Journey to find right meds begins

[Cheryl]

I have a now 14 year old who tried Adderall at the start of 6th grade with no benefit at all except it made him feel "weird" and made him pull on his hair more. He also tried Zoloft at that time to maybe help with some anxiety (cause of hair pulling) with not any results but now he doesn't pull it unless he is tired. He hated taking the medicine and we gave up and have struggled terribly all through middle school. Today I am having a consultation with his doctor to try again to find a medicine that will help my son out before high school next year. He has ADD without too much of the hyper part and and an auditory processing problem based on psychological testing with a specialist. Both of these present in pretty much the same way in him. He says he is so lost, frustrated, and embarrassed at school - he is in small group classes and pretty much hates it. Out of school he does somewhat okay but can be pretty sullen (and stubborn). He brought up the subject of taking a medicine again on his own but we need some help not getting discouraged right off the bat with a new med if it doesn't work pretty quickly. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Linda]

Hi Cheryl and welcome to our online family

14 is so hard...but you have to give it to your son for wanting to try another med.Sometimes trial and error is the only way to go to get the right med. Some people get lucky the first time.

Every child reacts differenly with each med....we had good luck with Concerta but like I said each child reacts differently.

Good luck at the Doctor and post back...Linda

[mothercat]

good luck with the journey..it is good that he is cooperative and cares to try.

[Cheryl]

Hey! Thanks for the replies. I had a good consultation with my son's doctor. After talking about everything, it looks like we may be trying Concerta. My son goes for a physical on 3/31 and after the doctor meets with him, we should get the prescription and hopefully be on the way up. This is the same doctor we have seen for years and knows us pretty well. I so want something to help - keep your fingers crossed. Thanks for the encouragement - I'll let you know how it's going!

[mothercat]

Jared has been on concerta 36mg for awhile now..it is pretty good for him..All kids are different but I havent heard very many complaints about the concerta..just a few here and there. Good luck.

[Cheryl]

My ds had his doctor appointment today and it was decided to go with 58mg of Concerta per day. (He weighed 160). Now that I have the prescription, I am leery of starting him on it. I am scared of the side effects - particularly the no appetite. He took a big step to go to the rising 9th graders football workouts and needs all his strength - may seem silly to some but it is a huge deal to him that he do well (he's never played football) and I hate for him to feel sick or weak as he gets used to it. The coaches seem pretty tough! Any thoughts on side effects with Concerta? Also, sounds like he may get moody in the evenings which is when the practices are. I know schoolwork is the most important but I wonder if I should wait for him to start the med until his tryout is over (he's got quite a while to go). Would ya'll go ahead and start and see how it goes? Thanks for your input. Cheryl

[Linda]

He might have a decrease in appetite initially but it will subside somewhat. Make sure he has a huge breakfast before the meds...that should help some.

Paul managed to maintain the same weight while taking the concerta. When it wore off at night he was an eating machine ;D Also we had no problems with the moodiness at night...just a big appetite

Try it...I can't see him feeling weak or sick. My opinion anyway.

[gabrielsmom]

My son is on Concerta 36 mgs and has been on it for about a year now. We have had great results on this and no side effects at all. He doesn't get moody when it wears off and it's had no effect on his appetite at all. We actually got very lucky with this. I know that some children do get the drop in appetitie and the moodiness when it wears off.

Also, the suggestions given here for if and when he gets these possible side effects are very good. If you are nervous about starting him on Concerta maybe you should start in on the weekend or during spring break just to see how it effects him and then take it from there.

Good luck. I hope you have as successful an experience as so many of us here have had with this med.

Keep us posted.

Josh

[mothercat]

Anytime I start Jared on a med I either do it on the weekend or I keep him home the first two days..likew when the beginning of meds at the start of the school year (since they wont let me medicate during summer)

[Cheryl]

Ok - we have a plan! We're going out of town for spring break that starts 4/4 and will start the Concerta the weekend we get back. It's good to hear about the successes - I guess when the doc brought up side effects I regressed to the bad time we had on Adderal a couple of years ago. Thanks for your advice!

[finnmom]

Cheryl, sound´s like you have a plan already, it´s good to start the way you can monitor him at the first day´s.

My ds9 has been on concerta for year and half now, forst on 18mg and for a month on 36mg now. It has been great for him too, no preticular sideeffect´s at all, a little bit of apetite loss at first but that was it. Best of luck for you on this

[AnneM]

Cheryl .. a big HELLO and GOOD LUCK with Concerta !! ..

My son was 14 when he started on Concerta too .... (he was on straight ritalin at age 13 but that was never a good med for him! ) ... but Concerta has suited him PERFECTLY !! ... (He is now nearly 17) ...

My ONLY concern is that 54 mg sounds possibly high considering he is only JUST BEGINNING TO TAKE IT .... 54 is NOT high if he has been taking it for a while .... Sam (my son) got up to 54 mg for a little while at around age 15 ... but before that was on 36 mg ... However, if the doctor is happy for him to go straight onto 54 mg then I am certain that is fine ...

One thing I noticed when my own son went up from 36 mg to 54 was that he tended to be very "quiet" ... not a big deal (and in fact in some ways was a relief !! ;D) ... but seriously watch out for him being "tooooo quiet"... especially to start with ...

Keep us posted !! ...

[Cheryl]

;)Ya'll don't know how much it helps to read your experiences with Concerta. We talked about the dose a lot and the doc decided since he is 5'10, 160lbs that the higher dose would be okay. We never saw any kind of benefit from Adderal or Zoloft on a low dose and we just gave up. Don't let me get discouraged if there isn't a quick wonderful result! I'll let you know after next weekend. We're out of town for Spring Break starting Monday - yippee!!

[Linda]

Have a good break Cheryl....you should see immediate results within an hour taking concerta.

[vickilyn32]

Hi cheryl and welcome. My DS is also 14, will be 15 next month, and has been on Adderall for years. He also plays football, and is on a very good team. (basketball, track and cross-country also) We tried Concerta and it did not work for us, but I noticed that for most kids, if concerta works adderall dosent, and vise versa. If adderall did not work, concerta may work just great. Dan also eats quite a bit when the meds wear off, so I keep all kids of quick healthy food around, and put his dinner up for a later time if I need to. As far as his temper during football practice, I see a lot of kids with tempers who play football. As long as he uses it to his advantage he will be fine. The coaches deliberatly cause Dan to loose his temper because when he is mad, he runs faster, hits harder, etc. I also feel that all the excercise he gets really helps him in school, along with the no pass no play rules. He will also be going to highschool next year, but is having a great year in 8th grade, so he does not want to leave. Good luck and let us know how he is doing on the Concerta.