help!!! | ADHD Information

 My 7 1/2 year old son and my 6 1/2 year old daughter are both ADHD. I need input on my son. he was diagnosed and started on meds beginning of school year in 2003 in 1st grade they started him on ritalin which he did okay with so after they had him on it for a couple of months they wanted to switch to concerta so he didn t have to take during the day at school. He did not do well on that. writing in school got exceptionally bad writing all over paper.  so they put him back on ritalin and he was on that for almost a year with gradual increases and doing okay. except for occassional flare ups. beginning of school this year it was felt he needed another increase and they bumped him to 15 mg in am and 10 mg at lunch. now he never had problem with appetite but we did have to give melatonin for sleep with good effect. but his blood pressure started gfoing up and got to be dangerously high for his age so they switched him to stratera about 2 months ago. and teacher called today and sayed(and of course haven't heard anything up til today even though we have asked and seen her) and stated that he is very bossy, kids don't want to be around him because of this and his handwriting is bad because he rushes so to be first person done. I asked him why and he says he just does his work fast he isnt trying to be first. school work(grades are okay at least teacher hasn't made us aware of problems) he has appointment next week any ideas of what I should ask md for??? he obviously needs med change and something more to slow him down. he does well at home so I hate to take him off stratera but i want him to do well in school is there anything she could add or should we change med???any input we be gladly appreciated. Thanks      

You have to consider that it is TAKS time. Feb and March are the worst times at school. The teachers are freaking out about their scores. Behavior that has been acceptable all year suddenly isn't acceptable anymore. Happens every year around this time. How is your handwriting or your husbands? Has bad handwriting ever held anyone back? My husbands is terrible, but he is an engineer and is considered successful in his field. Don't let them intimidate you.

 

My son had the same thing happen on the short acting Ritalin (he was on it for 5 years) We had to do 2 months of blood pressure and pulse checks. We went to see a child psychiatrist she ended up changing him to concerta for a few months which didn't work for him so we tried the Ritalin LA which is working wonderful with no rapid heart beat or high blood pressure. I'm not sure why that happened the pediatrician said he would never be able to take Ritalin again. We ended up buying a home blood pressure machine(cheap one), I still check every now and again.