Medication issues

[rrichardson]

My daughter had a genetic test done recently and I just heard back about the results. She currently is on strattera, guanfacine and respiradol. The medicine for adhd is at it's highest allowed dose for her weight, but the genetic testing revealed in order for it to help she needs a higher dose. The insurance company has been fighting me tooth and nail to pay for the guanfacine since she was first prescribed the medicine. I attempted to request another 10 pills as they were only paying for 10 at a time, but yesterday they declined the request. The pills are 10 dollars a piece and honestly I don't have the money for a pill that isn't all that effective in the first place. I am at a cross road and have no idea which turn to take. Why should I continue giving her a medicine that doesn't help her? I may have my daughter's case manager call the prescribing np to explain what our next steps are. The whole journey has been nothing but frustrating. The other option was to put my daughter on a stimulant and the last time she was on it she wasn't gaining weight and skipped an entire meal everyday. My daughter has been off the medicine for an entire year and has gained about 10 lbs. I am frustrated beyond belief. I just want my girl to be successful and feel better.

[eeyore13]

My kids and my husband are on stimulants. Our work around for the loss of appetite is to make sure they eat nutrient and calorie dense meals when off the meds; usually breakfast and dinner. Both my kids and husband metabolize the meds fast and need high doses because of this; i.e. they are not really getting all of 20 mg only about 15 mg before it passes out of their systems. The only way we have found for my husband was his psychiatrist (any other dr doesn't have the ability to prescribe higher doses) sends a letter to the insurance company every year insisting that his dose is medically necessary. One of my kids is at the max for his meds and other stims do not work for him so we will have to see a psychiatrist when the time comes for him.