SO CONFUSED...SUGGESTIONS PLEASE! | ADHD Information

I've been posting that my son has been doing well on Vyvanse when we
split the 20 mg ( lowest dose pill) in half. School was reporting mainly
positive things, but we felt like there was little diff at home after the first
2 weeks. So we increased the powder a little bit more. It seemed to help a
little more, but today he seemed so off. Chewing his hands, talking more
to himself ( he does this kind of "scripting behavior" anyway because he
also has mild pdd- nos)but today was worse, really hard to connect to
him, seemed agitated etc. I don't know if this is the right med for him.
The only other thing we tried after getting the ADHD dx back in Dec, was
short acting Focalin and that seeed to make him too zombied even at a
low dose. We have to change docs because of insurance, so would love to
get some personal feedback while we wait for appt. Should I lower the
Vyvanse back to half? Should we stop altogether while we wait for new
doc advice? Should we go back to Focalin....so uncertain. I appreciate any
advice :(Just wanted to say I'm so sorry you are having to go through this. We've only been on this med journey for a few months, but sometimes it seems like forever doesn't it? I truly hope you find something that works for you and your son.You're very welcome!  You sound like you have a decent doc that's trying all the right stuff so hopefully you'll find the magic combination soon.  Please keep us posted!

You're very welcome!   The sensory problem that my son has the most problem with now is sound sensitivity. Many sounds just send him into fight-or-flight. He used to have other problems with the vestibular system (inner ear) that gave him balance issues and he still has "touch" issues.  He doesn't feel pain like he should and he seeks deep pressure.

The main thing I notice with the stims is the sound sensitivity gets worse.  It goes off the charts!  So when I say the stims aggravate his "anxiety" I don't know how much is really the sensory stuff because it all looks the same most of the time.

When the doc 1st told me he had anxiety I was surprised because I always though anxiety meant that you worried all the time.  But I guess it manifests itself differently in very young kids.  My son's anxiety looks more like fight-or-flight.  His heart beats really fast and he just looks wild and out of control.  I know that sounds weird because a hyper kid is usually out of control but it's different.  He just gets this "glazed over" "wild-eyed" look about him and acts frantic.  I hope this is making some sort of sense because it's difficult to describe.   I guess the better way to describe it is that he gets thrown into full blown anxiety attacks.  The higher we raised the stim dose the worse the anxiety got until we started the Tenex.  The Tenex calmed all of that down and allowed him to keep taking them.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks, that does help, and it actually does sound familiar. I noticed my
son having issues with noise on the Vyvanse, not major but he never had
a problem with loud noises before, and it suddenly started to come up.
Like he didn't want to flush our very loud toilet all of sudden, where it
was never an issue before. I would see that he got a worried look across
his face on the stims sometimes too, hmmm it's got me thinking...

Anyway, went to new doc yesterday, and gave him history up to this
point. He suggested trying the Focalin XR. He felt that because we were
seeing better results with focus & hyperness on the short acting pill than
on the Vyvanse, its worth a try to see if the spaced out side effect will be
less of, or maybe even a non-issue, with the longer acting pill. He says
that because it's distributed more evenly, it shouldn't give him that
severe peak that the short acting pill was- which was likely causing him
to be zoned. I'm keeping fingers crossed that will be the case because
aside from being spaced, the Focalin worked great. I think I'll post a new
topic for feedback on the XR.

We are meeting with doc again 1st week in April, so between now and
then I will watch for anxiety type stuff, and keep researching the
possibility of Tenex to get his thoughts next time. thanks again!Thanks Logan's mom! I noticed on another post that you're son needs
tenex for anxiety exacerbated by the stims- that it "smooths out" the
stims side effects. Would you mind sharing how his anxiety presents
typically, and also what the anxiety -like side effects are for him on
stims? I'm trying to get a picture of what it looks like to help me
determine if perhaps my guy is having stim issues that Tenex could help
with. I will mention it to new doc if I can educate myself more about how
the combo can be beneficial. I also notice that you described your son as
having sensory issues, which mine does as well. What are they and ho are
they helped or further complicated by these meds? Anyway, I did lower
his Vyvanse agin today. I actually gave him a couple of just 2.5 mg short
acting Focalin yesterday, Sunday, to remind myself how he was different
on those. It did seem better, but until I eet with new doc, I'm going back
to the lower Vyvanse for now. I continue to be confused! Thanks again!Sounds like you may need to reduce the dose back down until you can talk it over with the doc.  When the dose was too high for my son he got kind of zoned and aggitated. He was on Adderall tough... Even on the right dose, and the right med (Ritalin) he gets aggitated.  Stimulants do that to him.  We added the Tenex to counteract that side effect.  Good luck and I hope you can get into the doctor soon!