please help w/ meds+child depression :( | ADHD Information

hi,
i am new to this board. my son was diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago, and after lots of research and talking to parents, we chose Adderall XR, and he ended up on 15mg. School improvements were drastic! Teachers were so impressed, things going great for a month...

side effects: insomnia and no appetite... at first. then, the depression began to build. and build. Finally, after two months, we took him off to enjoy Xmas vacation. We had lost our son, he was so sad and withdrawn, and the medication seemed to last from 8am until 11pm. We feel like we are finished with Adderall (another odd side-effect was seeing him lock into a trance and sit bug-eyed for 10 seconds here and there, then snap out...).

Now we have an appointment with his ped this week to choose a new medication to try. We are focusing on Ritalin and Focalin. We also want to stay AWAY from XR meds, try and have him dose at 8am and again at noon (via school) so he can come home, get homework done, then go back to being his crazy happy self.

We hear good things about focalin from friends, but we are intrigued by the reports of Ritalin showing low signs of depression AND that is fast-in, fast-out of the system. Can anyone offer any experiences or advice? I know each body is different, but our main goal is to have our little guy retain his personality AND do well in school. we can deal with insomnia and loss of appetite, but not an 8 year old who says he hates his life and wants to die...

thank you so much!

My son is now 13 1/2, has been on medication since he was shy of turning 7.

We tried adderall xr, but it was a nightmare.

With the help of our doctor, we have him still on concerta AND guanfacine.

Our son is very HHHHH so he needs meds each and every day in order to have a successful day, whether he is in school or not.

At first he lost weight, but still grew. I had him wearing slims.

It took a good 6 months to level off at a dose where he stayed for well over a year. AND after the first year he did gain weight and grew in height.

It was well worth all of what we did to have our son now in his last year of middle school, an honor student each and every semester, football player, fabulous son and friend.

Please post any questions.