Adderall--bad batch of pills?

[pepperidge]

Hi

My 12 year old son has been over the top silly for the last ten days or so, about the time that we switched to a new bottle of pills. Up 'til this point his medication regimen seems to have been working very well. Usually his small dose of Adderall seems to keep the silliness in check very well. But for the last ten days it is like he hasn't taken anything. (I watch him take his pills in the morning, he is medication compliant, so I am sure that is not the issue).

I am wondering, has anyone ever heard of a bad batch of pills? Seems improbable, but at this point I am ready to believe that might be possible.

thanks.

 

[smallworld]

Wow! Not sure what to think.

Can you call the drug company that makes Adderall and ask about that batch of pills? If you can't find the lot number, ask the pharmacy.

 

[gcvmom]

Unless he's suddenly unable to tolerate stims -- this has gradually happened to my difficult child 2 this year. Stims stopped being effective, no matter how high we increased the dose. They were like water. Then he started making him extremely nervous and anxious (but focused!), even at low doses. I don't have any answers yet either.

 

[Janna]

Chris,

Never heard of a "bad batch", but I suppose it could be possible. Did you call the psychiatrist? Be interested to hear what you find out.

Could he be manic? I see alot of differences in Dylan's mania compared to J's ADHD hyperactivity stuff. Alot.

Hope he settles for you soon.

 

[BusynMember]

I'm with Janna. Adderrall can be bad for kids with bipolar/mood disorders. Rather than a bad batch of pills, I wonder if the stims suddenly are working against him rather than for him. Pre-adolescence can be a time when disorders kick up. I know my own BiPolar (BP) REALLY went into overdrive around age thirteen. A lot of kids can't tolerate stimulants, especially Adderrall. Of all the stimulants, Adderrall is the one my used-to-be-drug-addict-daughter tells me is the most desired for getting high. I'd talk to psychiatrist. I'd like to add that Topomax makes some kids manic too! It's a mood stabilizer, but some kids have a paradoxical reaction to it. Have his medications been changed at all? Doses upped?

 

[pepperidge]

He has been on this particular combo--and dose -- for about a year now.

And he has been on Adderall for about 3 years I guess. It (and Lamictal) has been a godsend -- when the Adderall takes effect, he becomes much more compliant,emphathetic, etc. It is amazing to watch the transformation. But he needed the mood stablizer to deal with his depressive tendencies.

Maybe it has suddenly stopped working. With his psychiatrist we had been contemplating trying to reduce his medication load slightly--beginning with the Topamax. We started about a month ago, but thought maybe the silliness was kicking back up, so we quickly reinstated the Topamax dose (we had only reduced it by 25 mg). We have been doing a medication wash on my other son, and I could only deal with one medication change at a time!

So nothing has changed. The thing with him is that he can go from this hypersilly state to completely rational at the drop of a dime if there is something that interests him. He says he acts silly when he gets bored--and there is a lot of truth to that. So I don't know if it is really hypomania or what. His underlying mood is definitely depressed.

thanks for your thoughts.

Chris

 

[nlg319]

My 12 yr. old son responded good to Adderall and then all of a sudden it became ineffective. If your son has been on the same dose for over a year, perhaps he needs a higher dose or try another medication. Same thing happened with Ritalin. It worked well for a while, then suddenly became ineffective. The dose of Metadate he's on now works great for my son.