Anyone know of an ADHD medication that doesn't curve the appetite a whole lot?

Nicole - posted on 02/06/2013

My son is 13 and is really small, we have tried adderall, non stimulants, and recently concerta. His math teacher just called me and said he is just not focused at all. We have only had him on the concerta for 2 months and she says there has been a decline in his focusing andi have noticed it at home and on all of his test scores at school as well. He is a really small kid, 4' 10" and maybe 80 pounds. I could really use some advice on medication that will help him focus and also let him have an appetite.

LINDA - posted on 02/06/2013

My son has just been taken of of Foclin XR 5mg--2 in AM and 1 at noon. First our insurance would not cover as it is non-formulary. He was doing great behavior-wise but at doctor's visit he is 9 years old and had dropped from 53 to 47 1/2 # and is anemic. He will eat alittle breakfast--bowl of oatmeal; almost no school breakfast or lunch or dinner at home. About 9PM he is hungry and will eat some. He is off meds for a month and we'll see what is suggested.

Tina - posted on 01/25/2011

my daughter is on concerta if that helps

Claire - posted on 01/23/2011

My 6 year old son is on Ritalin LA (30mg) and he has list about 12lbs in a year. He is soooo skinny, it really upsets us. On top of the appetite loss, he is a picky eater and seems to get pickier by the day! His behavior is well controlled by ritalin so we are scared to come off it. We were RX'd Strattera but he refused t oswallow the pill, even after going through a huge pill swallowing regime (starting with sprinkles and moving up to bigger things until he could swallow an M&M.) It just exhausting.

Brenna - posted on 01/07/2009

Quoting Heather:

My son is taking Focalin XR 5 mg and it does not affect his appetite. It is not supposed to affect the appetite at all. He is growing well. But I think that the dose needs to be upped because he is not doing well in school. His grades have fallen a lot! He has brought home some F's lately! My husband is totally against meds. So this is all an uphill battle all of the time. My husband is constantly yelling at him for things that he simply can not control. My hubby thinks that and quote" that it is humanly possible for him to focus and pay attention" . Yeah whatever! With meds maybe. Without no way! But he totally does not understand any of this. I have tryed to explain to him that it is his nureotransmitters not him on purpose annoying you, to no avail. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Heather,

I had the same issues with my husband and his not understanding how our childs brain is a bit different then the "average" child. We put our son on 3 different meds (stopping at Daytrana), and all he could say for the longest time is, "the school just doesn't know how to handle children these days when they get a bit hyper... it's a kid thing."  During 1st and 2nd grade, it was awful and only getting worse. We started our son on Daytrana almost a year ago now and he is doing so much better, though still struggling.  My husband has finally come to grips with the fact that our child is gifted and needs a bit of extra help in areas with regards to focus. It was a hard battle, but once he saw our son off of the meds for a short while, he soon realized they do help him.  Now, I am wondering if he isn't misdiagnosed, as he has a lot of the classic signs of Asperger's Syndrome, which can be mistaken for ADHD/ADD symptoms.  Hang in there! It does get easier.  Just remember to breathe!

Sam - posted on 01/07/2009

my son is on clonidine that doesn't urve his appitite at all .. hope that helps x

Ardeliah - posted on 01/07/2009

Biphentin. My son got his appetitie back when he started it.

Annie - posted on 12/30/2008

Hi my name is Ann. My daughter was diagnosed in March and started on Concerta. To this day she has had no problems with her appetite. It hasn't affected her at all. Hope this helps.

Sam - posted on 12/30/2008

Hi my name is sam i have a 8 year ols son calles kieran he was diagnosed with a.d.h.d at the age of 7 he has been on 3 different medications in the last 15mths he was first put on the dreadfull drug ritolin whitch depressed his appotite so much he lost 6kilos in 6 wks so i took him back then he was on atamoxitine whitch had no affect at all he is now on clonidine and thank god it works and his appotite is fab .. hope that helps take care xx

Lisa - posted on 12/30/2008

My son is on the Daytrana patch and has had some peeling/dryness issues on his thumbs. I really hadn't attributed it to any connection with the Daytrana since he had it when he was on Ritalin LA and Focalin as well. He does have extremely dry skin which runs in our family. I have found that the Ahava DerMud creme will really help with the extreme dry skin issues. Also he has been using the Aveeno Overnight Dry Skin lotion and it has seemed to help too. Hope this helps!

