My son is 9 and has been on Conerta for a year and a half. This past summer I took him off of it for summer break because I wanted him to gain some weight and have decent sleep. Once school started I put him back on it. Since then it has beena constant struggle in the evenings when it is wearing off and in the morning before he takes it... It's worse than it ever was before I started him on meds. He used to be very loving and- hyper yes- but still caring and respectful. Now he is overly touchy and emotional and disruptive. Life is a constant struggle and its not fair to my other 2 children because he constantly demands all my attention. He has also developed severe anxiety and has panic attacks if his brother and sister fall asleep before I come upstairs. Last weekend we were out of town and forgot his meds, the first day was horrible he was aggitated, anxious, and mean. The next 2 days were each a little with less anxiety and better sleep.... I have had him in counseling since September and they want me to put him on Prozac for anxiety, which I am completely opposed to. I am pretty sure the medication is causing the major issues, but I feel like I go around in cirlces with his doctors... If it truly is an anxiety disorder than I am willing to try more meds, but if it is a result of the concerta I don't want to keep piling on more meds... Recently a doctor suggested Tenex, which is a blood pressure med... has anyone had any experience with that med or similiar experiences with Concerta? I am a single mom, I'm exhauseted and I feel like I'm falling apart. Next week I start my fourth and final semester of nursing school and I'm not sure I'l make it through if these issues continue at home.......
My son is on the combo concerta and tenex - for my son they work like a charm. He is 13 1/2 and has been on the combo since he was turning 7.
We started with half a pill .05mg, yes you can split them in half, and then moved up to 1 pill - 1 mg, very low dose but still does the trick.
If the doctor mentioned it, I recommend trying it, you will never know until you do, and start like we did, half a pill to see if that helps and then increase to one pill. Some here have posted that their children take 1 mg in the am and 1mg in the afternoon/pm.
Also, we dealt with rebound when the meds start wearing off. They literally just leave the body as if the person is being thrown on the floor and it is difficult for our children so they get emotional, teary, irritable, etc. They are also hungry because the meds decrease their appetites, I would start to feed my son as the rebound was happening, slowly of course. I gave him a hershey bar because their sugar levels are low and it really helped him. The rebound could also be a cause.
His anxiety may be his co-morbid and the tenex will help with that. Most ADHD'ers have a comorbid, depression, anxiety, etc. so this is common. When you start treating the adhd symptoms, the real him will show and come out.
Also, the concerta, you will know the first day how he is doing on his dosage. You do NOT need to wait X number of days for them to kick in, it is not like that. Do you think the dose is too high or too low? The concerta may need an adjustment,
Let us know how you are doing. Hope this is of some help!
Bethann, do you give your son the Tenex with the Concerta, or just give him the Tenex at night? We stared my grandson on Concerta, but it made him very hyper and aggressive, so we switched to Tenex. The Tenex has definitely helped him calm down, but I think he still needs some help with focus during school. I'm wondering if we add the Concerta back in whether the Tenex would take care of the bad side effects we saw with the Concerta.We give it to him with the concerta. HIs concerta doesn't work as good without tenex AND he wouldn't have a good day with just the tenex. DS needs both.
GrannyC, I also wanted to add that your grandson may be better on adderall XR if concerta isn't working well. You either handle one or the either. My son couldn't handle adderallXR that made him mean, aggitated, emotional, etc. he also looked stoned - very red eyes. My son is on the combo of concerta and tenex also. Tenex is great for us. We give him a dose in the morning and a dose in the late afternoon. It helps with the hyperness (not focus), helps ease
Is the anxiety that you're seeing something entirely new? If so, it might be a side effect of the Concerta. It could be a readjustment issue after having taking a meds break.
Maybe ask the doctor about lowering the dose and slowly increasing back to the regular Concerta dose that you've found to be effective? It would be a shame to start him on a new medicine if the anxiety is only a temporary condition due to readjusting to the Concerta.
You might also want to look into some natural substances that are calming. Magnesium or chamomille might be good supplements to explore.
If you decide he needs to try a new medicine, there is history for using Tenex for adhd and anxiety. My child takes Intuniv along with a stimulant. Intuniv is the 24-hour version of guanfacine. Tenex is the 12-hour version of guanfacine.
Guanfacine is a blood pressure med., but it's also used to control ADHD and anxiety. Intuniv's primary purpose is ADHD treatment.
Given that your child has ADHD and anxiety issues, Tenex or Intuniv seems like a great thing to try if you need another medicine. . It'll likely allow you to lower the Concerta dose.
Know that Tenex and Intuniv take a few weeks to build up in your system. It takes about 3 weeks.
Thank you all so much for yoour posts! He has always been slightly anxious, but never to this extent...it definitely has been a change since I restarted the med. Before the break he was on a 36 mg dose, I started him back at 27 mgs, which has been effective for school... I'm hesitant to increase to th eold doesage in fear of the anxiety, agitation, insomnia, and anorexia being worse than they already are.... Maybe Tenex would be helpful, I just hate to add another drug if there's a better way...Give it a try, it has been a very successful combo for the last 6+ years for us! Tenex has worked VERY well for us. I was hesitant to add, but am glad I did. My son is so much more successful with the additional medicine.