Hi - what a summer it has been...My 9 year old daughter has been diagnosed with ADD. She's had a lot of anger at the end of the school year and this summer with outbursts etc. She's always been intense and busy and has had periods of angry, demanding, frustrated behavior. But, it got to a whole new level. Brought her to a therapist who has been helpful. She agreed with the DX of ADD. After a couple of months and following an episode on vacation where she completely lost control...we decided to try medication. After the outburst, she kept saying she didn't mean any of it, she was sorry, asked if she was a bad person, and said nothing is working to help her control her anger. It wrenched my heart beyond belief and shook me to the core. Sooo...a week ago we started 5mg Adderal XR - saw some improvements, but, a return to frustrated type behavior after a week (though to a lesser degree). Increased to 10 mg Adderall XR this a.m.
Should we be able to say - this was the right thing to do immediately? How quickly can we expect to be able to judge the effectiveness of this increased dose? Should we see a difference today if we're going to see one?
I'm so tired and confused, I really can't think straight.
Welcome to this forum. You'll get a lot of advice here, of all kinds, but all well-intentioned.
Residual anger is so understandable, especially if she had a rough year in school. That self-doubt can manifest itself in so many ways. It's heartbreaking to us parents to see our kids having problems, but you are doing something, which is a thousand times better than doing nothing. It can take a while to see a change on meds or it can be more immediate. If you are working up to the right dosage, it may take several weeks to get there. That slow build-up is better for her than jum[ping in at a high dose right away. Sometimes the first med you try isn't the right one for your child. That happened to us. We switched after the first week and have been using the second one we tried for 4 years now. It's such an individual process that it's tough to say how it will look for you. My best advice is: stay calm but focussed, let your gut be your guide, never be afraid to pester the medical establishment if you have questions, learn to trust your judgement the way you had to when you first had a baby. You are your child's best advocate. Get her doing something that she's really good at and build her up. Good luck on this journey!
You won't know until you get to the right dosage. I doubt 10 mg is in the proper range; if it is, it's way at the bottom. Once you get into the right dosage range, you'll see immediate improvement.