Help me analyze day 1 on Adderall

[wendyks]

My 13 yo with ADHD- combined type was just diagnosed after a full neuropsych battery. Today was day one on medication - Adderall XR 10 mg. I'm not sure how it went!!! I need help with analyzing this... She took it while I was at work and I got home about 2.5 hours later. I find her a bit wild-eyed. She can be moody, but was definitely in an intense and pissy mood. She's planning to go to the mall with friends and was obsessed with looking for a way to cash in her gift cards. She's been searching Coinstar, calling stores, etc. Actually 45 minutes later as I type this, she is STILL (angrily) researching and making calls and I think she's NEVER persisted on something for this long before. Normally she'd run into a wall and just be like, ah, forget it. So this is good....sort of??? One time, she was put on hold with a store and she goes, "oh no. I am NOT listening to holding music" and goes on to make her next call.

I was just opening the bag in the cereal box and she was saying - "you're seriously making every loud noise you can" and then the dog barks and she jumps up to the back door, "And...now I have to get the dog".

When she slows a bit and I ask her how she's been on the med she says she feels really hyper. She said she wanted to talk to me as little as possible and just do things. She says she feels she's rushing through things even more than usual. I said maybe it'd be better at school when there's actually something to do and concentrate on. She said she thinks she'd be really stressed out and would start crying. She said she's been hyper and even annoyed by friends.

For example, this morning, on facetime with friends, she was seeing if someone could go to the mall. He said he'd check. And then she begins to impatiently nag him about it. He said to her, "why are you so moody?"

She had 2 tasks today - put away the dishes and start her summer work. She put away the dishes and logged into the summer work. She said she looked at it in the morning b/4 she took the med but didn't go back to it. Honestly, I don't even think I could make her do it today. She's really too fired up about this gift card/coinstar thing. She said she'd try again tomorrow with a pill and would sit and do the work.

Bottom line: she says she's really hyper, in a bad mood b/c she seems to have no patience for anything, wants to do and do and do things, but says it's not helping her focus any more than usual.

What are your thoughts? Stick with it? Maybe she's adjusting to the feeling? Maybe it would be different if school were in session and she could channel that energy? Smaller dose? Thank you in advance!!!!

[wendyks]

How do you think the vyvanse was different from the OCD feeling she was having on the Adderall? I've been thinking about it today and was thinking that maybe once she's adjusted to this feeling, maybe she will be able to channel this into work. You're right, it's hard to tease out what might be hormonal, and even the incident with the coinstar could just be a coincidence...sometimes things REALLY bother us. Then again, that she persevered is so odd! My older kid said the 13 yo texted her earlier in the day to ask about cashing in gift cards. She said she thought it was odd because she was actually using full sentences and texted several messages instead of the typical "kk" you get with a teen.

So to add on: by hour 4 when I dropped her and her friends off, she was normal by my observations but she said she was still "feeling it" when I asked her discreetly. By hour 8 when her friends left and I hoped to debrief, I talked a bit and she nodded and I was like - so...you have any feedback? And she goes, "what do you want me to say?! Do you want me to..." and I was like - what? yell? Do you think this conversation warrants that??? And that was the end of day 1!

[Aniusia]

Hi, my son (13)was on Adderal only for 1 day. He came home from school and said he was all shaky inside and felt hyper. He explained he didn’t feel “himself”. I did not give it to him again.

We did the Assurex gene test, to see what medication might work best for him.

Everybody is different , everybody reacts differently to meds. You might want to try one more day on Adderal, but I would pick a day when you can be home and see what is going on.

Good luck finding the right solution. Sometimes it takes a while.

[wendyks in reply to Aniusia]

Thanks! So any sort of hyper is not desired? Its hard to know. I wonder if hyper is her way to describe “I’m productive, have my mind set in a goal and am persevering”. Part of me wonders if she’s just not used to feeling this way. I have no idea!! I guess we’ll try a bit. And I do wonder if school - and its tasks - would help. Then again, for your son to feel hyper at school? When the goal is to simmer down and focus? That sounds like torture.

