It's been a while since I've posted. My son was taking 10ml of abilify in the am and 5ml in the afternoon. It was in liquid form. He was also taking procentra. Both were working well until he started getting a strong dislike for any form of liquid medication. He started spitting them out. After weeks of explosive meltdowns at school, his psychiatric dr. still wants him to take the same medications, but now in pill form. She said there is not a pill form of procentra, so she prescribed aderall. We will just crush the medications and mix it in apple sauce to see how he does. I've been reading that aderall can make kids much more aggressive. I beleive the adderall is 5mg. She wants us to split the pill and give him half in the am and the other half at noon. She cut back his abillify to 5mg in the am and 5mg in the afternoon. When he did take the higher dose of abilify, I couldn't tell if it helped more. I think it really upset his stomach because it would really make him gag and throw up at school. Does anyone have experience with adderall? Will it work as well as the procentra?
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I am not familiar with procentra so I can't speak to that. As for mixing the aderall in with the abilify...it is done. For my difficult child any stimulant makes him very aggressive. This is due to his bipolar. Often times in children with bipolar stimulants will make them aggressive.
 

PatriotsGirl

Well-Known Member
Personally, I think ADD and ADHD are way over diagnosed. I am also very much against stimulants but that is purely my opinion and I know there are several who disagree.

My daughter was on Adderall and she will tell you that it was her gateway to meth.

My son was on a couple different ADD medications, and they changed him. He was not himself and he is a beautiful person. He chooses to not medicate himself and I support him 1000% on that. Sure, school is a lot harder for him, and he will never be an A student, but he is an incredible man and that is what matters.

Again, this is just my experience and my opinion. Everyone is different and has different experiences...
 

jugey

Active Member
My daughter takes both those medications and does well. The Adderall allows her to accomplish things that she couldn't before. 5 mgs is a very small dose. In the past we tried a stimulant without the abilify and yes, we saw some very scary aggression.
 

helpangel

Active Member
I have mixed feelings about stimulants they helped my son immensely but Angel ended up inpatient with psychosis at 6yo because of them. My son never needed any other medications besides the stimulant I'm not sure if that was the problem.

One thing about liquid medications or mixing with applesauce besides tasting horrible its flat out dangerous with some medications. Teaching kids to swallow pills whole takes a little work but it isn't difficult you can use beans or peas if don't allow candy (mini m&m, m&m) for teaching. Just a thought take what you can use and leave the rest.

Nancy
 
How is mixing it in apple sauce dangerous? I don't plan on putting both the abilify and the adderall in the crusher together if that's what you meant. I used to just give his abilify at 7, then at 7:30 I would give the procetra. I never mixed the two together. does adderall stay in your system long? I have heard that stims can make aggression much worse in autistic kids.
 

helpangel

Active Member
I wasn't talking about adderall or abilify specifically - many medications should not be crushed or split; as a good practice it is good to teach any child taking medications on a regular basis how to swallow pills. I don't recall how old your child is? My kids have been taking medications since 4 or 5 yo if yours is younger liquid form is probably easier for you. If your child needs to continue medications at some point they may prescribe an extended release type medication and those many of you NEVER cut or crush (example concerta)

Most stimulants don't stay in the body for a long time and they also don't usually take 3 weeks to start working (which is case with many mood stabilizers or antidepressants). As far as stimulants causing aggression I can only speak for my kids again the oldest it got rid of much of his aggression but the girls it caused more problems then it helped. Angel was diagnosis bipolar, ODD & adHd at 6yo it wasn't until she was 12yo did she get the Asperger's diagnosis and they drop the ODD & adHd. in my opinion thats why it is so hard to get one solid diagnosis on a kid, diagnosis's are based on behavior and kids are constantly growing and changing.

I didn't mean to come off as sounding critical of what anyone else is doing, was trying to share some of my experience in hopes it might help someone else. As always if you can use any of my post your welcome to it if not please disregard.

Nancy
 
My son is 11 and profoundly autistic. There's no way we could ever get him to swallow pills. The dr said it was safe to crush them up because they are not the extended release type.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
If your medications arent extended release then you can crush them. I take a multitude of medications and a few years ago I was very sick and could barely swallow anything. They crushed all my medications in a little bit of applesauce. Yes it was NASTY!!!!!

I am pro stimulant but for the right reasons. We had great results with them for my middle son and okay results with my youngest. They didnt make him aggressive but they didnt stop his ODD behavior but boy did he have great handwriting...lol.

Oddly enough this late in life they have started me on Adderal and I am bipolar. I take it fine but Im also on a mood stabilizer along with other medications.
 
Adderall must be a popular medication. We went to several pharmacies and all were out and on back order. Hopefully they will have some in next week. His medications are not extended release. The abilify pill is so tiny, it's easy to give him with the apple sauce.
 
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