Adderal...taking a poll, please respond
Hi everyone, I just wanted to know about the parents who's children are taking Adderal. Here's the question: While on Adderal, does your child behave aggressive or not? (compaired to pre-Adderal)
My step son was aggressive before taking Adderal,and continues the same with it.
Thank you for participating in this poll.
Lisa
Is Adderal actually curing the ADHD or is it just controlling the symptoms? We went along with drs and drugs until my son was 14 and I realized that drugs were definitely NOT the answer. I discovered (by doing lots & lots of reading) that he had a biochemical imbalance, not a "chemical" imbalance as drug companies would like us all to believe. What he needed were certain biochemicals, aka B-6 and zinc. He had "pyroluria" which causes ADHD-like symptoms. You can do a simple urine test at LabCorp which will tell you if he has it or not. Some sites that explain pyroluria are drkaslow.com alternativementalhealth.com and doctoryourself.com
Dear Lisa,
Last April when my daughter (9yr.) was finally diagnosed (ADHD/Combined), she was started on Adderall 5 mg. She made Linda Blair in the Exorcist look good. From what the Pharmacist and the Neurologist said that , that type of affect is not too uncommon. She had even begged me not to give it to her. That's when I stopped and called the Doctor.
She's on Ritalin 20 mg.LA now. Big difference. Hope this helps.
judy : )
My son is 5 1/2 and he is on Adderall XR 10, I think this medication is good but I would rather try something different with him such as a non stimulant medication such as strattera. Is anyone's child on it, if so, what are the benefits of it?Adderall XR has been extremely beneficial to my son. We started him on Ritalin (he hit a plateau and needed to change to a different med), then we tried Concerta, which worked really well in the morning, but his body was metabolizing it too quickly and there was nothing left to combat the afternoon symptoms.
Finally we started Adderall XL 30 mg a day combined with Wellbutrin XL at 150 mg a day. Hopefully, this will work until he hits puberty....then we'll start again :)
Knowledge is power.....read everything you can get your hands on, and don't feel bad about switching after a few weeks if you and he feel things just aren't as good as they could be. Oh, don't forget about your gut! ~laughs~ It's sometimes right on the money!
Good luck and God Bless.
My 7 yr old takes 15 mg adderall XR, seems to help a lot at school, but we have major tantrums at home....seems like the tantrums have gotten worse on adderall, but then we don't have many options. He's a nightmare as far as taking med's, we have to break the capsules apart, pour the tiny balls into ice cream and bury it with more ice cream in order to get him to take it. The Dr thought this was our best option so we'd only have to get one dosage a day in him.my daughter is 6 and has just started to take meds we tried behavior theropy for 2 years and now since shes in kindergarden we are trying adderall xr to help her focus more. In school the teacher said she never has had an anger outburst. At home though thr first few days she would hit if someone was to close or provoced her. I told her right away we werent going to deal with it and made her sit byherself on her bed to calm down. After a few times it has worked and she has learned to control her self. I think this is a big part because of the therapist and the med together. She seems to now have the ability to focus more and her behavior has changed about 95%. My only suggestion is for anyone who has a child with add or adhd is to not only put them on medicine and think its a miricle cure but to have them see a therapist who can give your child individual geared ideas on how they can learn to control their actions and think about consiqences before doing something. Also my daughter now reminds to take her medicine because she nows she does alot better and feels better about herself that she is incontrol of her actions.I'm not a parent of a child with ADD, but my partner has ADD, bi-polar and clinical depression and had to take adderall in order to function at work. He lacked interest, motivation, focus and concentration without the adderall, but the side effects were terrible. He had extreme irritation, sudden rage episodes, emotionally cold and distant and out of touch with his feelings and as the drug wore off, he would seem almost catatonic. He also found the drug to be highly addictive and would start craving it when he didn't take it over the weekends. The side effects were so bad that he didn't want to take it when he didn't need it for work. It definitely changed his personality for the worse.