[Aniusia in reply to wendyks]

Wendyks, this is why I decided to not give it to him anymore. Shaky inside, shaky hands, feeling like throwing up?

Before Adderal he was on Methophenidate 20mg, and he never had such a symptoms.

Well, after the genetic testing, we learned that he is a slow metabolizer, and 20mg was too much for him. We went back to 10mg and he is fine.

Try for couple of days, listen to what she says, observe , and use your intuition. You will know. No medication should change her too much. IMHO It should slow down, let her stop and think though.

[Pajamasam36]

Finding the right medication is soooo hard and requires soo much patience.

It took us 5 years to find the right doses of my sons Meds!

Last week his doctor increased his methalinfenidate to 50 mg.

My son Zane home from school. D said I did not eat lunch. I said so. You didn’t eat breakfast either!

We are not good no to do med changes right now. We will wait until he is not getting use to a new school , new friends new teachers new schedule of after school events!

I am reduc By him back down to 36 Mgr and waiting until he is use to some of the new things that are happening with his new high school schedule.

There are so many things that I have to consider when making a med change but I know my sons body would very likely get use to 50 mg but I can’t have him running x country after school with absolutely. I food in his body.

Once his Meds wear off about 8 pm he is starving he eats another dinner and many snacks. The doctor told us this is normal. Once his AdHD Meds wear off his snbidy wants food and wine lol route him to make up all the calories he missed during his day.

Don’t give up! Meds really do help once you find the right brand and the right dose!

My doctor says d ADHD Meds don’t change attitude . If a child ld wants to focus on something f that is important to them they will with or without Meds but getting them to focus on things they are not interested in is the key! Attitude is everything! We have our son in a mood stabilizer as well! Abilify really takes some of his horrible teenage moodiness away! Not all of it but just enough that we fight quite a bit less! Hang in there Mom! I would not judge any men’s untul I have given it enough time. For me that means a week or two but I will not try his new Meds until he gets use to his. We schedule and new friends. This is his firs year of high school. It is a tough year without med changes. Good luck!

[wendyks in reply to Pajamasam36]

Interesting. Thanks so much for this Info. So helpful. I’ll have to pay attention to the food situation too. Doc did say she could make up on the weekend too if she doesn’t eat as much during the week. You’re right about the sports concern though.

[Aniusia in reply to Pajamasam36]

What is the dose of Abilify your son is taking?

[Elijah1]

Does she just have ADHD or does she also have anxiety or some OCD tendencies? Adderall, like any stimulant, can aggravate the latter behaviors in some children. IT may also be related to the Adderall dose. Discuss your observations and these points with the prescribing doctor.

[wendyks in reply to Elijah1]

No anxiety or ocd. Do you think I should continue to try this a few times? Meaning will she sort of “adjust”? Or I wonder if I should just try to halve the dose? Maybe that’s playing doctor too much...

[Elijah1 in reply to wendyks]

It is difficult to half the dose of Adderall XR unless you open the capsule, sprinkle the contents in a small dish, stir and then give about half of the volume (I learn things from others). If she still has the reaction, then definitely talk to the doctor.

[Ldydy24]

You could certainly try again but if she feels the same way I would say it’s not the right med for her. It took us 3 years to find the right meds for our son and there are so many options so if one doesn’t work move on. Like others have said you should see positive results with the meds and if your not I would recommend you stop them.

[wendyks]

Thanks for everyone's insight and advice. Here's a day 2 update: she took it when she woke up. When I got home from work a few hours later, she said she suddenly can’t make the water droplet sound by flicking her cheek and had spent the past 2 hours obsessing about that and trying to do it. She was frustrated about not being able to do it anymore. She said she did try to stop but didn’t want to and thought she was going crazy. She said she was NOT feeling hyper like she was yesterday. I said maybe if we wait till school starts it will make more sense because she’ll have work to do instead of just being at home. She said, “Why, then I’d just be crazy at school. Please just email the doctor” and eyes welled up. She put laundry away but didn’t do the summer work b/c said there was a virus on her computer. Instead, there were youtube videos about making the water droplet sound up. She has not have any sort of OCD like tendencies before and she was definitely upset about this. She just asked about waxing her legs and I'm like - omg. the last thing I need is for her to spend the next few hours waxing her legs. I did say I'd like to see her do some summer work on our desktop computer first. She is not pleased. Same irritated mood as yesterday. I'm going to email the doc now b/c I don't think this is quite right!

