Desperately need advice on meds,school,behavior, etc.

Julie - posted on 03/08/2010

my son is 11 and had the same issues, he was on concerta and he did get terrible torrettes. Because he had underlying tourettes the concerta being astimulent made it come out more and much more pronounced. VERY noticable. they took him off concerta and he now takes stratera and he has been on the merit roll & honor roll all year. concerta being a stimulent drug brought out the tourettes more. as with any meds there are side effects, everyone is different. Luckily the stratera has worked well for my son. Good luck.

Jenelle - posted on 03/07/2010

I'm kind of in the same boat. We are in the process of finding the right meds for my son. I have known since he was young that he had ADD but didn't medicate him until it affected his school work. He has been on I think five different meds. I have found that once we get him up to the dose that he needs, he quits eating, and has terrible mood swings. He is so emotional. I don't know a whole lot about the different meds, but I do know that they can cause tics and they can become permanent. If your son is having tics he needs to get off of the medicine causing it and if his doctor isn't listening to you, you need to get a new doctor. It takes a lot of trial and error, but finding the right doctor is going to be key to your success. My mom has raised two ADD and one ADHD children, if you would like I can have her send you a message for any Q's you have, just let me know, she has a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom.

Cindi - posted on 03/07/2010

I am a Special Ed preschool teacher and I have 2 children with ADD (no hyperactivity). My daughter, who is the oldest, was diagnosed in third grade but I suspected it since she was in preschool. She has the distractible type. She started on a very low dose of ritalin and that worked well. She had no side effects and was able to focus. In middle school we tried her on concerta but she said it made her feel different. So we went back to the ritalin. She was able to complete college wothout meds. My son, who is 2 years younger, was diagnosed in first grade. He has the impulsive type. He also started on ritalin but in middle school we switched him to concerta since the ritalin was not working well anymore. He did well with this switch. He tried not taking meds for one semester in college and ended up on academic probation. He is back on his meds and doing better this semester. I also have a nephew who was diagnosed last year and he is doing well on concerta. These three children did not have any issues with emotions or depression, although I was always on the lookout for signs. My daughter did have some emotional times if her routine was disrupted. Does your son have a routine on the weekends? I also found that, especially with my daughter, keeping her busy and active on the weekends helped. I do have a friend whose daughter had issues with the meds and tried 3 or 4 different ones before finding one that worked. She did have trouble with depression and was on meds for that. I know that it is a tough for her mom to know what's the best thing to do for her. I have a new student that just started in my class who is taking natural suppliments to control her ADHD. I could get the name of these for you if you'd like. This child's mom also has her on a very restrictive diet due to allergies that she swears by. The other really important piece for my kids was therapy. We have a therapist who specializes in kids with ADHD. He was invaluable in working with my children. His philosophy was that kids with ADHD initially need meds and therapy. The meds help them to focus on the strategies being presented in therapy. The idea is to make the strategies so automatic for them that they can be used even if the child is not on their meds. As a parent you also need to be your child's advocate. Some schools are very open to modifications for kids while others are not. The elementary school my kids went to was great and we developed a 504 plan for my son with very little resistance from the school. Since my daughter has always been able to cope at school but fall apart when at home we did not persue a 504 plan until middle school when she had several teachers. We were fought by the school for 3 years until she said she didn't want to fight anymore. She found a way to cope on her own but it was hard. If you think your son my need modifications in school and he doesn't already have a 504 plan I would suggest looking into it now. The sooner the better because after elementary school it becomes harder. As far as who monitors the meds, we were lucky. Our psychologist would suggest when to change meds and what to try and then I would take them to the peditrician who would perscribe the meds. When my kids no longer needed regular therapy sessions the pediatrician took over monitoring the meds. Just before my son stopped seeing a pediatrician they wanted him to come in every 3 or 4 months to monitor his meds. I understood the idea behind this and I believe it may have been a new mandate but my son had been doing fine on the concerta for 6 years, I don't need a meds check every 3 months for him to continue on the same meds. We switched him to our GP and there has been no problem. Good luck.

Lori - posted on 03/06/2010

I went through the same thing with my son he was great till he hit grade one.Then he turned into satin.I have him on Ritalin and hes great on it. Ritalin only last 4 hours in your system so i give it every 3 so he stays at a steady pace.The 24 hour ones only lasts 8 and they figure your child sleeps 12 hours so i don't recommend those ones .II am add myself so i know he gets it from me.But Ritalin has changed both of our lives.Don"t let the story's bug you there not true.

