My son is 6 1/2 and one of the first meds we tried was Adderall. It helped with his concentration but it made him very emotional. He was also 4 1/2 at the time. We switched to Concerta and worked our way up to 54 mg where he stayed for about a year and did well. A couple of months ago we/teacher saw signs that it wasn't working as well.
Against my better judgement, we tried Strattera as suggested by our pediatrician (who should not be suggesting our meds in my opinion and we're done with that) but he did not have a positive reaction to it. For the first week he was on 20 mg and slept like he was catching up on years of lost sleep. Then after 7 days we increased it to 40 mg. It was awful. It seemed to magnify the hyperactivity and it just made everything worse.
Our pediatric neurologist recommended Ritalin LA in the morning in additional to the 40mg of Strattera at night. He had a bad reaction to the LA, made him itch like crazy.
We're now going back to the Concerta but starting him at 36 and will possibly supplement with Ritalin in the am and afternoon for boost. For some reason he's fine with regular Ritalin, it's the LA he doesn't take well to.
If the Concerta showed positive results, I would think about going back to it and adding a very low dose of Ritalin. I know parents who give their children Adderall but they are 8 and older and they don't have the emotional side effects my son or your daughter have. It might be worth revisiting in a few years.
I hope this helped and if you want to chat and compare notes, that would be great. With our kids being around the same age and we're still trying to find what works best, it would be nice to chat with someone who's in the same boat.
Ok I am sure this is going to get long so I am Sorry in advance.
My daughter is 5 and just diagnosed with ADHD and we are currently "experimenting" with meds to find the right one for her. First we tried Concerta with a ritalin supplement in the afternoons. I think it was working but I think she could have used a higher dose. She started on 18mg and then went to 36mg. She was a better kid but there was still a little room for improvement (for lack of a better way to explain it). I personally think that if we had uped her dose she would have been ok.
However he dr (a phsyciatrist) decided to try her on adderall xr. She has been HORRIBLE! She is only taking 10mg. She is moodier and easily irritated, throws fits, screams and cries, bascially she is just like before if not a little worse.
Has anyone else had this problem? I am calling her dr in the morning and telling him that I want to put her back on concerta and ritalin because she was much better on it than she is now.
He said our next med was straterra. She has limited options because she also has asthma.
ANY advice would be appreciated. Thanks for listening.
[QUOTE=momofadhdgirl]Ok I am sure this is going to get long so I am Sorry in advance.
My daughter is 5 and just diagnosed with ADHD and we are currently "experimenting" with meds to find the right one for her. First we tried Concerta with a ritalin supplement in the afternoons. I think it was working but I think she could have used a higher dose. She started on 18mg and then went to 36mg. She was a better kid but there was still a little room for improvement (for lack of a better way to explain it). I personally think that if we had uped her dose she would have been ok.
However he dr (a phsyciatrist) decided to try her on adderall xr. She has been HORRIBLE! She is only taking 10mg. She is moodier and easily irritated, throws fits, screams and cries, bascially she is just like before if not a little worse.
Has anyone else had this problem? I am calling her dr in the morning and telling him that I want to put her back on concerta and ritalin because she was much better on it than she is now.
He said our next med was straterra. She has limited options because she also has asthma.
ANY advice would be appreciated. Thanks for listening.
[/QUOTE] My son is 6 years old was diagnoised with ADDat the begining of the school year. His Dr. put him on concerta 18mg, he needed alittle larger dose because it wasn,t qutedoing the job, so he upped it to 36mg and that seemed to ware off so quick they decided to give him a booster of 5mg of ritilin after school to help with his homework. His teacher said he still wasn,t staying focused and started to act up in class, so his Dr. said we should try to put him on adderral xr 10 mg instead of upping the dose of concerta because he was not gaining weight like he should, he went back to his Dr 2 weeks ago for a med. check and his Dr took him off his booster of ritilin and upped his adderal xr to 15 mg. I can not believe how bad this Adderal xr makes him when he comes down from it after school, he gets very emotional, throws tantrums and is so defient, i am makeing another appointment for nthe Dr. and tell him to put him back on the concerta and take him off that damn Adderall xr, it is just awfull, the Dr said the side effects will go away, but the are getting worse and from others i have read on this forum they don,t go away, they do get worse! My son even says he doesn,t like the way e feels and wants to go to the Dr. and take him off this meds.I have heard horror stories with the strattera and am staying away from it, my son did well on the concerta and the side effects were O. Good luck and the best i can say is do your homework and stick to your guns were your child is concerned you know your child best and he looks to you to do the best for him no matter what!Hi,
I just posted on the Parents with AdHD kids board ....but I am having the same problem as you guys with my 6 yr old who is on Adderall XR ! He is very good during the day but look out in the afternoons ! He gets VERY emotional,tantrums,defiant ect . He often cries himself to sleep right after school, and then he cant sleep at night ! I need to take him off of this , but what do we switch him too ?? Someone on the other board said maybe we should stay away from the extended release ( My Ped wants to try Ritalin LA ) and I think she might be right .I would be interested in hearing more about the combo you descibe . Thanks !
Hi! Wow! That doesn't sound good. You know what I would try? I would try Methylin Oral Solution. If your child is that young and is irritable, maybe she is taking too much. With the liquid you can start at 1mg or 2mg and titrate up until she starts to respond positively to it. This way you lessen the chances of her having unwanted side effects. My child is working well with it. Before, I tried just about everything, including Adderall and Strattera, and they didn't work. Straterra was terrible.
I would ask my doctor and if he doesn't know anything about it, try doing a search on the internet. Though it is Ritalin, it is fairly new in liquid form. Oh, finding it in a pharmacy can be a challenge. If you can't find it in a pharmacy, call the company, they will help you.
My son is taking Adderall XR right now. He is 9 years old and at our last psychiatrist visit he told the Dr. that the meds make him irritable and impatient with his friends. Anyway because of that the Dr. added Imepremine to his meds to help counter the effects of Adderall. We have only been trying it a week (supposed to take 2 wks. for full effect) but so far we have been really happy with it. One extra bonus is that it makes him really sleepy after he takes it so we give it to him at night, before bed. In reference to Stattera, that caused my son to be psychotic. He was suicidal and really emotionally scary (not at all like himself). However, I know a lot of people that have been really happy with it, so unfortunately you'll just have to give it a try and see what happens.
Actually, I've heard bad things about Strattera. I wouldn't use it. I heard they have a name for it....Stra-terrible.I'm not sure about taking a drug to counter another drug, especially in children. Imiprine sure has a lot of cautions and adverse reactions. including worsening depression, suicidability, confusion, and disorientation. I would rethink that idea. My dr said adderall works in about 70% of paitients he has had. I am not one of the 70% , so keep in mind not everything is going to work as expected. BEST OF LUCK