ritalin LA vs straight ritalin

[eaccae]

DS was taking 5mg ritalin twice a day until this year. He needed a dosage increase so we tried 10mg twice a day and then switched over to 20mg metadate CD once a day. That seemed to work fine. But now insurance won't cover the metadate CD. We are trying 20mg of ritalin LA but he doesn't speak or eat or do anything so clearly the dosage seems to be too high. We opened the capsule (as directed by the doctor) and gave him 2/3 on applesauce - same problem for a few hours and then it seemed to wear off and it was like he was on no meds. Is it the dosage or is it the time release? We are going to try half tomorrow but I don't have high hopes so we may have to go back to the ritalin twice a day. Has anyone else had problems with the ritalin LA? I thought it was supposed to work just like the metadate CD but it isn't even close! I am so frusterated!

[Jorgy]

Elizabeth, Just because "they" say it will work the same doesn't mean that it will!!! Each kid reacts differently. Why? I don't know. Insurance companies love to play doctor to save money but what alot of patients don't realize is that they WILL usually pay for the med that works best but only after all the cheaper alternatives are used. If this med is not working, call your doctor. They can find out from the pharmacy what hoops they have to jump through to satisfy your insurance company. It takes awhile but eventually you will get back the med that was already working. Does this all make sense? I hope so but I do know that insurance companies getting their say in how doctors practice doesn't make any sense at all. Sue

[NativeLI]

My son was on both Ritalin and Ritalin LA. I didn't have the experience you had with Ritalin LA, but I did notice that the regular ritalin worked better on controlling his adhd than the Ritalin LA. I felt that when I increased the Ritalin LA he was moody and didn't eat, but when it was lowered it didn't control him long enough during school. Metadate never worked with him for some reason.

He is now trying concerta and doing great so far.

[eaccae]

Thanks, guys. Sue - the pediatrician tried and tried but they are NOT covering Metadate CD period, end of story. She had to jump through hoops to get Ritalin LA approved. Which totally pisses me off since we never had any problems with meds and now we have to figure this thing out. I did call the pediatrician and she is going to prescribe something else. But I have a feeling that we are going to have to go back to the ritalin twice a day. (Which I hate because we have DS loves not having to stop off at the nurses office)! I'll keep you posted. It's interesting that the metadate CD didn't work as well as the ritalin LA. There must be something with the time release that is different. We are probably going to try Concerta (the doctor doesn't like to prescribe it because with her experience she has had a lot of problems with the time release and her patients). She would have rather done adderall first but I won't do that. From what I've read about the mood swings - I can't go down that path. I know the ritalin works - so if the concerta doesn't - then we will have to do the twice a day thing.

[Jayebird]

Why don't you see if you can get the Insurance to cover Ritalin SR? It's an all day dose but not a time release. We went from regular Ritalin twice a day to Ritalin SR without any problems and it was great not having to give that afternoon dose. However later we decided to increase the dosage from 20 mg to 30 mg and they only make the Ritalin LA in that dosage. I actually think I liked the Ritalin SR better for the steady moods. I seem to notice more mood swings on the Ritalin LA.

[LitlBaa]

We switched DD from regular Ritalin to Concerta because the Ritalin was wearing off in about 2 hours, and she was literally bouncing off the walls. I liked the results on Concerta, it's the same stuff as Ritalin but in the all day formula. I don't know why her doctor never tried her on the long acting Ritalin