Sheila
Moderator
difficult child's first ADHD medication was Ritalin. It wasn't a good fit. At first, for a very, very short time, it helped. It was short acting (+/- 1 1/2 hrs), and the Ritalin rebound was awful, he became more aggressive. It affected appetite and sleep.
A hard-headed doctor (who wouldn't prescribe anything but Ritalin and no higher than 10 mg) and an inexperienced, uneducated ADHDer's mom (me) were of no help to my son.
By December of difficult child's 1st Grade, the school was talking about putting him in an alternative school for children with behavior problems. Near the end of 1st Grade, he'd been referred to the office 20+ times, and I can't even begin to tell you how many times his teacher called me on her cell phone from the classroom about difficult child's inappropriate behaviors (talking, not staying seated, not paying attention, not standing in lines, hitting children, yadda, yadda, yadda.)
I got rid of the incompetent doctor; started educating myself. New doctor trialed regular Adderall. It worked longer (4 to 6 hrs), and no rebound effect. Drawback was a 2nd dose had to be administered at school. What happens is the medication starts to wear off before the 2nd dose is administered. In short, it didn't cover all the school hours, so the ADHD behaviors at school still kept him in trouble -- but to a far less extent that 1st Grade. Another problem was it made difficult child "different," eg, he had to stop at the nurse's office everyday to get the 2nd dose.
Adderall XR worked best for our difficult child. With the Adderall XR difficult child was able to:
*better conform to school rules
*stay on tasks longer
*produce more work, and neater product
*sit still
*reduced talking at inappropriate times
*benefit from other therapies
*curbs impulsiveness
*better develop and maintain friendships
*and it gives him that 1/2 second extra to make overall better choices.
It this gives the impression the medication is a "cure all," it is not. In our case, it helps control symptoms, but they do not disappear in total. It does not help much with the executive dysfunction part of ADHD (organization, planning, ability to follow-through even when he has the best intentions, time management abilities). It does not help the inherent immaturity in ADHDers.
Side affects we've experienced:
*Appetite suppression which can result in weight loss. Potential solutions: administer after hearty breakfast, use a good vitamin. Appetite returns when medication wears off for the day.
*Intermittent problems getting to sleep. OTC Melatonin works well for us.
*difficult child is not as out-going or care-free when medicated. He didn't recognize this until he was in the 7th grade and he doesn't like the effect. He says he get bored more easily when he's had his medication. Like I told him that's a part of life that nearly every non-ADHDer has to deal with every day.
In the Spring we went through a period when his medication stopped working. ADHD, anxiety, puberty, and harmones collided. Definately not a pretty picture. Long story short, we took him off the medication during the summer, and reintroduced it when school started. So far, so good.
As parents, husband and I worry about giving difficult child any type of medication. ALL medications can have adverse affects -- even over-the-counter medications. Tylenol can cause liver damage, some people are allergic to asprin, etc., etc., etc. Chemo therapy treatments are toxic. Childhood vaccines are controversial. And on and on. Lots of hard decisions have to be made when raising a difficult child.
by the way, welcome aboard!
A hard-headed doctor (who wouldn't prescribe anything but Ritalin and no higher than 10 mg) and an inexperienced, uneducated ADHDer's mom (me) were of no help to my son.
By December of difficult child's 1st Grade, the school was talking about putting him in an alternative school for children with behavior problems. Near the end of 1st Grade, he'd been referred to the office 20+ times, and I can't even begin to tell you how many times his teacher called me on her cell phone from the classroom about difficult child's inappropriate behaviors (talking, not staying seated, not paying attention, not standing in lines, hitting children, yadda, yadda, yadda.)
I got rid of the incompetent doctor; started educating myself. New doctor trialed regular Adderall. It worked longer (4 to 6 hrs), and no rebound effect. Drawback was a 2nd dose had to be administered at school. What happens is the medication starts to wear off before the 2nd dose is administered. In short, it didn't cover all the school hours, so the ADHD behaviors at school still kept him in trouble -- but to a far less extent that 1st Grade. Another problem was it made difficult child "different," eg, he had to stop at the nurse's office everyday to get the 2nd dose.
Adderall XR worked best for our difficult child. With the Adderall XR difficult child was able to:
*better conform to school rules
*stay on tasks longer
*produce more work, and neater product
*sit still
*reduced talking at inappropriate times
*benefit from other therapies
*curbs impulsiveness
*better develop and maintain friendships
*and it gives him that 1/2 second extra to make overall better choices.
It this gives the impression the medication is a "cure all," it is not. In our case, it helps control symptoms, but they do not disappear in total. It does not help much with the executive dysfunction part of ADHD (organization, planning, ability to follow-through even when he has the best intentions, time management abilities). It does not help the inherent immaturity in ADHDers.
Side affects we've experienced:
*Appetite suppression which can result in weight loss. Potential solutions: administer after hearty breakfast, use a good vitamin. Appetite returns when medication wears off for the day.
*Intermittent problems getting to sleep. OTC Melatonin works well for us.
*difficult child is not as out-going or care-free when medicated. He didn't recognize this until he was in the 7th grade and he doesn't like the effect. He says he get bored more easily when he's had his medication. Like I told him that's a part of life that nearly every non-ADHDer has to deal with every day.
In the Spring we went through a period when his medication stopped working. ADHD, anxiety, puberty, and harmones collided. Definately not a pretty picture. Long story short, we took him off the medication during the summer, and reintroduced it when school started. So far, so good.
As parents, husband and I worry about giving difficult child any type of medication. ALL medications can have adverse affects -- even over-the-counter medications. Tylenol can cause liver damage, some people are allergic to asprin, etc., etc., etc. Chemo therapy treatments are toxic. Childhood vaccines are controversial. And on and on. Lots of hard decisions have to be made when raising a difficult child.
by the way, welcome aboard!
