Help! He won't swallow his meds!

[lori762]

We have tried my son's adderall in everything, but he will not swallow it. He says it will make him throw up. Just today he sat with peanut butter in his mouth for 45 minutes and never did swallow it. After all the screaming and anxiety, he fell asleep. I think it is more traumatic for him to take the meds than anything. Does anyone know of any meds for adhd and anxiety disorders that is a patch, shot, or liquid? School is coming up and I need to have him settled.

[Dad2Brooke]

Welcome aboard, lori762! We are pleased to have you here, and I hope that you find the support and answers you need.

I know that you can have Ritalin made into a liquid. When we first tried Brooke out on it, we had a compund pharmacist make it into a suspension liquid. It was expensive $60, but the insurance cover half.

I would ask his doctor about it, they will have to prescribe it in that manner, for it to be made.

It would appear that Adderall can be crushed and mixed with food. (not Adderall XR) (check with your doctor) Have you tried mixing it with applesauce, pudding or yogurt? I know it is sneaky, but maybe try it this way and don't tell him it is in there. It may be a conditioned response and not to the taste or texture.

[Dad2Brooke]

UPDATE:

I did some research and here is what I found on this website:

www.keepkidshealthy.com/medicine_cabinet/adhd_medications.html

The decision on which medicine to start is a little easier to make if your child can't swallow pills. While there are no liquid preparations of any of the stimulants, the short acting ones, such as Ritalin and Adderall can usually be crushed or chewed if necessary. The sustained release pills must be swallowed whole (except for Adderall XR).

Adderall XR
The latest medication to get approval to treat ADHD is Adderall XR, and it is approved for use in children over the age of six years, although regular Adderall can be used in younger children from 3-5 years of age. Adderall XR is a sustained release form of Adderall, a popular stimulant which contains dextroamphetamine and amphetamine. It is available as a 10mg, 20mg and 30mg capsule, and unlike many of the other sustained release products, the capsule can be opened and sprinkled onto applesauce if your child can't swallow a pill. Update! New forms of Adderall XR include a 15mg and 25mg capsule for greater flexibility in dosing for your child.

So I was wrong, you can sprinkle Adderall XR.

[AnneM]

It does sound like you are going to have to be a little sneaky! .. As Dad2Brooke has confirmed that Adderall CAN be sprinkled, crushed etc. then I also think the way forward (for the moment) is to quietly mix it with something he likes and not tell him it is there. It sounds like if he KNOWS it is there he will reject it ... (which i can understand - if someone told me they had put "X" substance into my dinner I would instantly think yeuch - I can't eat that .. BUT what I don't know about .... )

GOOD LUCK !!

[Honeysmom]

We used to sprinkle Honey's Adderall XR on applesauce, but we had to be sneaky also. The best way for me was to dip a spoon into the applesause so it was wet. Then open a capsul and sprinkle it on. After that take another spoon and add a little on top to hide it. Honey used to get scared and say that he didn't want to eat those "balls." If it is only in one spoonful then they also don't have to eat a big bowl of applesauce. We also hid the 5 mg tablets of regular Adderall in applesauce b/c they were so small. As a result Honey ate a lot of "magic applesauce."

It is also important to note that if you do sprinkle it into food it will not last as long in his system. For us it was about 2 hours shorter than the time it was supposed to.

As for regular Adderall, even if the pill starts to dissolve in his mouth before he swallows it, the taste is not bad. Sometimes I have a hard time getting pills down and have to take a second drink to get it to go, so I've tasted Adderall lots of times.

Also, I don't know his doseage, but many of them (10 mgs and 20 mgs for sure) are scored in the middle and can be cut in two. This way they'd be smaller and easier to swallow, and may not affect his gag reflex.

I have tried all of these things with myself and/or Honey and the pharmacy said they were all OK to try.

Good Luck...Becky

PS. If you do sprinkle it into some food he needs to take it asap. If it starts to dissolve too much it will affect how long it lasts and how much is in his system at one time. If it sits for too long he could get a rush of meds into his system acting his to be a little spacy or nervous.

[lori762]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my troubles. Tomorrow we are going to try ice cream. That way if he doesn't want to swallow, it will melt and he will have to swallow. After trying peanut butter, I found it is too thick and hard to swallow. Ice cream will mask the "little balls" too. ;D

[Mishamom]

I have had similar problems with my daughter's meds. You can purchase a liquid called Syrpalta at the pharmacy. It is about $15.00 for a 1 pint bottle which lasts us about 2 months. Emily takes medication twice a day so we use 2-3 tsp per day.

This liquid is the sweetened compounding liquid that pharmacists use to compound meds into liquid form. It is generally grape(ish) flavored and clear. I use a pill pulverizer to crush up meds and mix them into the liquid and she takes them just fine. We are just sure to have a drink handy for Emily to 'chase' it with.

We used to mix her meds in pudding but to this day she refuses to eat pudding. We found out about the Syrpalta from another parent and its been great. Now we don't have to fight so much or ruin any other foods for her.

[Brocksmom]

can you make a game out of it? Line up some m&ms or other candy(something easy to swallow) then his med and then some more candy.

[mom3]

I do believe that just one manufacture should have a child that can not swallow meds. We have children that have bad mornings ad then they need to take a meds that is awful tasting!!!!!i HAve a 10 year old boy who has had adhd since he was 3. We started with Focalin 10 my 4 x a day and that was great. He has a nurse a school that suggested Strattera once a day. What a nightmare it has been it taste worse to him and the med produces behaviors and anger that would make a mother scream herself. We mix it in Fat Free double chocolate pudding. The fat free is creamier and lasst in fridge without getting watery. Try that I hope it works. We are going to the dr. tomorrow to switch back to Focalin