Ritalin / other stimulants and heart problems

lovelyboy

Member
So while still struggling with school finding we are also struggling to get little dude on propper medications for ADHD!
Because he had bad heart pulpitations, sweating, exct on Strattera, we stopped it...
He first had to go for ECG and heart sonar today, casting whapping R2000, before neuro wanted to start Ritalin..
So the cardiologist said he has abnkrmal high pulse rate and some heart murmer and that this could cause heart pulpitarions or heart dysritmia with stimulants....
So we need to check for side effects when starting on Ritalin and take him to ER for ECG if he starts getting pulpitations, to rule out dysritmia because it can be fatal! If the ECG shows its just an increase in rate, then we can give him heart medications to lower his heart rate!!!! OMW! He is only 5 yrs old!
But dr says he has such severe ADHD, that he NEEDS medications to cope in school.....
Whats your experience with this.....what other medications can be used, except stimulants?
This is scary!!!! So worried my child can get a heart attack or something!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
What a tough situation.
The usual ADHD medications are either based on methylphenidate or on Dexedrine (I don't remember the generic name for that one)... or Strattera. The first two are stims, the other is not.

You've already tossed out Strattera, which is considered more heart-friendly - because it wasn't in your son's case.

Ritalin is well known for heart issues... low frequency side effect, but it's there. I'm told that's why doctors are moving adult ADHD patients to Strattera.

At 5... we used caffeine (strong black tea with honey) - provided about a 2 hour window of focus, but meant extra trips to the washroom. Beyond that... maybe the best medication will be maturity? Any way you can delay his schooling by a year?
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
We used Tenex in addition to the stimulant. It's really overwhelming the choices that parents of difficult children have to make. DDD
 

jal

Member
My difficult child cannot tolerate stims. We have been using Intuniv for quite a while with success. It is a blood pressure medication approved for ADHD.
 
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