Not sure what to do

[andrewsmom]

My son is ADD/inattentive. He has been on Ritalin for 1 year. Lately it seemed like it was not working very well so we went from 30mg a day to 40mg. And then he started having a tic. We have gone back down on the Ritalin and added Srattera hoping to get him off the Ritalin. I should say he is 10 years old and 97lbs. We started off with 25mg of the Stattera and went to 40mg after 4 days and he has been on 40mg for two weeks now. I was suppose to take him off the Ritalin in the mornings starting today. Well I took him off over the weekend Friday afternoon would have been his last dose. Well we went to church yesterday and he could not sit still he was banging his head on me and hitting himself and cracking his knuckles just really fidgety. So I did not take him off the Ritalin this moring. I called his Doctor and he said we can either go up on the Strattera and off Ritalin or stay at 40mg of Strattera and 20 mg of Ritalin. He is also on 0.1mg of clonidine. Since he started this Strattera he hasn't slept very well either. He takes it at night around 7:30. He is tired but yet he doesn't sleep well. There has been improvements with the two combined but I was really hoping to get him off the Ritalin.

[Brenda]

I would try 60 mg first.For his weight he should take between 52-62 mgs.I'm having the same problems with my DD.She's taking concerta and tenex.I've seen a few tics over the last few weeks and now I've noticed another thing that could be a vocal tic.She takes deep breaths and shrugs her shoulders at the same time.Some kids can't take stimulants .I would give strattera a chance before you go back to ritalin.Brenda

[andrewsmom]

Thanks for your reply! Yes I am going to keep him on the strattera it has only been 2 weeks still early I guess. Just hope we can get him off the ritalin.