Ritalin

[JoyousExpectation]

Hi,

My 10 year old has been on Ritalin for three weeks now. 10mg long acting. I am not noticing any change in her focus. She seems fine all day but in the evening at like 7pm she will say she has a mild headache. This does not happen every night but about four nights a week. I don’t know if these headaches are from the Ritalin or not but i am assuming they are. I am perplexed that they are happening after the medication supposedly has worn off. I am thinking we will stop soon as it does not seem to help with focus anyway. Do you think we should gives this Ritalin trial more time or would the benefit be seen by now?

[WarriorWorrier]

Call your doctor. I would stop it if it was giving her headaches. I don’t know if there is any benefit to keeping her on it. They can try Adderall next. Good luck. The medication part can be trying.

[SylvieS]

I second talking to your doctor. I am pretty sure 10mg is a very low dose and that may be why you haven’t seen any positive effects. My 50lb 7 year old started on 10mg just for the first week as an intro dose. We did not start to see benefit until 20mg. It could be a different formulation but your doctor would know. The headaches may be from the medication leaving her system in the evening? I think my son had a few headaches early on too.

[Onthemove1971]

That is becuase this medication is for impulse control, not to help with focus one could say if you are less impulsive then you might be able to focus.

Are you working with a child psychiatrist? They would know the best dose per weight and might recommend an additional medication. I was worried about having to add another medication but it really has made the difference for us. But of course please speak to a doctor asap

Best of luck..

[chocoholic188]

We had the same issue with Focalin XR 10mg (headaches 5/7 days a week). Headaches are one of the common side effects. My daughter’s psychiatrist switched her medications (now on Concerta) and the headaches have pretty much disappeared. The one thing we noticed is that she does get headaches once in awhile when she has really poor sleep and sleep is much more difficult on these medications in general. My daughter also takes a low dose of guanfacine to help with sleeping.

There is a DNA test available that is supposed to help predict which medication you best metabolize. Our psychiatrist mentioned this because my daughter has tried several stimulants but has had a lot of side effects. We think Concerta might be working for her but this was our last resort before going ahead with the DNA test. It can help predict the type of medication that might be best tolerated as well as the dose.

Good luck!

[anirush]

Some side effects like that disappear after a month on the medication. My grandsons have never been able to tolerate any kind of stimulant ADHD medication. They have all caused all kinds of side effects. talk to your doctor.

[Janice_H]

Hello, headaches are common with some meds. Report the headaches to the prescribing doctor. He can either adjust the dosage and timing of the medication or change to a new medication. If it is not helping with her focus, it is not the right medication. It can take several different tries with medications until you find the right one.

[Cmoxley87]

My 10yr old son started out taking 10mg..it does give headaches as a side effect.. He had a few.. However his focus didn't change either.. I had her up the doasge and it works for the most part now.. He takes Concerta 54mg now which works good.. If she's having so many headaches I'd ask for a change to see if any other medication could work.. My son went through 5 different ones before we found Concerta to work for him.. Goodluck