My 9 year old was recently diagnosed with ADHD. We've been doing the trial and error process with medications and it's not going well. We tried Vyvanse, methylpheninidate, and Strattera. They have all caused vomiting (for 24 hrs) after either a single dose or when we start approaching anything other than a minimal dose.
I know that kids can acclimate to the meds over time, but given his extreme reactions I'm wondering if he's just incapable of metabolizing any of these drugs.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Or has a kid that just can't take meds?
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Too_many_Legos
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Is it just the ADHD meds? If not, I will say that pediatric migraines can often present initially as GI issues and vomiting. This was the case with my son. When he had a migraine, he could keep nothing (no meds) down. First step was a nausea med which then allowed him to keep other meds down. When he got older, he could appreciate that it started with a headache, but not when he was little. It took us some time to figure this out. We thought the vomiting was a bug at first (but then too frequent and repetitive) and then anxiety. It was a relief to find a proper diagnosis and effective treatment (although the migraines were quite debilitating; under GREAT control now). Just a thought to consider with others.
My son started on Vyvanse with no issues. However my middle child has ADD and is not on any medication. She is 12 now, but was diagnosed after a full evaluation at age 10. Her ADD is very different than my sons ADHD, he was diagnosed at age 5. Although they both also have anxiety, my daughter also has severe acid reflux and CVS (cyclical vomiting syndrome), since birth. She is so sensitive, it would be triggered by food, nervousness, illness, allergies, once her acid reflux kicks in - she’d begin vomiting and not stop for days. She couldn’t even keep down water. No fever, no other symptoms, just vomit and become lethargic. So she would take zolfran (anti nausea meds), so she could keep down the reflux meds. The doctors mentioned once she started her periods she may have migraines. And that is true. So we’ve put her on a GF, dairy free, non-citrus, tomato free diet, and her migraines and acid reflux are nearly gone. And we are using a play therapists/counselor to treat the anxiety.
So for your son, you may want to keep track of his diet to see if there are any triggers, or contributing factors first, and treat the anxiety 2nd, play therapy is a wonderful option because it’s not just sitting and talking. And physical activities are a great therapy for ADHD kids. After that you can determine if your son is stable enough to try the medication again. Anxiety and/or diet might be contributing factors. Keeping track might reveal a pattern. And Check into some of the more natural options for treating ADHD. Chiropractic work has done wonders for my kids, as well as regularly taking fish oil, inositol, and DMAE. In the next year or so, I will be taking my son off the Vyvanse and attempting to go the more natural route either exclusively or continually with intermittent Vyvanse treatment on an “A’s needed” basis. Good luck. Hope this perspective helps.
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