy mood, even though is level of activity as increased. The problem we also have is his lack of focus and attention. When we tried Vyvanse he became the same way, very focused on a lego set that lasted for about two hours, which may not be a bad thing, but he did break our heart knowing the only reason he was really focused was beacuse he was obsessed with it and the thought of this happening at school also broke my heart. We just recently stopped the vyvanse (yesterday actually) and now looking/searching once again for something to help with focus, he does not have the hperactivity. We are stuck as well not knowing what meds to try next. I think most stim medicine do increase anxiety, espeically chidren that may have OCD. We have a doctors appointment Monday and hoping he can lead us in the right direction. Please keep me posted you happen to find the "miracle"cure. Any help and/or info. would be great. Good luck!!
My child's ADHD gets worse when the Zoloft is too high -- lots of impulsivity, hyperactivity, etc. He used to take Tenex -- now using Intuniv -- and that's been an enormous help. Tenex and Intuniv help with ADHD and anxiety management, so we've been able to lower the Zoloft and still get his anxiety under control.
Maybe you want to ask your doctor about Tenex or Intuniv?
I should add that my child also takes a stimulant. His anxiety actually is lower when the Metadate CD is in his system, so his situation is different than yours.
MaryKath,Thanks for the help! I called the doc, and he perscribed 27 mg Concerta. We should receive the script in a day or two by mail. So, we will try that. If she is still over-focused, I will ask about adding the Intuniv back in...we tried it in Nov/Dec. but she was so sleepy she could not function and the doc took her off.
If this is not effective, I will ask about Straterra. Can you take Zoloft and Straterra at the same time?
Thanks for everyones help and advice, this is such a good message board. We stopped the Vyvanse over the weekend, his ocd was out of control. Went to the doc today and he wants us to try the Concerta 18mg along with the 25mg of Zoloft. I pray this is the right combo. Question for all the moms, my husband and I are in a debate with this? As moms would you start a new medication during the school week (ex. tomorrow is Tues.) or would you wait to the weekend in case there are any side effects. I would like to start on the weekend however, my husband is anxious and wants to see if in fact the meds work. Any thoughts? by the way we have decided not to tell teachers(we are telling the school nurse) that my son is taking or trying stim. medications, of course they already know about the zoloft.
thanks
Start immediately so I can learn from your experience!
No, really, unless things are just awful I would wait until the weekend so you can watch carefully, especially since you are not telling the teachers.
By the way, so you know what to expect, our doc explained Concerta as watered-down Vyvanse in terms of side effects: less anxiety (but it's still there), less appetite supression (but it's still there), less sleep problems (again, still there). Still, these meds are different for everyone!
Good luck! Post often.
thank you for the message. I love to hear those wonderful quotes from moms. Things are bad, but i totally agree, I think waiting until the weekend is a much better idea. I am a bit hestiate to try the Concerta, in thoughts, here we go again. However, I have realized it is sooo hard for him. We had a doctor's appointment this morning and even "walking" to the office is a challenge fo him, my son(8) always bounces with his step. Sitting for two minutes is hard. My doc also mentioned adding Tenex or Intuniv with the Concerta and Zoloft, but for now we are just going to try the Concerta. I am glad to hear that Concerta is more of a watered-down Vyvanse, other than high levels of OCD, he seemed to tolerate the Vyvanse pretty well, ex. sleep. eating, little irritabilty, etc. I just hope this is the right combo., like all moms wish the same for their little ones.
How is the Concerta working for you along with the zoloft? We are on the same path, we will try this and if this is not working maybe add Tenex/Intuniv along with. I think our last option will be to stop this combo and add Stratera. I am just not ready to finish this combo now. And yes, you can take Strattera with Zoloft. I know several that do. You may find that by doing that you will be able to decrease the Zoloft over time. I think you are smart to try the combo you are doing now first, I think you will see results faster, the Strattera takes a while to see the "full" results.
My ds take Zoloft 50mg. and Concerta 54mg. This combo works well. DS is