Hi new here

[VickysMom]

Hi;

New here and I like to introduce myself to this nice bb, as I found you also through another site, when I made a search to find out more about ADHD.

I am a Mom (German too) of 3 beautiful girls age 17, 12 & a 7 year old. Actually I have 2 problems with my youngest DD, as she also has a Seizure disorder that started when she was 18 month old. Her Seizure’s are pretty much under control right now, with Medication that she takes. (Trileptal 300mg twice a day)

But when she started Kindergarten at age 6, we and her teacher saw quite some changes in her behaving toward other children; she had trouble with speaking out words, writing, focus on her school/homework, so her Neurologist successes that we and her teacher should fill out a form for ADD/ADHD, as this problem can be seen more offend, when kids starting school, as at home. After her Dr studied the test result from us, he diagnose also our DD, that she had ADHD, and successes to put her next to her Seizure Meds also on Metadate CD 10 mg. The Metadate seems to work, she passed the Kindergarten, with pretty much getting too much in trouble, but seems to struggle quite offend in first grade now.

The first half year was quite hard on her, she didn’t got along with the kids, in her saying, and defense herself by either way pocking with a pencil or started scratching the children.( It's more scratching now) The Dr put her on 20 mg Metadate and it helped a lot at first, she was more focus on schoolwork, her writing got better and less scratching and pocking with the pencils on other children.
She gets speech lesson in school, twice a week that was successes by her kindergarten teacher, but still have problems with the reading and writing level, in Math she is doing good,on level for her grade.

With help from my sister in-law, I bought the book (Transforming the Difficult Child- the Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard Glasser)
This book helped me a lot to understand my child’s needs, by working with points or stickers, praising her when she did good work etc…

I also put her last year in the afternoon daycare, to make sure she gets better help doing her homework and coming better along with a smaller group of other children. Didn't last for to long, some problems showed up again last year in school and daycare again.
I talked with her Dr and asked him, if he could try another Medicine on her, as it seems for me it doesn’t work very well on her, but he successes to try with a higher doses ( 30 mg ). Like all the other doses it helped in the beginning, her school work was ok, but she started to make trouble in the daycare. When talking with her teacher in school and I didn’t saw any improvement in reading or writing, I took her out of the daycare program and worked with her at home then.

Everything worked fine so far, but problems showed up again a couple of month again, when she started scratching children in her class or riding the bus home from school. She brought already 2 referral home from school, at the end of last year because of scratching and the third one would mean suspended for one day at school if she continue with the scratching. Well last Thursday she brought home the third referral and was suspended from school on Friday.

With only being 4 months on those doses, and already failing, and her appetite slightly down, I used this free day, so she could be seen by her pediatrician. He also said that Metadate is not working on her, and success to try with Strattera. He gave me only 5 pills, to see if that works on her. I didn’t start with the pills yet, will first ask her Neurologist on Monday, if he agrees with that too, so I get a refill on those pills. In the mean time her Pediatrician is working on a referral so my DD can been seen by a Behavioral Development Dr etc…
On Tuesday I will see her teacher again for conference, I have no doubt, that she may have to repeat the first grade again, will also try to talk with the school councilor to use the 504 plan in her school.

I hope I get some help from you all, if I go in the right direction here.

[vickilyn32]

Hello and welcome. I hope you will find this board helpful as I have. We have a lot of wonderful people on here with a variety of helpful tips. I have a DS13 with adhd, but I am usually a lurker, and only post once in a while. Good luck with your children.

[Linda]

Hi and welcome,you have come to the right place for support.

I don't know a lot about strattera so hopefully someone else can help you. I do know that sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error to find the right meds.Again Welcome

[finnmom]

Hi Vickysmom

Wellcome you´ve ome to the right place for support and understanding.

I´am sorry for your dd, live with adhd-kid/person is such a rollercoster-ride, up´s and down´s, try´s and error´s.....

I hope your doc´s find you a working way to get through this, seem´s like finding a right med is not easy at all. I wish you lot´s of luck, and again wellcome aboard.

Marja

[jdmom]

Hello, Vickysmom and welcome!

