My son is 11 years old. He had been taking Concerta for the last 2 years. In January his teacher called me and told me that he was really struggling in class. We tried increasing his Concerta dosage but no improvment. His pediatrician switched him to metadate but the teacher said she saw no improvment in class. In early March she switched him to adderall 10mg. The teacher says he's much improved and his schoolwork is much better. The trouble is that he keeps getting what I call shivers. He seems to be doing it very frequently. I am wondering if this is what people are referring to when they say they are developing a tic. I spoke to his pediatrician and she said that a tic would be more of a facial grimace. I stopped giving him the adderall on Friday and the shivers have significantly decreased although they haven't stopped...He is also talking at a much more normal pace instead of so fast that you can't understand what he's saying. Do you people with experience consider this a tic? The doctor says the next thing she wants to try is wellbutrin. I am really nervous about this but my husband thinks it may be the answer as our son also has some pretty strong anxiety issues. I really wish that I could just stop the meds altogether. I have asked him if he feels any different inside when he is taking any of these meds and he says he does not feel any different. His teacher at school says she doesn't notice him doing excessive shivers and really thinks he's doing well on this med. Sorry this is so long but any advice would be appreciated.
laurie---
I read your post and just thought i would paste my post from last week
My sister has tourettes and I never heard its usually a facial grimace, hers started with head jerking, from what i understand and i am not a doctor or anything but that it can be any kind of vocal or motor tic thats repetitive and every body is different. And even thou my daughter has been off for two weeks today and she still is showing tics.
My 6yr. old daughter has severe adhd she started on 5mg of adderall xr in January this year. In March they increased it to 10mg because she was still having a hard time with focusing and behavior. Shortly after the increase I started to notice her doing some facial tics and she started having nightmares and night terrors and her behavior became worse than it ever was. My sister has tourettes and I was nervous about stimulants because they say it can unmask tics, not sure if it was the increase in meds or if the tics were always there but I just did'nt notice before. She has made so many different facial expressions and has very awkward body movement that it's hard to tell. I took her off adderall last week and they are thinking of putting her on strattera now, but I am unsure if I want to do that because of side effects the neurologist says she has a genetic tic disorder not tourettes and she definitly would still benifit from meds. My 11yr. old son also has adhd and they want to put him on concerta Because of my daughters side effects I'm not sure what to do. Does any one have any suggestions.
I take 20mg of adderall xr and I started when I was 19. I wanted to try meds when I was in high school, but my doctor didn't think I should. Sometimes I wonder if I could have gotten better grades, had a decent social life, and have higher self esteem now if I had gotten on medication sooner.
That said, I think that everyone is different and responds to medications differently. You also have to decide if the side effects are worth the benefits. Have you tried asking your kids how they feel about it? How they feel on meds, how they think they're doing in school, what they like/don't like about them, etc.?
Laurie, are you and your son's teacher doing anything to help manage his ADD besides just medication? There is lots of info online on ways to do this, and if his teacher is any good she will be willing to work with you on this and maybe can reduce his need to be on meds. He's entitled by law to get accomodations so you could try talking to the special ed department at his school, too.
In my honest opinion, try to cope with the ADHD without any drugs. This may seem impossible, but I have experienced the negative side effects from the drug abuse myself. Stop with the medication before its too late.
Hi Laurie-I just want to start out by saying I am confident you thought long and hard about putting your son on meds and only did so after weighing the pros and cons heavily. My son also developed tics on Adderall. Your Doctor is inncorrect-Tics can be occur anywhere on the body and can be verbal as well. Any stimulant based medication states that it should not be used as a front line med for anyone with tic issues(even if the issues aren't uncovered until after meds are started). There are meds out there for children that develop tics on the usual front line meds-my son was put on Guanfacine(Tenex) and it has been amazing. We continue to use medication along with many other interventions and have found a system that works well for us. Without medication I don't know where we would be my son was completely demoralized this time last year and wanted to die-now he is happy, has many friends, excels at school and likes himself because the feedback he gets from the world is now positive, no longer negative! Good-luck with your journey and keep us posted.
Heidi