Valerie - posted on 03/06/2010

The change in his personality would concern me. Maybe another drug would work better for him.

This year (3rd grade) is the first time my son has been successful in school, and that has made a tremendous difference in his attitude and behavior overall. For him the turnaround came with a concerted combination of efforts: meds, addressing behavior, tutoring in reading, and an IEP/Special Ed agreement with the school so that he gets more attention and direction in the classroom.

Shannon - posted on 03/05/2010

Just a suggestion ask your physician if He has done any studies with strattera. My son has ADHD we decided to treat naturally through diet and some supplements until he can make that decision himself. Our Dr. did clinical studies of strattera and only notices one out of 500 subjects had good results. He also told me that it was more of a placebo than actual medication. I agree that some kids do need medication but some do really well with just a diet change also. Wheat and sugar are big triggers for my son. Some dyes in food and dairy can be triggers too.

Angie - posted on 03/04/2010

Thanks to you both. I think I'm gonna try and start incorporating some dietary changes over the next few weeks and then over spring break do the whole adhd diet thing and maybe some vitamin supplements and see how he does med free while he's at home. And next time I go in to see his dr. I'm gonna ask about strattera.

Carla - posted on 03/04/2010

ASD is Autism Spectrum Disorder. His meds are for ADHD though. He was seeing a psychiatrist when he was first diagnosed but now we see our pediatrician for his ADHD meds. I would just call and say, "The meds aren't working, he's out of control," and she would either get him back in ASAP or tell me to come by and pick up a new Rx to try. It took several weeks to months (It started just before kindergarten and it was almost Christmas by the time we got it straightened out) to find the right combination. Whew. When I think back to those days....God was watching over me. I thought about homeschooling too, but can't afford to leave my job. He has luckily gotten settled in the routine of school now and is doing better. I think the daily routines help.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/03/2010

Your Dr is being paid to adjust meds but some only push certain brands I found.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/03/2010

Themedicine can bring out Tourettes symptoms we have the same problem on Metadate or did have. We finally switched to Straterra which is not an amphetamine based drug, he is learning fine but teachers expectations are often to high, they want them like every one else and they are not. They have a disability that cannot be seen outwardly so its hard for people to grasp it. We got our happy go lucky boy back switching to Straterra, tics cleared up. Started him on 5mg Adderall during school days because he was doing nothing and we are starting to see a little tic type behaviour but nothing drastic. We don't give Adderall on Days off. We will suspend all Medication over summer and let his brain and body develop. Hate the stuff, honestly its a nightmare as a parent feeling like your stuffing poison down them and all the Dr.s saying well if he was diabetic you would medicate him well duh, yeah he could die. He isn't going to die on ADHD just annoy the hell out of people in all likely hood. We wish to homeschool to but he does not want that he loves school for all its worth. Some Drs, don't get it. We have tried a few med's and the Straterra gives me the best of my son, he still does not listen all the time and spaces out and is impulsive but all kids are. Good luck, hope this helps.

Angie - posted on 03/02/2010

Thank you so much for you input. I was just wondering who adjusts his medicine, his dr or does he see a psychiatrist or what b/c it doesn't seem like my dr would have enough time to adjust Cory's meds back and forth alot so I'm wondering if I should take him to a specialist or something. Also, what is ASD? Thanx so much.

Carla - posted on 03/02/2010

Hey, my son is also 7 but was diagnosed a few years ago first with ADHD, then ASD. We tried a couple of different meds and combinations before we settled on Focalin and Tenex. He's been taking those two for a while. I know that Concerta, Adderal, Ridalin and Focalin are all similar but for some reason one worked better for him than another. We also adjusted the dose up and down throughout the day until we found the right mix. For ex, we tried Focalin XR, that is supposed to last all day but it wasn't a good fit for him. We switched to 5mg of Focalin in the am, with 2.5 mg around 11:00 and another 2.5 mg around 2:00. For whatever reason, this is currently working well for him. Adding the Tenex helped with his tics. He was pulling out eyelashes and chewing his shirt before we added the Tenex. Plus, the Tenex has a bit of sedation which helps with his ADHD. And he's on a wheat free diet. HUGE change in behavior after we changed his diet. Between the combination of meds, change in diet, and DT hours, he doing much better in school and at home. :)