Lori - posted on 12/29/2008

My daughter is on Concerta and has been for a long while and it has never affected her appetite

Jeanette - posted on 12/29/2008

My son has been on Concerta for five years and he seems to eat very well and maintain his weight on this medication.

Kimberley - posted on 12/24/2008

y son is on stratara and he has actually put weight on with this one and none of the other meds her has tried have allways made him lose wight

Amy - posted on 12/24/2008

One of my son is on Adderall. It doesn't seem to upset his stomach or curve his appetite, and he is not having any problems with it. If you try this, please watch for promoted anger issues. My other son tried this medication and on the re-check with our doctor I mentioned fits he was having that I referred to as "rage". My doctor immediately took him off of it, saying this was a rare side effect.

Mechael - posted on 12/24/2008

My son is on Ritalin LA, his appetite was curbed for about a week and as long as I give him his medicine everyday, he does not have an issue.

Beth - posted on 12/23/2008

My 12 year old daugher is on 54 mg of Concerta. We kept raising her dose until we thought we hit the right one. She does say that she isn't very hungry for lunch, but she eats me out of house and home starting just after school is out. This year she has been very busy with volleyball and basketball, so she does burn a lot of energy. She is 5' 6" with a size 8 1/2 shoe, so we have had not growth issues. She did not do well when we initally had her on Adderall. She was always angry and didn't eat well. Every child reacts differently to the same medications though. You may just have to experiment.

Donica - posted on 12/23/2008

My 5 year old has been on the Daytrana patch since this summer and we have really been pleased. He is on the lowest dose (10 mg) and we have been as high as 15 and 20 mg. He eats an enormous breakfast, light snack during the day, and a big dinner after the patch is off. He maintained his weight for several months and just this month gained back 3 lbs. Our pediatrician gave us some ideas that have worked -

Omega - 3 fish oil supplements, adding olive oil to his drinks (healthy fats), he drinks pediasure consistenly and likes it, and basically we don't ever deny him food. It is critical for us to get protein in him for breakfast as the day seems to be easier in all of us. We give him eggs, peanut butter, and I also add a scoop of organic whey protein to his OJ. The artificial food colorings especially red can increase the ADD symptoms - I try to stick to organic/natural snack foods. Initially we tried Strattera ( a non-stimulant but in pill form) and the physical battle to try to get it in him was not worth it. He has mild Tourette's which can become worse on stimulants, but we were willing to give it a try. Fortunately, the Tourette's symptoms initially were worse, but now it is as if his body has regulated itself and he is doing great. He does have some minor redness/skin irritation which generally disappears by morning. Sleeps well or on some nights if he's really wired, we use Melatonin which the body naturally produces anyways but helps regulate sleep cycles. The best way to describe it is that prior to Daytrana, his ADD was life consuming, now Daytrana has been life changing.

Kristy - posted on 12/22/2008

This sounds strange and I think that I am the only one, but my son is currently on Adderal (sp) and is having not problem. We were on Focalin for about 6 months and I had to take him back to the Dr. He wasn't eating and all he wanted to do was stay in his room by himself. With the Adderal he is my normal child but just easier to control and have a conversation with without yelling at him for not paying attention.

Heather - posted on 12/22/2008

My son is taking Focalin XR 5 mg and it does not affect his appetite. It is not supposed to affect the appetite at all. He is growing well. But I think that the dose needs to be upped because he is not doing well in school. His grades have fallen a lot! He has brought home some F's lately! My husband is totally against meds. So this is all an uphill battle all of the time. My husband is constantly yelling at him for things that he simply can not control. My hubby thinks that and quote" that it is humanly possible for him to focus and pay attention" . Yeah whatever! With meds maybe. Without no way! But he totally does not understand any of this. I have tryed to explain to him that it is his nureotransmitters not him on purpose annoying you, to no avail. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Vanessa - posted on 12/22/2008

My 6 year old started with Daytrana. The skin issues were too much to bear although her symptoms were pretty well controlled. She then went to Focalin but was taking 20 mg in the morning and 20 mg at lunch and her symptoms were still not controlled very well. The doctor just put her on Vyvanse and I have got to tell you, this is BY FAR the best medicine she has been on so far. Her appetite is fine, she goes to sleep just fine, she's getting better marks in school, not chewing on her clothes anymore and the defiance is GONE! She was weepy for a couple of days but for the first time in years I was able to take my little girl shopping without having a migraine by the time we got home!!!

