Medication Help

[MaureeninNJ]

Hi Everyone,

Its been a while since I have posted so here is a little refresher: My 5 1/2 yr old difficult child was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD last May. We have tried 5 mg Focalin XR, 10 mg Focalin XR and have now moved on to 10 mg Adderall XR. He seemed to be doing better on the Adderall until about the last month or so. He has become increasingly physically violent and more defiant than ever. He was almost suspended from school this week for hitting/kicking another classmate who is much smaller and weaker than he is. He is unusually large for his age - basically the size of an 8 year old so one of my biggest fears is that he will severely hurt another child. He has major anger management issues that we thought were finally getting under control until recently when not only did they reappear but seemed to have come back with a vengeance. He was seeing a psychologist up until last December when my husband decided that he didn't think it was doing any good so he stopped the visits stating that it was a waste of time and money. After having a very stern discussion with difficult child after the incident at school this week he asked why he hasn't seen the psychologist and could he go back to see her. He told us that he needs to talk to her and that he can't talk to us. I have absolutely no problem with this and was glad that husband was there to hear it come out of his mouth instead of mine. I am hoping that it will "enlighten" husband at least a little bit that it really isn't a waste of time and money. The earliest appointment I could get is next Monday (5/7/07) so we are trying to deal until then. Anyway, now that I have rambled on and on - here is my question for all of you out there....Even though he has been taking the Adderall XR for a few months now (since Jan.) and seemed to be doing fine, could it be causing the aggressive behavior that is coming out now? Has anyone had the same reaction? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. Maureen

 

[jal]

Hi,
I just recently pulled my son off of Adderall XR 10 mg because he too became increasingly physically violent with hitting and kicking his teachers and us. He also seemed to have many, many more meltdowns on it too. He had only been on it for a couple of weeks. My difficult child was "suspended" from preschool for 2 and a half days for this behavior. I found over this past weekend he seemed much better with out the Adderall, even though yesterday he was up to his old tricks at school.

 

[BusynMember]

My son grew aggressive and mean on Adderrall so I yanked him off of it. It turns out he didn't even have ADHD as his main problem, although he was very hyper. More often than not, the diagnosis changes as the child gets older and new issues pop out, and it could be that ADHD medications are making whatever is wrong with him worse rather than better. ADHD/ODD is a common first diagnosis. Often it ends up being something else. I wish they weren't so fast to diagnose and throw stimulants at young kids because they really aren't sure, at such young ages, what disorders these kids have. I actully know where hub is coming from. No type of therapy helped my son until we knew exactly what was wrong with him. He never responded to normal behavioral therapy approaches and he remained very frustrated and angry because we didn't understand what was going on with him. He turned out to be on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum, and what a different the right diagnosis and interventions make! This kid is gold right now, and he used to be a destructive rager. We didn't get the right diagnosis. until he was 11, but we kept trying--we didn't buy the ADHD/ODD. It seemed like more to us than that--he used to bang his head on the wall--scary. If you have mood disorders or substance abuse on the family tree or any sort of "quirky" relatives, be on the alert for "more" than ADHD/ODD because these things run in families, and stims make these problems worse. I feel we rushed to fast to medicate my son (he ended up on over ten medications). I never understood the logic of putting violent kids on stimulants. After it, it's speed. Just venting our own bad experience here! Hugs to you.

 

[PJD123]

Hi Maureen! Is difficult child in Kindergarten, or still preschool? I ended up putting my son in the ARC daycare over at the College of St. Eliz. in Florhma Pk/Madison, because I couldn't find a daycare to take him. He's been there since Feb. and is doing wonderful!! It's a small group and they have a 1:3 ratio. He gets a lot of individual attention and the people that work there know their stuff. Most of the kids there have some form of mild autism. There is another ADHD boy there that my son likes to play with.

We also started 2.5 mg. Metholyn once a day, which has helped. Dr. up'd it to 5 mg. 2x a day, if we felt he needed it. Director at daycare says he's fine and doesn't really need it, at least not all the time. We give him a second low dose on the weekend sometimes if we have to be out somewhere and need him to be more focused and behaved.

PM me if you want to chat! I'm actually working right near you these days!

 

[neednewtechnique]

We have not tried Adderall, but our difficult child became VERY agressive, violent, and MEAN when she took the Focalin. She is now only taking the concerta, which also makes her agressive and mean, but not NEARLY as bad as the Focalin, and the concerta doesn't cause enough problems to make her violent.

 

[MaureeninNJ]

Hi there,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. difficult child graduated Kindergarten in June and will start 1st grade this Sept. He actually did very well and we were lucky because his Kindergarten teacher was awesome. She knew exactly how to handle him. I am very nervous about first grade. Teacher assignments haven't come out yet - not til mid-August so I have no idea who his teacher will be next year. I am so glad that you found a daycare for your difficult child. I know how hard that is. Mine went back to his old preschool for their summercamp program and is doing fairly well there. He has occasional outbursts but for the most part they tell me he is doing fine. Most of his problems are behavioral at this point and are much worse at home than they are at school/camp. The neurologist just upped his dosage to 15 mg of the Adderall XR. The violent behavior has seemed to have calmed down. Now I think its a matter of keeping him focused. I will see how he does over the next couple of weeks on the new dosage. If you are not working that far from me we should try and meet for lunch. Let me know. All the best, Maureen