Concerns since starting Medication

[daemaitehn]

Hello Community.

Been a while since I have posted since I keep feeling like I should just give up. Anyway, I am here with some questions/seeking advice. In January, we started my daughter on Focalin XR 10MG. Since then here are some of the things we have noticed:

-Increased emotions - When she gets mad, she is angry, very angry. She will hit people, kick people, throw objects. If she walk away, and close the door behind you she will hit the door, throw things into the door, etc to try and open the door. She will run from you if you try and stop her (stop her out of fear for safety)

-Increased Lying

-Increased thinking her parents are mean/we are doing things to be mean to her

-Increased thinking others are mean to her or don't care about her

-She has mentioned that shortly after school, about 30-60 minutes after taking medication, the medication wears off

We have become increasingly concerned, but I have honestly lost hope and drive to help her. Not intentionally. Any thoughts/suggestions would be helpful. I am trying to set up an appointment with her psychologist.

[Pennywink]

Sorry to hear that!

Moodiness can be a side effect of ADHD medications when they wear off. I would consult whomever is prescribing the medication, as frequently an adjustment in the prescription will help.

[Reeeba1]

I am so sorry to hear that. Please don’t give up. There are so many meds. We went through 2 before finding one that worked well for my almost 7 year old. With the first two we had emotional reactions like you mentioned. I would say two things:

1) keep trying! Try a different medication. Go with your gut. If it isn’t working, and you’ve given it a good several week run, dump it and move on

2) dosage may need to be adjusted and modulated so try that before giving up

We are on Dyanavel XR now and it works great for my son. No emotional reactions. Don’t tolerate those side effects. They are not acceptable and you will eventually find a med that doesn’t have them.

We also use Vayarin, a food medicine supplement. It took seceral months but I find now it helps to minimize mood swings and outbursts. Well worth the price which is not covered by insurance.

Good luck!!

[Reeeba1]

Oh - also consider an extended release med (XR) so it doesn’t wear off mid day.

[Reeeba1]

There is also an oral swab test you can have done to analyze your child’s DNA and determine which medication may be the best match. We would have done that if he didn’t find Dyanavel when we did.

[daemaitehn]

Thanks for the support. We have an appointment with her psychologist to start the discussion, then we will move from there.

To a certain extent, I am starting to wonder if this has been going on since before the medication. Honestly I cannot say with certainty, I am just looking for ways to improve our life overall. It has become pretty low for me some days, and I suspect the same for my daughter.

[Faithful_007 in reply to daemaitehn]

I certainly understand your concerns and I also appreciate your honesty about how all of this makes you feel because I feel really down many days while going through some of the same issues with my son and it just to know that I'm not the only parent that feels this way at times gives me some hope that things will get better

[anirush]

The medicine might need to be changed but 10 mg is a really low dose depending on the age. How old is she?

[daemaitehn in reply to anirush]

She is 6, almost 7. About 50-60 lbs.

[Jenjoyce11]

I recently had the same issue and my Dr. upped my 7 years olds medication slightly. We are on day 4 and things are much better. We went from 18mg to 27mg of Concerta