Meds don't work when he's sick!

[swgiles]

A couple of weeks ago my ds (6 yo) had a low-grade fever for about 4 days (Fri-Mon). He had no other symptoms and has gotten "mystery fevers" before so I didn't worry about it until the 4th day when it went up to 102 and he complained of a sore throat. Went to the doctor, negative for strep, she gave us a couple samples of a broad spectrum antibiotic to take for a couple days until they did a backup strep test (standard procedure). He didn't have school that day and his fever broke so he went to school on Tuesday. His teacher said he didn't have a good day that day, was having a hard time keeping focus and staying on task. I thought it was just a little leftover from having been sick but Wed. and Thurs. were HORRIBLE! We had 24/7 pre-medication behavior times 10! I was kicked, hit, spit at and got an amazing number of new insults (he's learning a lot in public school ).

His psychiatrist thinks he may still have been sick even though the fever was gone and said that the meds don't work so well when an ADHD kid is sick. We added 5mg ritalin to his 36 mg. concerta which helped a little but WOW!

So my question is, has anyone ever experienced this? We're going back to the psychiatrist on Monday. His behavior was back pretty much to normal last week but he's now what I'd call "mouthy". Just seems to have an edge to his behavior he didn't have before.

Sorry for the long post and I haven't been around for a while because things really had been going well.

Thanks for listening!

Shannon

[Honeysmom]

Shannon,

I am glad that you are starting to get it under control now, but that must've been frusterating!

I can see how he'd be mouthy and cranky when he is sick and recovering, but maybe he got stuck on a bad habit for that time and how is having a hard time getting past it.

It may also be a side effect of adding the Ritalin. I would keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse or better. I know it is hard to try and eliminate what is causing undesirable behaviors, but keep track of any other changes that he's made lately and see if you can pin down what is/has caused the change.

Some of the edginess might also be something that he saw another kid do or act a certain way. He might be testing the waters to see what you will allow him to get away with.

good luck...let us know what the doc thinks...Becky

[Brenda]

My daughter has been on an antibiotic for a week for a sinus infection.It seems like her adderall xr is not working at all.Her behavior is just like you explained.Her dr told me that antibiotics can make stimulants not work as well.

[swgiles]

We met with the Doctor today and he did say that the Concerta (and added Ritalin) could be causing the " Defiant" and "oppositional" behavior (I had other less politically-correct terms for it!) He said backing down the dosage might help nip it before it becomes too habitual. He gave us a medication called guanfacine which he says works like clonidine but more slowly and was effective for the hitting, kicking, screaming, biting part. Anyone have any experience with this med?

So we're going to try backing down from 36mg to 27 on the concerta and adding this other medication over the summer. We can experiment a little while he's not in school and see what works.

I worry about giving him so many different meds but when it's working, it's really good and I think he gets that too.

I feel like I'm trying to solve a mystery. I get a few solid clues that we're heading in the right direction then I make a turn and hit a dead end. Definitely keeps things interesting!

Thanks for listening.

Shannon