Daughter and weightloss

[LaTonya]

Hil. I am new here. I wanted to ask about the weightloss. My daughter is 6yrs old. She has been on Concerta since the beginning of Sept.2003. She has been loosing wieght since the middle of Oct.2003. She is continuing to loose weight. She came home with urinary prob. during school one day inthe middle of Oct. That is when I believe she started loosing the weight. She is still haveing urinary probs. My question is can it still be the concerta when it didnt start for a month and a half after she started taking the concerta? She is to stop the concert for this weekend and then go for another wieght check on Monday. If no improvement or more weight lost she will see a GI doc immediately. She has lost 10lbs since the Middle of OCt. and has lost 3 of those lbs since Dec.8th. I have tried pediasure and ensure. Too yucky. Bought all of her favorite foods. Fed her myself or tried. She just isnt eating or drinking enough. She gets soo pale at times. she has gone down 3 pant sizes and I can count her ribs. She bruieses her back bone on the bottom of the tub because there is no meet on those bones. She has changed drastically from her Sept. school picture and the docs have noticed it. Can you help me?

La Tonya

[Jenn]

All I can say is good luck and make sure that blood work is done. Any blood work they can think of that would cause it. My kids never lost but had trouble gaining. My son has only gained 5 pounds since starting meds in Spring 2002. MY girl stayed at 55 pounds until last spring and has gained almost 30 pounds even though she is on stims.

There could be a number of issues like was she big before the meds plus having side effects not listed. I wish you good luck with the doctor.

[Dad2Brooke]

LaTonya, I am sorry to hear about your daughters weight loss problems.

In most kids stimulants do cause a loss of appetite. In Brooke's case she lost about 5 pounds whenever we tried a different stim.

I've read on here where some parents found success by giving their kids vanilla ensure or pediasure and putting chocolate syrup in it to make it like chocolate milk. Buttered popcorn, things like that.

As to the urinary problems, when Brooke was on Concerta 36 mgs, Ritalin 10 mgs (afternoons only) and Guanfacine 1 mg (morning and evening), she had a problem of having the urge to go to the bathroom a lot. She wouldn't go, but she would have the urge. This was fairly soon after we added the Ritalin to her med regimen because of the Concerta wearing off by the afternoon.

She wound up with an urinary tract infection. We took her to a pediatric urologist and found out that the urges where cause by the drug interactions. Shortly thereafter we dropped the stims and tried Strattera and the urges went away immediately.

Not sure if this will help, but it sounded similar.

Let us know what the doctors say.

Good luck and God Bless.

[jdmom]

We had trouble with appetite and weight loss while on Adderall XR. We finally just had to stop it. In my opinion, stims do cause weight loss, but just because your child loses weight on one, doesn't mean that on a different one, they'll do just fine. When we took him off the Adderall, we tried Strattera, but it just didn't address his hyperactivity. We relunctantly gave it up and tried Concerta with great reservations. I didn't want to try another stim because the lack of appetite on the Adderall really scared me. I couldn't even force him to eat. However, he's doing great on the Concerta! He is eating normally and even goes through stages where he eats like a little pig. He's gained weight normally, so I'm really happy with it. Maybe you should try a different med? Is Concerta the only med you've tried?

[AnneM]

Hi LaTonya and welcome ... My son (now 15) was put on Concerta at 13. He lost a LOT of weight in the first 6-12 months of being on Concerta ... to the extent where it was really worrying me ... however during the latter part of 2003 he gained some weight and is now what I would call a "normal" weight .... My point is though that although there was a significant weight loss to start with it DID even out after a period of time when he had gotten "used to" the medication....

[mom2tj]

hi Latonya,


I have the same problem or close to it DS is also on Concerta since Sept and has lost 5 pounds he is very small for his age he is in the -5% he is 8 1/2 yo and wears size 6 only 44 pounds....the only thing keeping him from loosing more then he has already is that he drinks alot of milk I've posted the same question below I dont know what to do..... I wish he sould eat real food!

[LitlBaa]

Welcome LaTonya!

My DD lost weight on the stims too. We switched her to Strattera and she's eating and sleeping much better. If your daughter isn't drinking enough fluid that can also cause bladder problems. I finally started making milkshakes or smoothies for every meal to get both liquids and calories in my DD. Also, popcorn is her favorite vegetable. I bought the extra buttery stuff for the extra calories.

I hope the doctor's visit goes well for you.

[LaTonya]

My daughter is having trouble with her urethra holding urine. She has been through so much with this. Repeated uti's and alot of pain. That is why I sometimes think it has something to do with her weightloss. The timing is right but I just dont know. She was on Ritalin from July to September and had no wieghtloss at all. I understand it can be the difference between the meds. There is just so much going on at once it is hard to distinguish which one is the problem. I hope to find out soon.

La Tonya

[jachkldavis]

HI La Tonya,
My ds5 is on 36 concerta. We are having problems with him losing weight. He has lost 4 pounds since November and he is small for his age. The doctor tole me to try Boost or Ensure (it is cheaper than Pediasure). They also suggested icecream at night after dinner. Also use whole milk. I now make his morning oatmeal with milk instead of water. We stock up on cheese and put it on almost every vegetable. We add jelly or syrup to his oatmeal and he has his own jar of peanut butter that he can use a spoon in. It is so hard because he doesnt have an appetite. We make deals if he eats. He can watch 30 minutes of tv or play his gameboy if he eats dinner.
I hope this helps a little.
Christine

[swmom]

LaTonya -

We started out on Concerta, and lost too much weight.
Then, we tried Adderall, same thing. Then, we tried Strattera, no weight loss at all. She hasn't gained too much since we've been on it, but things have leveled out nicely. And the medication is working well. You might want to ask your doctor about Strattera. We've been very pleased and haven't nearly the side effects we did with the stimulants.

Good luck.

[Mishamom]

My daughter lost 2 pounds her first month on Strattera. Recently at her 3 month check up she had gained weight and grown taller so she's settled into the medication pretty well. Strattera is the first medication we've used so I don't have any other sort of comparison to go by - we've been very happy with the results and lack of side effects though.

[Jorgy]

I would be willing to bet that she is not drinking enough and or when having a bowel movement she is not wiping in the correct direction. Just 2 things to look at. My son lost 30 lbs in 3 weeks on Adderal. We switched him to Concerta and no side effects... a year and a half later he is at a normal wieght. If nothing else shows up take her off the Concerta. Nothing is worth that kind of weight loss. Sue

[LaTonya]

Hello Everyone. Sorry I havent posted in a while. She has been doing pretty good. Not a big increase in appitite but she is holding her own at 49lbs now. No weightloss in about 3 weeks.! They did bloodwork, ultrasound on her stomach and an edoscopy last month. All showed absolutely nothing. She has been drinking boost and loves it but still no weightgain. She will not drink alot of milk or any ensure or pediasure at all. We are just ignoring things and they are doing better. No more potty accidents or anything. So it looks as if she is on the uphill for now. I am soo glad.

My 4 yr old son is also on the concerta and he is doing wonderful. I have noticed a huge change in him. A little weight loss but not too bad. All in all things are going good for us. I will try to post more from now on! Thanks so much for all your help! I hope some of the kiddos loosing weight can find the right med for them. I know it is ssoo difficult living with this on a daily basis. It does not completely control my daughter. She is very difficult to deal with but we can't afford any med changes since she is doing well with the weight.