ADHD Meds - Algonquin,IL

My family is on Adderall. We love it but it is one of those meds that is either wonderful or gives you rages.

My daughter is on Short acting 10mg focalin 2x a day , It works well with us. Concerta did not work, Vyvance extended was giving us the anger issues when it started wearing off.
She takes one dose when she leaves for school then another dose at school , things are going MUCH smoother since we added the at school dose.
It does not give us the appetite issues the vyvance did. And since she's having less problems at school in the afternoons , our at home afternoons go smoother as well.

ETA my daughter is ADHD-C ( combined type) which is both inattentive and hyperactive.

I have taken adderall and I am scared of what it did to me and it scares me to think of the effects I had happening to a young child who may not understand and/or may not be able to verbalize what they are feeling.

At first, taking the adderall I felt GREAT! So focused, and not nervous, just "clear" and confident. However, I was on the XR (extended release) and I honestly think it built up in my system and started causing problems. I became very "touchy", didn't have much patience (I have always had the patience of a saint), and I always felt very "on edge"...that any little mishap might cause me to lose it. I started to become very anal, needing to be in control, perfectionistic. I started losing weight (which has always been a hot button for me - not always made the best choices for dieting) and that caused some REAL problems...that is when people started worrying and thinking something was wrong. I was very on edge, I couldn't handle things like I had been able to prior and I felt like any moment I could snap. Eventually it REALLY did, and I ended up needing to go on medical leave from work in order to straighten myself out. Now that I have learned what I have learned and know more and am more aware about my own mental health, I have been tempted to try something again - I have suffered with undiagnosed ADHD until I got diagnosed and started the adderall at 27. However, I think back to those scary times I experienced and I just don't know if I want to put myself through that again.

Are you asking for yourself or for a child? I used to be a teacher and because of my experience, I would always be so nervous any time a parent mentioned starting one of those meds on their child...I have seen them make a world of difference, but I also have seen parents want to put them on kids that I would NEVER EVER classify as ADHD. There are drs. out there who will not give meds to children under a certain age and there are drs out there who will prescribe anything "just to give it a shot"...my experience was not worth "giving it a shot", in my opinion. Some dangerous things were happening to me and because I was an adult, I knew something was not right...but I can't imagine a child feeling that way...I know adults are supposed to monitor closely, but I just have my own reservations...again, completely my opinion. I have seen meds work great...

I would be happy to share more of my experience if you want to PM me. Otherwise, good luck!!

ADDITION: Another thing to remember is that children/everyone will respond differently to different drugs. If something works great for me, it might cause bad effects for you. Another thing to think about/remember is don't be afraid to question your dr.'s opinion. Don't be afraid to question them why they recommend that drug, etc. Don't be afraid to do your own research, ask around for other expert opinions, even think outside the box (I have had parents take their child to a chiropractor!)...yes, Drs. have a lot of education and are experts, but they also have opinions and those opinions may not necessarily match your own...hence, we have drs who love to prescribe meds, and drs who are very limited in what they prescribe. Again, good luck!!

Hi R..

This does not answer your question, however, my son is 4 and within two minutes of meeting him, you can tell he has a short attention span/adhd, well, we took him in for some blood tests at the pediatricians and one of the tests that we tested for is thyroid panel. The test results came back that he has hypothyroidism which can mimic adhd. We were very surprised that he had this, but we finally are seeing an endo. this Friday. My son could still have adhd, but the thyroid certainly will mimic adhd. Just saying to have your child checked for this as it can mimic adhd. I am not saying this because I am against medication for kids, I just wanted to throw it out there because I wish someone would have told me earlier to check my son's thyroid.

Good Luck.

There are 2 families of stimulant meds: amphetamines and methylphenadates. Since both are stimulants, both affect appetite. My daughter tried Vyvanse (amphetamine) smallest dose and while it had great daytime effects of better focus, it just did not wear off. She could not sleep at all. After a break without meds, we then tried Concerta (methyl phenadate) which seemed to work OK daytime (less focus than Vyvanse but she could sleep) but after a while she became depressed so we stopped. She now takes no meds at all, she is on an IEP for her dyslexia but still HATES school since she finds it repetitive and boring, and then sometimes she is totally lost because of the dyslexia. We are pulling her out of the public school system and either sending her to a special school for dyslexics (if they have a spot) or else we will homeschool.
BUT as others have stated - drugs effects people differently. Sorbitol and Aspertame (diet sugars) make me very hyper and give me headaches.while others can take those sugars without side effect. My sister cannot take ibuprofen because it gives her hives and stomach cramps, while for me it works great for pain and actually helps against cramps. MSG in chinese or packaged dry foods (onion soup mix, etc) give me hives and heart palpitations but my husband can eat the same food and be just fine.
Our doctor recommended that I keep a log which I did - when we gave the med, what dose, what her daytime/evening/night response was, apetite effects, moods, etc. The good thing about these stimulant meds is that as soon as you stop taking them, they are out of your system a few hours later.
Still, we decided to go without meds and alter the teaching method and the times and durations of her work. Good luck.

My son has inattentive ADD (no hyperactivity) and takes Focalin. He has no side effects to speak of. He says it works well through his school day - wearing off by 4th period - since he is on a block schedule this is his last class of the day and it is band so it works out.

He normally does not take the medicine on weekends, holidays and school breaks. He does take it during band camp over the summer, and he has taken it during school holiday when he was taking his driving test - so the down time fluctuates and he has learned that he can take it for a day when he needs the attention boost.

This is the only ADD medicine he has ever taken. I did extensive research before even talking to his doctor about which one to use. Since this one works well, with no negative effects we have only adjusted the dosage as he has grown and gained weight.

Our son has been on every stimulant at some point, except the patch, Daytrana.

Side effects have ranged from very minor (initial decrease in appetite) with Concerta, which is the "winner" med for him, to horrendously bad (rages where he smashed holes in his wall and threatened to jump out his window) on Vyvanse (had to call 911). Adderall also caused rages as it wore off. My big tip when starting medication is to not let things escalate the way we did ... if you don't like a side effect, don't count on it improving over time, because it may very well get worse.

As bad as things were with the meds that weren't a match, the positive experience with Concerta makes up for it. Concerta allows our son to do well in school and function like a normal child most of the day. Without medication, it's impossible. He went from having one friend to having a group of friends. People don't know he has ADHD when they meet him and his medication is active.

My other tip with medication is to get your best information from the prescribing doctor. The experts really are the most reliable source of information and can address any concerns or questions. Don't do too much looking around online because there's a lot of bad, scary, unreliable information.

Which medication are you considering?

So far everything my son has tried has had the same active ingredient as ritalin, just different doses and times. He tried Concerta (great for awhile, but the school complained it wasn't working as well as it used to, and didn't wear off by dinner time causing weight loss, poor appetite, and stomach aches), 2 short-acting doses of methylphenidate/basic ritalin (wore off by dinner time, but school complained it did not control mid-day behavior), metadate CD (school complained it did nothing, and it didn't wear off by dinner time), and now Focalin (great at school, and seems to wear off by dinner time)