Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD medicine

My ds10 is taking medicine for ADHD. This summer, we took him off of it for a couple of months. Even though I hear people say the difference with meds is very obvious, I think the differences are subtle with my ds. On the medicine, he pesters his siblings less and is less likely to argue with adults. He's also more likely to cry, more likely to get very angry when he doesn't get his own way, and he has trouble getting to sleep. Which kid do I want to live with? I'm not sure. Should the differences be more noticeable?

Hey Keet,

rock and a hard place, eh? I'm thinking that at 10 your DS might be able to self report, and that's useful information.

How many different medications have you tried? Is your son diagnosed with ADHD or ADD? (I hear that ADD is less responsive to medication)

What else does your son do to improve his function? Sports, nutrition, sleep hygiene, meditation?

Also - how much of the 'very angry'and crying has to do with presence or absence of school rather than presence or absence of drug?

If you haven't already tried other medications, I think that now is the time to get on my least favorite amusement park of life ride: Medication Trial Merry-Go-Round. It's awful, but it's great when it works. Even if it doesn't work, at least you know you 'exhausted' every avenue - emphasis on exhausted because that's what it feels like!

Best Wishes Keet!
Grinity

I'm wondering if you have found the right med and or the right dosage. With my son, his personality remains in tact with the meeds, but his ability to efficiently do homework, use his strategies and attend to other tasks is noticeably better on meeds than not. He is also better able to follow conversations and refrain from off topic, annoying remarks.

You describe crying and other side effects that sometimes result from a stimulant. Have you tried other brands? In an ideal situation, the medicine would have minimum side effects and provide an appreciable difference in behavior. I agree with Grinity, it may be time to get on the merry-go-round. Best of luck,

There are different classes of meds for attention: sounds like your child might be on a stimulant med (like Ritalin or several others). For some kids this increases irritability or moodiness, causes sleeplessness or weight loss, etc.

There exist other meds that don't have quite the same potency, but also don't have those side effects: Strattera is one, but there are others too. You might ask your prescriber about trying a non-stimulant ADHD med and seeing if you can get a better balance in place.

DeeDee

The best source I know for discussing various meds, side effects and alternatives is http://millermom.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general You'll find many members that have been in your shoes.

We are struggling with the same dilemma with ADHD meds right now. DD7 had an appointment today with her pediatrician and we had this same discussion.... moderate response to meds (less fidgeting, climbing over things, talking incessantly, slightly better focus at school) vs extreme emotional mood swings (lack of coping with her perfectionism, screaming rages, out of context anger). In her case, we noticed the difference when we increased her med dosage last November. She was on 15mg of Biphentin but was outgrowing the dose and her teacher suggested that the meds were not effective enough. Since she has been on the increased dose, things have been tough. We gave it a few months to see if her moods would even out and they did... a little bit. I am just not convinced that there was enough of a beneficial effect to outweigh the negative, though.

So now we are back down to 15 mg and if this doesn't work we will try a different med. Her ped is so sweet and reassuring and said that every kid is different and every med works differently in each kid. We just have to do some trial and error to see what works best for her.

Good luck with your son and I wish you patience!!

I have found that it also matters who does the prescribing. We have a developmental pediatrician whose entire business is thinking about all these meds in relation to the particular collection of symptoms my kid has. She is an artist-- she is very careful about what med, what dosage, and will listen to me and DS describe symptoms and situations for an hour or more if need be before making a decision.

I wouldn't want the regular pediatrician to be doing this job for us-- our DS is too complicated. YMMV.

DeeDee

I agree that working with a specialist such a developmental pediatrician is preferable to working with a general pediatrician. I work with a developmental neurologist that heads the LD unit in a large children's hospital. For me, it was important that the doctor understand my son's learning disabilities and their relationship (or possible cause) of his inattention. Other families work with psychiatrists with great success.

Most pediatricians are generalists and may not see enough ADHD cases to be able to treat and monitor complex patients as well as other specialists.

I'm glad I read this. We are going to do a "trial" of meds with DS5 in the next month. She originally prescribed Vyvanse (?) - I think that's a stimulant one. I didn't even know there were non-stimulant meds.

KD: the stimulants do work better for a lot of kids. (Our developmental pediatrician says the non-stimulant meds don't have as much "WOW factor" in the outcomes.)

All of the drugs, stimulants or not, have different side effects: the stimulants can make people irritable, eat less, and lose weight or lose sleep; the non-stimulants tend to be hard on the GI tract; so there's no "free lunch."

I'd ask your prescriber to tell you all the options and to clarify very specifically why they prefer the recommended one over the others. And exactly what side effects you'll likely see. And what "plan B" would look like if this med is not well tolerated.

Many kids have to try three or four meds before finding the right one: it's not a nice process, but the payoff can be large. Finding the most experienced and qualified prescriber can help streamline the process, but it doesn't fix the trial and error problem.

DeeDee