We explored other alternatives and after alot of research, we found alternatives that worked! It was like a miracle and he said that he never knew he could feel so good. What was great about the alternatives is that they were all natural (nutritional supplementation, change of diet and temporary thyroid treatment see: www.wilsonssyndrome.com) and had no side effects, and all the symptoms of ADD vanished! It turned out that he had pyroluria, hypoglycemia, wilson's thyroid syndrome, adrenal exhaustion, gluten allergy, and neurotransmitter depletion. See all the posts on pyroluria, and Matt's post on 'valuable info for anyone with add/adhd'.
Drugs have such terrible long term effects and side effects especially on children who are still developing their brains and other organs. I hope this info is hopeful and helpful and you'll check out all the other alternatives first before you resort to drugs. Good luck!!
2 add/hd kids- dd takes Concerta with success. DS took Concerta with success- then it stopped working after 4 months- switched to Adderrall- 10mg.- Controlled hyperactivity but turned him into a sad, angry, smart mouthed, self centered little creep- took him off of it after 2 months- switched back to Concerta- he is his old sweet self. Concerta seemed to work again after having a break from it.
My 12 year old has taken Adderall XR for almost 3 years. When it begins to wear off in afternoons, WATCH OUT! She becomes sullen, intolerant of ANY noises (particularly her little sister, who likes to chatter and sing), prone to extreme temper tantrums, etc. This lasts about 90 minutes. Then she's back to her unfocused, adventure-seeking, hyper ADHD unmedicated self.
Because of the extreme rage that she'd show occasionally at the afterschool care program, I asked her doctor about switching meds, even though the Adderall was working PERFECTLY during the school day. She suggested we try Strattera, ramp-up on it, then ramp-down on the Adderall. When we got to the full Strattera dose, my daughter was the best she'd ever been, so I asked if we needed to take away the Adderall. Apparently the studies this doctor had been involved in had shown the benefits of combining the two. The mood swings were moderated and her appetite returned, and the Adderall kept her functioning at school. She's been taking both meds now for 2 years with pretty good success.
my son is on adderall and we have problems with him adjustng to the dose and it becoming non affective. He is 7 and on 40 mg of adderall a day once a day. I really think I may need to switch meds soon because this is getting scary high as far as I am concerned. Matt is on 5 mg Adderall. At first we had anger issues but they dissipated.My 12YO son took Adderall for a short time. We stopped it because itcaused severe facial tics.No aggresive behavior, just very emotional and sad.
Hi:
My 9 yr old son was on Adderall XR 15 mgs for about three weeks. He did INCREDIBLE, WONDERFUL at school. Teacher said he was 180 degrees from the beginning of the school year.
However, at home, we had extreme moodiness, depression, sensitivity, aggression, anger and even rage. This was not my little boy anymore. He also started exhibiting extreme facial tics -- all of the time.
The Dr. then switched us down to 10 mgs. His teacher said he's reverted to his beginning of the year behaviors again, but his rages and moodiness at home have calmed down (not gone completely -- but that's unlikely to ever happen !). He does still have the facial tic problem, though. The Dr. now recommends that we TRY the 15 mgs dose again, as it is not supposed to have the aggressive side effects that ritalin-type meds can cause. But, we only have two more school days left, so I'm not sure what we should do now. I want to find something that works, but it will be hard if he's not in school while we're trying meds. So, maybe we'll go the summer with no meds ????
His hunger seems to be affected by this also -- not eating morning snack at school anymore, and less for lunch. By dinnertime he usually has a pretty decent appetite.
Cosake
Austin who is 7 is on this 5 mg once a day and so far the only side affect we have seen is loss of appetite . I have noticed a change in him already he is doing better with his class work .
My step-daughter is on 20 mg and is not aggressive. She became more emotional for a little while, but that stopped.My 6 year old is on 5mg of Adderall XR (started on November 04) and I have not seen any anger outbursts. What I do see is a more emotional kid in the late afternoon. He acts like he really needs a nap. Other than that, the Adderall has been great. Good luck!Enter Your Email below to claim your Free Book