Emotional outburst,/being too emotional
We don't have too many episodes while ON the meds more when I believe they have worn off. I do know we have seen a few rebound moments but those are few and far between. For example, we traveled up to Canada for xmas, and the day after we were there. She only got 8 hrs of sleep, and mid afternoon or early not sure when, she got upset about us not bringing a doll, she didn't throw a fit just cried really hard and it took us 10 min to calm her down. More times it is in the late afternoon she will do this or get mad etc. which I knew she did before the meds so I am a bit confused!
The great news is she is improving at school and really being more social and wanting to interact with her peers and be involved!
Thanks for your help, I love these boards
There could be a couple things happening. One is that now that she's a little older there are more expectations placed on her which is causing her stress and results in more crying/emotional behavior. Or it could be a frustration tolerance issue, which is something I see a lot of with my son since his frustration tolerance is rather low.
Another possibility, since you say you're seeing it mostly toward the end of the day is that it is a rebound issue. My son (12, adhd) has been on Focalin XR for a couple years now. He had a lot of trouble with rebound at first but we just put up with it because it works so well for him. We definitely saw a lot of the crying and whining when it was wearing off (as well as bouncing off the walls and "verbal diarrhea"). It took several months for the rebound to really ease, but then he needed a dosage increase not long after which started it all over again. It sucked, but like I said it works so well for him that we put up with it.
My son's doctor prescribed short-acting Focalin (at half his reg. dosage) for him to take after school and that really eased the rebound- it just helped keep the level of meds a little more steady as they wore off. We only used it on days when the rebound was going to cause a problem, like when there was a school or sports activity in the evening.
What I always try to keep in mind is that all day my son has been able to meet expectations (both his own and those placed on him by others) and to exercise some degree of impulse control, but that when his meds wear off he can no longer do that. While he cannot verbalize it, on some level he is aware of this and it is terribly frustrating to him. My 6 yr old DS is having the same issue.. he is also on Focalin. He started out on 5mg but there did not seem to be any changes at all to his behavior so I was told to move him up to 10 mg this week. He was a sweet and loveable child and now is just down right hateful as well as getting upset at the drop of a hat. I hope it gets better as his body adjusts to it?? I hope uping the doseage at least helps him focus better at school this week! He does not take anything after school. Would that help TY TY TY both so much for posting, I was praying someone would post with some advice or similar stories, Yes it is mostly at the end of the day when I do believe it is wearing off. like I said she is doing REALLY MUCH better at school and there are so many positives going on there. so thankfully the 5 mg is working for now. I can deal with the eating and the issues of falling to sleep, and I will now figure out a way to work through the reboud stuff, I pray her little body gets used to it since it is working for her in school etc. I am not against trying a different one, but my fear is if we do and it doesn't work at school, then we would have to start again!!! We will keep plugging away
Good luck to you both also
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