Hi Feelin,
I've been reading all of your posts too. I just thought you might like to know a little more about methylin. I did a pharmacology course at uni last year so I understand a little about drugs and how they work.
These notes come from rxlist.com, which keeps extensive notes on all prescription drugs for medical professionals ...
For children 6 years and over ... "Methylin
Ã? should be initiated in small doses, with gradual weekly increments. Daily dosage above 60 mg is not recommended. If improvement is not observed after appropriate dosage adjustment over a one-month period, the drug should be discontinued ... [If you needed to wean him off, there would've been more information about that here, but this is all they had to say about it. Considering that it is okay to let them be stimo free on weekends and school holidays, it really amounts to the same as cold turkey.]
Start with 5 mg twice daily (before breakfast and lunch) with gradual increments of 5 to 10 mg weekly. [This information is for straight Methylin, not Methylin ER, so this information won't be applicable to you. It would most likely be that doses of the ER are larger because they are long releases, so instead of having to take 5mg 2xdaily, the ER would probably be 10mg 1xdaily. There was no information at all on the ERs. However, here is the information for Ritalin LA ...]
Previous Methylphenidate Dose/Recommended Ritalin LA® Dose
5 mg methylphenidate-b.i.d./10 mg q.d.
10 mg methylphenidate b.i.d. or 20 mg methylphenidate-SR/20 mg q.d.
15 mg methylphenidate b.i.d./30 mg q.d.
20 mg methylphenidate b.i.d. or 40 mg of methylphenidate-SR/40 mg q.d.
30 mg methylphenidate b.i.d. or 60 mg methylphenidate-SR/60 mg q.d.
[b.i.d means twice a day and q.d. means daily. It wouldn't let me format this like a table, so the / denote the different columns.]
Aggression -
Aggressive behavior or hostility is often observed in children and adolescents with ADHD, and has been reported in
clinical trials and the postmarketing experience of some medications indicated for the treatment of ADHD. Although there is no systematic evidence that stimulants cause aggressive behavior or hostility, patients beginning treatment for ADHD should be monitored for the appearance of or worsening of aggressive behavior or hostility ...
Patients with an element of agitation may react adversely; discontinue
therapy if necessary ...
Marked
anxiety,
tension, and agitation are contraindications [shouldn't be used with] to Methylin
Ã?"
I hope this goes some way to easing your mind. Remember that you know your difficult child best and therefore, you will know what is best for him. If you truely believe in your heart that he will be better off without them, then do it. Also remember that the doctors are only human, they make mistakes and they don't know everything. Hell, I know us mothers of difficult children are far more educated on our kids' disabilities than the professionals will ever be from text books. They don't live it, you do!
I also wanted to say, from reading your posts, that your maturity is really beyond your years. At 23 I was still pubbing and clubbing and kids were the furthest thing from my mind, let alone a challenging one. Not only that, you study too - you go gerl! I just wanted you to know that I think you are simply amazing.
Snowie.