[Ldydy24]

Ok she sounds to me like she’s struggling with this med and I would not have her take it again and would call the dr and advise of her symptoms. Finding the right meds is a journey so it’s important to keep track of the pros/cons of the meds as you try them. Your daughter is old enough to knows how her body feels so If she’s not seeing positive results and she’s telling you it’s not helping her time to try another med.

[wendyks in reply to Ldydy24]

Yes we decided that last night. It was making her a wreck! She felt crazy and I felt like she was getting scary-mean! It’s definitely helpful that she knows how her body feels. I wanted it to work so bad but after being here for a bit, know that it’s trial and error. Thanks!!

[wendyks]

So just to follow up, the doc said to start when school is in session, and we’re going to try a lower dose. We’ll experiment with adderall 5mg IR, as well as try halve the adderall 10 mg XR (on separate days of course). First she suggested lexapro for the anxiety/depression and I was like...,that doesn’t make any logical sense to me. There is no depression or anxiety. She seems very open to my feedback which is great.

[BlueAndGoldWarrior]

Hi Wendy,

I don't think that medicine is a good fit for your daughter.

Mind alterators should allow one to diminish undesirable behaviours, not create new ones and definitely not to generate cruel conditions for the patient, like extra sensitivity to sounds or lights or smells, etc.

To "focus" is very different than to "obsess". Obsessions can be very dangerous.

To be extra sensitive to sounds can drive anybody to madness. Besides is plainly cruel. Poor thing...

I understand that you hope that her obsessed behaviour will do her well at school but it wont. She will obsess with finish something and fail at transferring to the next subject or classroom or activity.

Again, medications should NOT generate new mental conditions.

Trying her dosage yourself would not help you experience how she feels as you are bigger and you might react differently.

Good bless you and your family,

Virginia

[wendyks in reply to BlueAndGoldWarrior]

Thank you. You're totally right. We're doing to attempt a lower dose - have 2 experiments, 1/2 the XR dose and 1/2 the IR dose. We'll see how that goes and then try something else if that doesn't work. Yes, poor thing! Even she is looking back on those 2 days (just a day and a half ago) and thinking - wow... that was really bad!

[wendyks]

Hi all! I thought I'd just give an update in case any one reads this in the future. So the 10MG of Adderall XR was making her crazy on those 2 days we tested at home. We then did a 5 MG (divided up the beads, which the doc said was OK, even though I read that it's not the best idea). The 5MG seemed to help a bit but we weren't really sure. We decided that when school started, we would try a 7.5 (also made my me, dividing up the beads super carefully!). The 7.5 seemed to work well. The next day, my kid spilled the 7.5 so decided to take a 10mg. She thinks it works great as evidenced by "I dropped all my papers off my desk and just picked them up and started working again... instead of just laughing and laughing, and then not doing the work any more". She said she thinks when she was home without and school tasks, it was making her crazy - focused on doing crazy things like making that water droplet sound with her cheek, but at school, since there are things to focus on, she's just more attentive. She was a bit moody the first day (talked back to a teacher when she said warm -up time was over and she needed to stop working - the kid never would have cared before), but said she "got used to it" and is fine now. I don't see her acting any differently, except for the fact that she's not very hungry until dinner time, and unfortunately, she's up till about 11 instead of going to bed at 9. Aside from that, it seems the 10MG ended up being very effective!

[Ericamo1]

My son was prescribed adderall when he first got diagnosed with adhd. He started his first dose one the weekend so I could monitor how he was doing. He got aggressive and irritated. He was pacing back and forth all night. His heart was racing. We ended up taking him to er because he became erratic. Needless to say we switched medications. Hes been on focalin the last 6 years and can concentrate and focus at school. Hes a straight A student.