Brenna - posted on 12/15/2008

Yes, that is very true that every person is VERY different. I am the only one in my family with several different food allergies. My mom doesn't quite understand why I am allergic to so many things... but we are all different. I hope you were able to find a med that works for your child(ren). We went through 2 others before trying Daytrana, and it seems to work. I didn't think my son would be alright with a patch on him daily, as he has big issues with just wearing a bandaid, but he hasn't put up a fuss at all; it has been 10 months now.

Jen - posted on 12/15/2008

We did not have that problem, or that I noticed. We tried the baby oil (nurse told us about that). It was more of a allergic reaction rash than dry skin.... Every child is different, and there are so many different meds out there.

Brenna - posted on 12/15/2008

As for the skin issues with Daytrana, we use babyoil on the exposed areas after the patch has been removed for the day, or after baths, etc. This sems to help a lot. My son also has had some issues with dry skin where the patch was located on his hips, but the bigger issue is his hands/fingers that seem to peel all of the time. We don't know if this is related to him being on the patch or not. Has anyone else noticed any finger/toes peeling on their children while they are on Daytrana?

Dawndi - posted on 12/15/2008

My daughter has tried 4 different meds since she was 5 and she is now 10. I have to say the patch, Daytrana worked the best. She didn't seem to lose her appetite. Plus, after homework, you remove the patch, the med is not in their system any longer. I do not do meds on breaks, weekends, or summer. This helps my daughter still maintain her weight and grow as she is supposed to.

Sati - posted on 12/15/2008

My son is not on Strattera any more, but when he was on it, it really didn't seem to do much, which is why we took him off of it. HOWEVER, the doctor said that each child's system is different; what didn't work for him still works for MANY kids. I would say that it's worth a shot, but def ask your doctor first.

Jen - posted on 12/15/2008

We were on Daytrana for about 4 months, and thought it worked well. It gave a skin rash to my daughter, and caused terrible problems on her skin. She has very sensitive skin, and the patch caused her skin in that area to go raw. We tried rotating the patch everyday like they said and nothing helped.

Brenna - posted on 12/14/2008

My son is on Daytrana patches, and he doesn't seem to suffer much in the way of food issues or sleep issues. We put it on him in the morning and remove it about 3:30 daily. This allows for him to eat a good meal at dinner and sleep very well at night. We tried Focalin, but it stopped him from eating and sleeping. Daytrana can be regulated a lot easier.

Sati - posted on 12/14/2008

No, my boy did not have any trouble sleeping on Strattera. It is not a stimulant, so you don't have the same side effects.

Jen - posted on 12/14/2008

We are on Focalin 20 mg for my 8 yr old. We have tried several. Vyvanse was a nightmare for us, and the doctor that RX'd it, would not change it. We were seeing a therapist that was "suppose" to be helping. She started end of April 08 on this. By May, she lost 5 lbs. We tried this all summer, and she just kept losing weight. She stopped eating. By August she was done to 58 or 59lbs. She was 83-85lbs. We went to the pediatrician, and he stopped us on that one and we started back on Focalin. She was on this before we saw the therapist. I think Vyvanse was his medicine of choice, as I talked to several other mom's seeing him, and all their kids were on it. She has not gained any weight back, but at least she is maintaining the weight. She is about 63 lbs now. She is very tall for her age, and looks bone thin.

Pauline - posted on 12/12/2008

My son is on Rubifen 20mg tablets once a day. He doesn'e seem to be eating anyless but he has never been a big eater.

Lisa - posted on 12/12/2008

My son (14) is on Daytrana patches. He is able to concentrate at school and stay out of trouble. His appetite is ok and he doesn't have sleep issues. It's once a day and lasts 9 hrs. So no need for additional meds late in the day.

Mandy - posted on 12/11/2008

Depends on the child. If his dose is to high it can cause him to have poor appetite. My son is 10 he's on Concerta 36 mg and he eats normal its one a day in the morning before school. I use to have him on 56 mg and he was a rombie with no appetite so i had the doctor lower the dose and he's doing great with food and school he's still a little hyper but its just like he's a normal hyper happy child nothing to unbareable!!

Shawna - posted on 12/11/2008

My son has been on Focalin for four years and it seems to be doing a great job on his focusing problem. He doesn't have any problem eating. But I guess at 14years they all know how to eat. :) We have tried everything on the market before this. It was the only med that didn't cause him to lose a ton of weight. It is at least a good thing to look into.

Sati - posted on 12/11/2008

Strattera. It is not a stimulant. Ask your Dr.