My 8 yr old is on 2 10 mg pills a day.. one at 8 and one at noon.. once it kicks in he is great.. a bit mellow sometimes emotional and quiet..
but before and after he has it before it kicks in and after it wears off he is incrediable annoying.. I cant stand the behaviour in the morning i really cant. i get angry and end up yelling at him because he has loud outburst and then laughs stupidly.. throws things around and just acts crazy until the pill kicks in I honestly do NOT remember him acting quite this way before on meds.. he is better at school as far as concentrating when it kicks in but honestly the way he acts before and when it wears off is totally annoying.. he would make the worlds most patient person impatient. I just dont know what to think at times.. I hate that he acts this way until meds kick in.. and how do i know its right for him.. he doesnt figit and stuff he is jumping around acting crazy, being loud and obnoxious:confused:

oh and i wasnt impressed on how he was diagnosed.. he gave me a questionaire for me and his teacher to fill out.. then he just looked at it and said yep he has a high case of ADD.. shouldnt there be some kind of medical diagnoses or something:confused:

My recommendation would be to find another doctor or even better a psychiatrist.

If you're not happy with the diagnoses then get a second opinion.

You know when the doses are right when the benefits of the medication outweigh the side-effects. If you're not happy with the side effects take him off it.

I assume you're talking about ritilan? This might not be the right medication for your son and sometimes it takes quite a few trials on different meds to find the one that will help the most. Your best bet would be finding an ADD experienced psychiatrist. He'll be able to support you through this and help find the best way to treat your sons ADD. I wouldn't treat a child without a psychiatrist but this is only my personal opinion.


Good luck I'm sure things will get better. Remember that finding the right medication can take some time and is trial and error. Try and be patient if you can.

I agree with ozchris. I would definitely go see a different doctor/psychiatrist.

It will take time to get the meds and doses right. :)

Wait a second here... A questionare filled out by you and your child's teacher is the proper way to make a diagnosis for ADHD. If you don't understand why the Dr did it that way you should ask him to explain it to you. If you have problems with the meds talk to the Dr. about it. It is very typical to have to try a variety of meds before you get it right.

Just so you know, THE most acceptable way to diagnose ADHD is through the use of those questionares. I think there are two common brands of questionares. "Brown" and "Conners". There is no blood, test, brain scan, or anything else that is accepted as a method to diagnose ADHD. Direct interviews with the child are also not generally accepted as being helpfull in the diagnosing ADHD.

So, I give your Dr. credit for attempting do diagnose the proper way. We hear many stories here of Dr's talking to parents about symptoms, then saying, I don't think your child has ADHD. When that type of diagnosis is completely unnacceptable. For one reason, it is not a clinically accepted method of diagnosing ADHD, and secondly children often behave much differently in the classroom than they do at home, so it is important to analyze the classroom behavior along with the behavior at home.

Call your Dr. if you have problems with the current meds, that is what he/she is there for.

Sham,

I wish I could hand you a medal with "world's most dedicated parent" written on it. Raising a child with ADHD is hard work and I'm impressed that you are reaching out to make sure your son recieves the best treatment. When I was younger I had a lot of the signs you describe in your son (laughing, acting giddy, speaking gibberish, and just being crazy). I began having a lot of these after I quit taking Ritalin in the 5th grade and is kept down a lot with the stimulant AdderallXR.A lot of stimulants can cause major "rebound" effects like you describe. Usually the longer acting stimulants such as RitalinLA or AdderallXR have a more steady drop off however this isn't always true. You may want to ask your doctor about trying another stimulant or Strattera, a newer non-stimulant which tends to be much more "smooth" in its effects but takes up to 4 works to begin working.

Like MGDAD said rating scales are among the most accurate ways to determine whether a child has ADHD or not however when a child is experiencing signs of ADHD is every bit as important to rule out other causes of the behavior such as early-onset bipolar disorder through interviews with a psychiatrist/psychologist, psychoeducational testing, and sometimes further testing if there are other concerns.

I was later diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in addition to ADHD as a lot of my "hyperactive behaviors" and "figits" turned out to be tics including the laughing and gibberish. If your son has any difficult to control motions or vocalizations it is important that his doctor is aware as a lot of times Tourette and other tic disorders go under the radar. This enspecially true as, like me, up to 75% of ppl with TS also have ADHD. Some common tics you may want to look out for are

~Quick or Forceful Eye Blinking
~Shoulder Shrugging
~Grimacing or Smiling
~Raising Eye Brows
~Leg Shaking
~Head Turning
~Waving
~Moving Arm Back and Forth
~Flapping
~Throat Clearing
~Whistling
~Singing
~Grunting
~Nodding
~Eye Rolling
~Tossing Hair
~Smacking Lips
~Chewing
~Foot Tapping
~Sniffing
~Humming

~Jen

I have to agree with MGDAD. This is exactly the way they diagnose ADHD as well as any co-morbids. I finally got my son into an ADHD clinic and went through the same questionairres but even more detailed. I know what you are going through. It is very difficult to deal with the rebound effect. Some meds are worse than others and that is strictly individual. My son has been trying different meds and dosages for almost 2 years now. Seems we find one that works great for awhile then I see the signs again. He is now going on 13 and I see as they get older, their symptoms get even more intolerable! I feel I have become so impatient, but I always try to start each day like its going to be good. Then the annoying things start and after politely asking him to stop, it just gets out of control most times. This is how I can see that the meds have stopped working completely.
Don't give up, you may be lucky and find the right drug that will work for along long time. This is where I have to keep my patience.
I truly feel bad for my son and I am sure he would just wish he could control himself as well.

If the Ritalin seems to help once it kicks in, you might ask your doctor about Daytrana. It's the transdermal patch. It takes an hour or two to kick in, so we've used a 10 mg dose of Ritalin first thing in the morning to carry my daughter until the patch kicks in. The release of the meds is more constant, so there isn't as much rebound effect. Note that there have been reports (and my own observations with dd) that after a month or two, the body seems to metabolize a LOT more of the medication from the patch. We've had to adjust the dose DOWNWARD because the 30 mg ended up being too much.

thank you so much for your responses... sorry i havent been on much so this is the first I have read them.... I think the main thing is the rebound effects and i am finding it is not working the full 4 hours.. just having him over the summer i have noticed.. when i see the doc again i am going to ask about this.. he is older and hard to understand... :( but i will try to tell him I am not happy with this outburst rebound thing.. he just acts crazy jumps around like he has no control over his actions.... I am not happy with the weight loss too..It scares me.. I mean he lost 5 lbs right off he has gained 2 back but is so skinny. he wont try the protein drinks.. grrrrr I feel like just giving him junk food to put on some lbs but i am not a parent that likes to give alot of junk.. Thanks again nice to know I am NOT alone