Hi,
I am new to this forum and could use some advise for parenting my 6 year old daughter who has ADHD and ODD. She has been on 10 mg Adderall XR since late May. She improved dramatically at school but I am still having trouble with her at home. I myself have been diagnosed with ADHD and am on my 6th day on 20mg Adderall XR. Things have improved even in the last 6 days as far as not getting so upset with her and being calm, which I couldn't even comprehend being before the medication.
By the time she gets home from school her she is off her medication, and she is alive and kicking you might say. She totally controls her little sister (her little sister's dolls have to be dressed how SHE wants, etc.). To get her to do her homework is horrible. I even wait until after dinner to try to get her to do it so she has some time to unwind. Her school day is very long because of her busses (7:30-8:00AM I put her on the bus and get her off at 4:45PM). She goes to a school with an alternative calender and only has 6 weeks off during the summer ( which is wonderful!). I am also thinking that she should stay back a grade next year so she could catch up and she might mature a little more. She just started second grade.
I am thinking about whether her dosage should be increased or a short acting dosage after school should be added. But she is very skinny (40lbs) and I haven't had problems with her weight yet but I am worried she may if her dosage goes up and is there anything I can ask the doctor for to keep her appetite up.
She told me she hates her medicine because she dosen't want to take any medicine and wants off and I told her that would be like if I went around without glasses. I am trying to get her to talk to me about how she feels during the day but that is not easy.
The next step is her doctor and I am a bit afraid of changing her medication since the doctor dosent feel she should have to take medication when she is not in school (which I have heard is not uncommon). My own doctor could not understand this and from what I keep hearing from everyone is that she should be on it everyday just like I am. I have had her on her medicine everyday for the past month.
Any thoughts would be very helpful. Thank you for listening.
Debbie

Hi Debby, I tend to agree with your doctor as ADHD doesn't go away on weekends or after school. I've read that some doctors recommend no med vacations until the child has been on the med for some time and they've found the correct dosage.

Re: alternative calendar - ADHD friendly. The break isn't so long that you have to waste two months of review after school starts. I wish we had that in my district.

Perhaps your daughter's doctor would go for a regular form of her med as a booster for after school just until you have adjusted to your medication? You could tell him it's for the sake of the family?

Remind the Dr. that she has to do homework at home, and it is very difficult for her to do homework when off the meds. As far as the dose, that you need to work out with the Dr. However, it is common to initally adjust the dose in order to find the appropriate dosage. There is no way to predict the proper dose based on weight, age etc. For two children the same weight and age, one may take twice the medicine amount as the other one.

When you read about medication studies, it seems that they are very aggressive with the meds. They start low, but continue to increase until they do not get any more improvement or the side affects become unnacceptable.

Good luck.