I am concerned that you doctor only gave you 5 Strattera pills. Strattera is not a stimulant like the other ADD/ADHD meds. It does not work immediately. You "ramp up" the dosage over a period of weeks until you reach a target dose (calculated by your child's weight) and then it takes several weeks at target dose before you see results. Please read the product insert before administering this drug. If your doctor was unaware of the above, he may have prescribed the wrong doseage for your child, as it is based on weight.
To learn more about Strattera, please visit Miilermom's site. She is an encyclopedia of knowledge on Strattera. Her site address is millermom.proboards23.com. If that address doesn't work, the name of her site is "ADHD - Meds and Eds Support, The *Safe* Site." There is a post under the medication section that is titled "Everything That You Need to Know about Strattera." (or something like that). It is EXTREMELY informative.
I don't want to sound "mean" but your doctor should have been aware of how to administer Strattera before prescribing it. I would question his knowledge of ADD/ADHD?
Again, welcome to the board and I hope to see you around!

[HooDunnit]

Hi VickysMom and welcome to the forums. I have handsome sons 17 and 8 who would probably love to meet your beautiful daughters 17 and 7. My 17-year-old son even knows German!! He goes to a private Lutheran high school and has taken a couple of years of German. He loves to chat with the exchange students from Germany. Unfortunately, we are in Canada, which is a long way away from Florida.

Our moderator Amsmom is in Miami, Florida, so she is not too far from you. I have asked a few of them that know about the medications to come over to this thread and help you. As jdmom says, Strattera takes weeks to build up in a child's system. Metadate is a sustained release form of Ritalin, a stimulant. Strattera is in the family of antidepressants. Dad2Brooke is familiar with both, and I'm hoping he will be here soon to help you.

Did your family move from Germany to the US? I bet you find it a big change.

Our moderator catseye just drove by Tampa on her vacation!!

[1mom]

hello vicky's mom!
we're glad you're here. like others have pointed out, Strattera isn't a stimulant, so it may have completely different effects on your dd. from everything i've read about it, it does take about a month to get integrated into the body, so i don't think 5 pills will do much good, except to get started. great idea to check with the neurologist!
i work with elementary children who have learning differences. if she is having problems with reading and writing, you may want to have her tested for dyslexia. if she has it, that could be increasing her frustration, which will sometimes come out in aggression and acting out against classmates.
please update us and let us know what the neurologist says.
again, welcome!
prayers,
1mom

[Amsmom]

Hi Vickysmom,
Welcome to the forums, we're glad you're here!

I understand how hard it is to find the right meds for your child. It took 3 yrs to get my son, who is 8, on the right meds. We tried all the stimulants and they only made his behavior worse. We didn't try Strattera, but I have read that it has helped some members on this forum. If you do a search for "Strattera" it should bring up some posts for you to read.

I'm glad you have a neurologist appt next week, hopefully he/she can help you with deciding on the right med for your daughter.

Keep us posted on how you and your daughter are doing.

[Dad2Brooke]

Welcome home VickysMom. You definately seem to have your hands full, but it does get better.

Metadate never worked for Brooke, but we have really like the results we have seen on Strattera. It really calmed her down, but it takes a while to work.

Most peds start you off around 1.2mg per 2.2lbs of body weight. But the formula can go as high as 1.8mgs per 2.2lbs.

As an example, my daughter Brooke weighs 65 lbs and takes 40mg.

65 / 2.2 = 29.545454545 * 1.2 = 35.45454545

By that formula Brooke should take about 35mg. She is on 40 and doing great. Which breaks out to 1.35 mg per 2.2lb.

Strattera is not like a stim in that it wears off in a number of hours. It stays in your system for 24 or more, so the level of medicine is constant in your system.

Usually, there is a ramp up period. A low dose of Strattera for about 4 days, then the Strattera is increased to the target dose. At the target dosage, it usually takes about 6 full weeks to see all of the benefits.

The first couple of days you may see headaches and stomach aches. I saw them on the first day only with Brooke. It may affect sleep. Some doctors advise that you give it to them at night, so they can sleep through the side effects (if there are any)

Another concern with Strattera is that too llow or too high a dosage and it can cause moody and irritable behavior. The dosage needs some tweaking to find the right one, but your doctor should be aware of all of that. Make sure you keep the doctor updated on all you are seeing with Strattera.

For Brooke, Strattera really calmed her down, and all but eliminated her hyperactivity. But it doesn't seem to do much with her focus. After about six months on Strattera, we added to it a low dose of Concerta (18mg), and now she is doing the best she ever has on any medication.

