taking a poll... | ADHD Information

I wonder if you all could share:

1. what side effects from meds have caused you to stop and try something
new?

2. What side effects did you feel were ok for child to live with because the
benefits of med outweighed those particular side effects?

3. has anyone been lucky enough that there were no side effects from meds?We found most of side effects- severe loss of appetite, trouble going to sleep- seemed to disipate with time. They would come back breifly- a week or so- when we had a dosage increase.
We generally feed our daughter at least two meals in the evening along with a small breakfast and very little lunch get eaten. She's growing just fine according to the charts-- this after almost three years on stimulants.
Her self awareness is such that she can see the benefits of the drugs.
We use them always for school days but give days off on weekends and to some extent on vacations etc.- oddly enough she has trouble playing sports on them- she can't focus!
The rebound in the afternoon evening from the daytrana patch  med wearing off is not pleasant but we work around it. The meds have made a world of diffence at school and so we will continue for now. We tend to lower the dose all summer long and that works for us and our  inattentive DD.

1. Adderall worked well for the ADHD symptoms but the rebound was BAD!  Also it aggravated his sensory issues and made him aggitated and moody.  Ritalin was MUCH better, no rebound, but still aggravated his sensory stuff.  We added Tenex and it helps a lot with the side effects!

2. I feel it's been worth it to put up with some aggitation as long as it isn't too bad.  He also has a much lower appetite but he's at a great weight for his age so I don't worry about it too much.  Once in a while he will get "tic like" behaviors.  Like compulsive nose picking  but it usually doesn't last that long and the good outweighs the bad.

3. The only med we've used that doesn't seem to cause side effects is Strattera.  We're trying it now but he is still very hyper/impulsive on it!  So we've added a small dose of Ritalin back in.  Hopefully it will help with the hyperness without aggravating his sensory stuff to badly! We still don't know if it's going to work or not...we may go back to stimulants and Tenex only.

thanks for sharing that! Could you give an example of the "tweaking out"?
Not sure I understand that. My son is on Focalin and it's not seemless, but I
think the benefits are outweighing the side effects. But I have nothing to
compare it to, and I can't get into his skin to know exactly how he's feeling
on it. I'm torn thinking A. leave it alone because it's working really well, and
the side effctes could be worse and B. I owe to him to try to find something
that's even better so he doesn't have to endure any uncomfortable feelings-
that perhaps there is an option that will be seemless and have zero side
effects. Ugh. Anyway, thanks again because trying to get a read on others'
journey's to see where we fit in with regard to side effects to help me
determine if we should make a change.

1. My son started on Vyvanse and while his behavior was perfect throughout the day, he had MAJOR rebound issues at night. Screaming, crying, tantrum, name calling, for about 30 -45 minutes. Not worth it. We switched to Ritalin 3x a day and things seem to be going well for the past 2 months.

2. Ritalin has caused a major loss of appetite. He has lost weight and is on the low end of the weight scale for his age. However, when the meds wear off, at about 8 pm., he is ravenous. So, I have learned to feed him when he is hungry. If he wants dinner at 8 p.m. that is what we do.

3. I wish.

 

1. My daughter, 5, tied her shoes for 58 minutes STRAIGHT when she was on Vyvanse. We lowered the dose and eventually ended up switching meds. The hper-focus was scary, it changed her mood and it aggravated her existing sensory issues to no ned. But I do understand Vyvanse works well for other children...just maybe not kids w/ sensory integration disorder.

2. I could have lived w/ the tiredness the Intuniv caused, but the benifits were negligable at the dose she was on. The doctor was scared to raise the dose to a level that would help her because she was so tired. I would not be opposed to going back to Intuniv, maybe taken at night?

3. We are on Straterra now, just finishing our first week. I don't see side effects, or benifits either. But it is still early, so we are hoping!

There is a lot of methamphetamine abuse in our area. We describe them as tweakers. Not sure why? When I said my son was tweakin' out I was lumping his behaviors in with that. Some examples are: organizing and reorganizing his bakugann (obsessively), brain "dialog" spewing out of his mouth without filters or even coherency, unable to let go of a thought...but unable to really finish it either (brain stuttering), and other types of odd behavior.

Oh, then when he was "coming down," he just cried and cried and couldn't explain why he was "just so sad, mom." Repeating and repeating that made me want to cry, too. I just had to hold and rock him until he was too exhausted and dozed a bit.

If you were having these types of side-effects, you would definitely know it, and not want to use these meds. If you are doing well with stims, then the side-effects probably are livable. Hope that helps a bit.OneOrTheOther40205.45495370371. The amphetamine products (vyvanse, dexedrine) caused severe vocal tics for my son even though his ADHD symptoms were controlled. Concerta caused rebound and irritability, Ritalin LA wears off too quickly and high doses cause motor tics, Adderall made him angry.

2. Minor side effects are ok with me like smaller appetite (without a complete loss) or minor rebound. But definitely no tics or severe rebound tantrums.

3. Intuniv! My son is doing really well on 3mg and we just give him 5mg short acting ritalin in the am to focus him since the Intuniv seems to peak more in the afternoon. So far this is working well and he seems happier not on Concerta anymore or high doses of any stimulant. I think the short acting meds work better for him.

Thank you all for these details! It helps me put into perspective what
kinds of side effects are more warranting a change. My ds so far doing
really well all things considered on short acting Focalin. It seems that he
gets a little weird about an hour after when it hits- quiet and a little
detached- but it doesn't last long. I'm watching closley to see if it will go
away, and if it doesn't I think eventually we will try something else. It
doesn't seem like something that should be happening even though it's
not major and doesn't last too long. I will speak to teacher on the phone
this friday, but i can see from the daily emails that he has been more
quiet and not as available this week compared to the last two- I'm hoping
it's not getting worse. He got GLOWING reviews from focus, and attention
to better expressive language the first two weeks of school. he doesn't eat
his lunch, but is eating snack and drinking whole milk. he's also eating
breakfast and dinner before and after meds, so not worried about that. He
also touches his face a little bit, but again not major. the only thing that
concerns me is this thing where he doesn't quite seem himself for a
window of the time it's in his system. I'm not sure I can live with
that....but compared to what many of you have dealt with maybe I can??
Not sure. Thanks again for helping me see what you all have been
juggling on your medication journey's! 1. We tried adderall and metadate ER. On the first there was too much hyper-attentiveness (tweakin' out) and then two days of depression to deal with when we stopped. On the metadate there was NO improvement with hyperactivity, and the mood swings were unbearable. The benefits were negligible for my son, and the side-effects made a monster worse then anything I had lived with on a day-to-day basis before.

2. No real side-effect, but an effect none-the-less is that since he is not so hyper now, his muscle memory is having to accommodate. He can sit still a lot longer, but gets a bit stiff and complains about it. I figure he can either learn to stretch, or his muscles will have to adjust.    

3. Straterra. No side-effects as of the three month mark. The only thing is that the benefits aren't super great for the hyperactivity. Impulsiveness is down, and attentiveness is up, but he can still be difficult. I'd rather have a slightly difficult child, then to try stims again (Just my opinion, and only for my child, the stims work great for others).OneOrTheOther40204.8591203704