Picking at skin and clothes.. no appetite. Any advice?

[marcicola06]

My son is struggling with having an appetite he pulls at strings on his clothes and he picks at his skin particularly on his fingers to bleed how can I help him any suggestions please.

He is taking dexmethylphenidate 15mg in a.m along with clonidine .1mg half tab. @12 & 3 half tab of dexmethylphenidate 5mg. And at night whole tab clonidine .1mg usually @ 7pm. I am overwhelmed wondering if this is too much? Why havent we switched to a new medication yet? He doesn't want to eat in mornings. I have to remind him to keep eating. Doesn't want to eat really until after 8pm. He is still so unfocused and hyper. He has recently started hitting kids alot more! Any advice is welcomed please! I feel like I'm failing him! He is such a loving friendly boy. Breaks my heart seeing other students afraid of him. Though I understand why they are.

[Angel533]

My 19year old son was on adhd tablets for years,I forget what one's but nothing like that amount,he took himself off them when he turned 18 said he never felt right on them,maybe this is why your son is acting up,I'd trying and talk to him about how he feels about the tablets and if their not right for him I'd change them asap,also my son hardly eat anything when he was on them,he never had an appetite,sorry I can't help you more

[Grandma01]

Sounds like Sensory processing issues with the clothes, find clothes that are tagless and dye free. I know nothing about your medication schedule, but if you have to do all that to keep him clam them I would contact your dr. Find a recreation program at your local rec center, or other activity that could get him up an moving. Pay a little or pay a lot, there should be an activity he might enjoy, ask him about his interest in sports and even event at your local library with should have FREE events for youth and young adults/ family.

As far as picking at the skin, that might go with his adhd. My grandson has so many scars on his arms and legs looks like he's been beaten, but he was learning to skateboard among other things like a Pogo stick, he would and still do pick at the scabs.

One last thing, is there any one food that his does enjoy, feed it to him. He's eating right! Find an healthy option not chips. They weird food diets. What he enjoyed as a child he may not enjoy now. My grandson is 6 and just now beginning to to enjoy a variety of foods other then cheese pizza and noodles with hot sauce.

Make your dr. your best friend, it you can. We have a dr. who can possibly be more than 30 years old and has become our best friend over the past few months from getting him tested to adhd, to medication, to getting us to get a 504 plan, to well child checks Never thought a Peds dr. would care enough about us to encourage all that he has.

[Cjkchamp]

I would consider a med switch. Talk it over with your doctor, but it seems like you should have already been seeing a positive change.

[Alex1016]

It seems that the medicine are not working for him and he is having side affects from the combination. I think consulting his doctor is the first thing to do. keeping him on one medicine would be better if possible.

[Tmullennax]

Did you say he was taking clonidine in the day too? Mine takes 2 @ night for sleep. It seems like he's increasing the dosage instead of trying an alternative. Good luck.

[anirush]

I would say the medication is not working. When my younger grandson is unstable he scratches himself until he bleeds. But when he is stable he doesn't do that at all.

I would contact his doctor

[minvaz]

Goodness that's allot of meds! You might want to think about readjusting his medications and maybe weaning him off most. Exercising or sports will release natural "feel good" transmitters (dopamine) and will tire him out to sleep on his own. Have you tried taking all those medications yourself to see how you react?? I don't oppose medications but certainly understand there are limits and if your son is not reacting positively then it's time to take a different approach. Find the right doctor that isn't a pill pusher.