Good luck with the 504, we recently finished getting Brooke and IEP and it is a long process, but worth it. She has been on iit for one week now and we are laready seeing results.

[VickysMom]

Thank you for the warm welcome on this BB and the great advice you give me all here.
I think it will make my life so much easier from now on, talking with people, who are having the same problems, and try to help our children to make life a bit easier on us all.

Finnmom Yes those rollercoaster- ride are the worst, special when it happens outside in the public area. It’s so frustrated, to get, or make her calm. I agree with you finding the right med is not easy at all, but I don’t give up.

jdmom Yes I was surprise too, when I picked up the Med from the Pharmacy and saw only 5 capsule in there. I am holding in my hands the prescription and write it down what it says on the label: Atomoxetine 18mg Cap (I know it is Strattera, looked it up on the Internet.) Take one Tablet by mouth every day for 5 days
Forgot her weight, but I think she is so 57 lbs. Still didn’t start with the new Med, as I am still unsure, concerned if it is the right one for her. Did not got to see her Neurologist this few days. I think, its better I will talk with him first, before I start and give it to her.
Thank you, for the link to find out more about Strattera, I went over there and read a little bit , and also put it in my favorite to look more in there when I need it. It was interesting, special what the first lady had to say about it.

Hi HooDunnit sorry to hear you live in Canada, that sure is far away from Florida. That’s great that your oldest son knows German. Was German a language that was asked to take in his school?
Unfortunately, I must sadly say none off my kids speaks it. My oldest one understands German, but she answers always back in English. It’s my fault too, not to teach it from the beginning up. But when I moved to the US, my English was bad too; it was only the English that I had learned in my school the oxford kind, so I was trying to learn as much English as I could, mostly I learned it from TV or by reading an easy book . Here in Florida they don’t use German Language, in the schools, most of the time the kids have to take Spanish.
None of my family moved in the US her; I was the first one in my Family to make that big step to move over sea. I meet my DH in Germany when he was in the Military. We moved to Florida 13 years ago. We bought a house here and spread our roots out here.
DH retired from the Army in 98. He works now for a Company that has to travel far. In November of last year he took a 1 year job for Kuwait. So doing everything alone right now, is pretty tuff sometimes for me. But I am looking forward when DH comes home for a vacation end of May; this is also when our oldest one will graduate from high school, this weekend she goes to the prom. Kids sure grow up to fast.

1mom thank you also for more info on Strattera, my head is pretty much spinning around, and I am really thinking now, what step I should take next.
On Tuesday I talked with her teacher, after that I had a chance to talk with the school counselor, to discussed about the 504 plan. She needs from me a written statement from the Neurologist that my DD have all those Health problems and taking those Meds for it.
She will talk with my DD perhaps the end of this week or the beginning of the other week. I also told her that somebody successes (thanks for the tip to check on that too) to test her for dyslexia than she will send me all those forms home, another meeting will be around May. I like to have the meeting when my DH is home, after that , when all teachers agree, it will be send downtown where it will checked out. Waiting time for that will be 45 days minimum. I think I have a good chance, to get her in there, have my fingers crossed here.

Amsmom Hi and thank you for the welcome of this forum. I know, it is not easy to find the right med, had that problem with her seizures too. One Med didn’t work at all; other Med gave her nightmares and plenty off tics in the day.
I think there was a misunderstanding with appt & neurologist, I like to see him, but that is because talking about the Strattera that the Pediatrician prescript to her. I still give her the 30 mg Metadate, but they will run out by the next week, so I have to see him this week or beginning next week.
I wish it would be all much easier to see different Dr’s, but if you want this all covered in the Insurance, you have to call or see first your health care provider to get necessary referrals for specialists. Without a referral, they will send you home.

Dad2Brooke thank you for the warm welcome of this forum too, I feel already very comfy in this forum, it is such a relieve to talk with the same people who understands those problems, and don’t get the stupid look from those others , that have no idea what you going through in your life.
You all explained very well for me, what to expect from Strattera. Thank you for explaining how to find the right doses for the right weight. If the Neurologist agrees to give it an ok too, I give it a try on her, no matter how long it takes, to play around to find the right doses for her.
I keep you all posted what will happen next and what to expect from it.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.