Tween with reduced symptoms | ADHD Information

No, my son takes 1mg. Tenex everyday am and pm, but only took stimulants on school days. He's tall and thin to begin with, and the loss of appetite was a big problem. He off the stimulants for the summer so that he can grow and not lose more weight. I find the Tenex helps with impulsiveness and a moodiness although that med alone does not do much for focus in school. I have a 12 year old that started meds at age 7 and has been on them
straight except for weekends and maybe long holidays. I would say his
ADHD was severe. He's been off meds for three weeks now. His symptoms
have
reduced since when he originally began taking meds. The hyperactivity is
entirely gone. His attention is improved because he is consistently
following
directions right when I give them. I am not sure about focus on classwork
though. He seems a bit impulsive in terms of what he says, not enough
filter
there, but not too bad. My plan is to leave him off meds for the entire
summer.

Has anyone seen a reduction in symptoms? If so how did that play out?Jessica N40690.7424074074I have a 9 & 11 year old -both ADHD. I haven't reached
that phase yet but I have noticed a difference in my 11
year old. He seemed to mature a lot recently. He is on a
medication that only lasts 6 hours (recent adjustment)
and I noticed that the afternoons aren't that bad. There
are moments but my 9 year old is almost impossible to
control. She is on the same meds (again recent
adjustments).

I think with maturity the hyperactive part of ADHD goes
away but the decision making process and attentiveness
might be a struggle for them.

Glad to hear about the great news and I am keeping my
fingers crossed we will get there. Would love to take
them off meds and let them gain some weight :-)

Hi there, I'm new to the board and I also have an 11 year old w/ ADHD who only takes meds only on school days. We tried Aderrall XR (worked great for attention & focus), but totally suppressed his appetite so we switched to Focalin XR. He had worse rebound on the Focalin, and it didn't do that much for attention and focus. Right now he's just on a small dose of Tenex, and is doing OK, although his schoolwork seems to have suffered a bit since we eliminated the stimulants. My son also seems to have matured a lot this year and is doing much better socially and with his behavior so I am watching closely how he does with less/ or no meds. I still plan to try another stim med next fall when he starts 6th grade. I have concerns about the increase in school work and social demands of middle school.

From other posts on the board, I think it's pretty common to need to adjust meds when the kids hit puberty and start middle school. I share your journey!

[QUOTE=pesewa55]

Hi there, I'm new to the board and I also have an 11 year old w/ ADHD who only takes meds only on school days.......  Right now he's just on a small dose of Tenex, and is doing OK[/QUOTE]

Does your son take the Tenex only on school days?  My grandson is also on Tenex. I was under the impression that you had to give it everyday, since it is a build-up type drug and your blood pressure can suffer if you are not consistent.
Thanks for the input. I did not know this.Another follow up on this. I have discovered a pretty significant improvement
in ADHD symptoms to the point that I am going to have him re-evaluated
and start him in school without meds to see how he does. He is in summer
camp every day and he no longer has social issues or problems making
friends. The hyperactivity is gone, the attention seems normal to me, but I do
see some acting without thinking/impulsive issues. However I don't know if
the latter is age-appropriate or not. Has anyone experienced this??I read an article that said something like 50% of boys out grow their adhd.  My oldest who has never been medicated and is add.  He is disorganized more than hyper.  He has gotten alot better as he has gotten older.  He still is not organized the way school would like him to be, but he is no where near like he was in middle school, he is 17.  My youngest no change yet.  He is 11.  And medicated.No one grows out of ADHD but symptoms change over time depending on the quality of treatment and intervention. Once the child hits puberty the hyperactive symptoms usually tone down and as time moves on, those who are getting effective treatment learn to compensate for some of their limitations. Even without effective treatment maturity plays a role some what in terms of compensating.  Articles are only as good as the people writing them and because something is written doesnt make it true. This is a myth and when in doubt, always consult with a specialist to verify or deny the information. School has started again and I have discovered that although the
hyperactivity is gone and the focus is significantly improved, he still needs
medication for the level of focus needed at school. Just before school I gave
him several math worksheets and he consistently made careless errors. It did
not matter that he understood the topic well. These were concepts already
learned and understood. Also I sent him to school on the first day without
medication, and on this day the only class of significance was English. The
writing work that came home also reflected unusual carelessness. So I put
him back on medication, but I am very pleased that the hyperactivity is gone,
and the focus is significantly improved in terms of day to day functioning.
Next summer I will stop the meds again to check the baseline symptoms.

I have a 10 year old girl who was diagnosed at age 5 with ADHD, ODD, and borderline bi-polar.  We tried all the stimulant meds before we finally settled on Adderall XR.  She took Adderall for about 2 -3 years with good outcome.  We had some emotional issues but were able to work through them. I found that anytime that she was off her meds for a couple of days that she would have difficulties.  I would get notes from teachers that she couldn't do her work, that she was easily distracted, hard to keep in her seat, talkative.. etc. That was 3rd and 4th grade.  At the end of school last year I started her on Intuniv because of all the wonderful things I heard and read about it.  It took us a few weeks to get her into that regimen and the teachers were constantly complaining.  I decided over the summer to take her off her meds completely.  We had minimal problems over the summer... mind you .. she is VERY hormonal so I don't know if that is part of the problem or what.  The only problem that I have had since taking her off her meds is EXTREME weight gain!!!.  She has gained about 40 pounds since December of last year!!  I find this a little disturbing, the pediatrician said that it was normal for her to gain weight after coming off of the meds but I find this a little extreme. 

I have kept in touch with her teachers and she is having minimal behavior problems in class and is making straight A's.  This is without any medication!!!  YAY! 

Has anyone else had the problem with weight gain to that extreme.?

I spoke with the psychiatrist last week and the reduced/eliminated
hyperactivity and
impulsiveness symptoms are slightly early for this age (12) but pretty much
on target. More often than not the attention issues continue apparently.Jessica N40832.9112731482