New to Adderall XR | ADHD Information

Hi,  my 7 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD recently.   He has started taking Adderall XR 10 mg, once a day.   We are on day 3.  Today was his first day back to school and he had an awesome day!     He became very emotional on day 1 and day 3 late afternoon, early evening.   Is this normal?    He is typically a very upbeat boy.   Any info would be greatly appreciated!My daughter (6 yrs old) was started on Adderall XL.  She could not handle it.  She was extremely emotional and aggressive.  I gave it her a week, and then took her off.  It actually made her behavior worse.

My Dr. just the other day asked me whether I was experiencing mood swings while taking Adderall XR.  He said that sometimes if a person is has anxiety that if they take too high a dosage they could experience an increase in one's anxiety level.  However, that should not be the case if he/she is on the correct dosage.  This may be unrelated but another thing that immediately comes to mind is that 10 mg. may be too high a dosage.  I say this because I am adult who weighs almost 200 lbs and am on 10 mgs. of Adderall XR also. Now having said that you need to bear in mind your child has only been on this new medication for three days as you sited in your text and his mood swings may or may not be due to anything related to the medication.  

When I first began taking medication for ADHD, I was overwhelmed by the amount of quietness in my head.  It was extremely scarey and made me hesitant to do anything. For the first time in my life I could actually hear my own thoughts without interruption.  It's difficult to explain but I will try to explain by an anology.  It was like being afraid of crossing the street becuase you had always lived in a busy city where there was lots of traffic.   You had become accustomed to diverting the traffic but now on medication the traffic came to an immedicate halt.  But, because of my city dwelling experience you are afraid it was trick to get me to the middle of the road, where a car would come speeding down the street and kill me.  With practice I gained the ability to trust that I wasn't going to get hit and learned that it was safe to go not jump over cars, run to the other side of the road or wait for another car to go by so that I could make to the next safety point. 

Although medication can help, what the doctors do not tell you is that there are all these other coping mechanisms that we ADHDers have developed in order to exist but once on medication will have to develop other coping mechanisms to be "normal."  Initially, I wanted to get a ADHD life coach, but, I am in a rural community where those types of programs don't exist.  Instead, I did a lot of reading on how to implement some necessary changes to adjust to the quietness.  As an adult with ADHD possibly much of what I have written may not be applicable to your child.  Nevertheless, I suspect that your child may be experiencing the same kind of thing but may not know how to express it, not for any fault but just because of his age. 

I hope that telling a little of my experience has helped a little.

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 Thank you very much for the information.  It has been very difficult for me to understand what my son has been going through.   His doctor did an exercise with us while in the office.   He explained what the medication would do for our son,  after he did this he asked what did we hear?   I looked at him very puzzled, I told him first I hear my son playing with toys next to me as I listened to him.   My husband only heard the doctor.   He explained that the phone was ringing, there was another patient that was crying after getting a shot in the next room and the fax machine just picked up.   He told us our son hears all of this and more, this is why he can not focus.   Wow, this really put things into perspective.

I have a younger brother that was extremely hyperactive, 35 years ago that was the diagnosis.   I did not see the comparison.   I have been told by many, he is just a boy.  I finally said we need help!     My parents have been very supportive of the actions we have taken with our son.  They went through this with my brother.  My in-laws on the other hand will not be told.  I was told  by them to get used to it, I will shed many a tear while he is school.   It will be something new tomorrow.   It got to the point, I did not want to look in his backpack, afraid of what I would read.   I don't like to admit it but it is the truth.

I can not believe the difference in him.  I did speak with the doctor about his emotional outburst, he asked what was going on at that time.   The first time it was with a video game that he could not get to the next level, and the second time was with homework.  I don't think he knew how to handle the frustration after the meds had worn off.  

Thank you for listening, and for the insight to what is happening in my sons mind.  I only want the best for him, he is everything to me.