Appreciate advice for my 8 yr. old grandson with ADHD who has serious bowel problems disrupting his day, focalin 5mg recently started. help!

[sissy978]

thank you for any advice

[Onthemove1971]

So glad you joined the group. Please ask for him to see a Specialist, they can help him with managing medications.

They should see if the Focalin is the reason for the problem. Hope you also speak to the school nurse so she can tell his teachers about the problem.

Maybe he can make up a signal to show the teachers he needs to use rhe restroom.

Let us know how it goes. We are always here for you and your grandson.

[Pmommyof5]

My son who is 9 has lost the sensation to urinate and has accidents during the day all the time since starting Focalin we even had to take him to a therapist and urologist and rule out anxiety and physical issues since he was fully toilet trained since age 3 and since starting Focalin everything changed. You might want to notify the doctor asap.

[TheColdestWinter]

Stay strong! I know is difficult, but this too shall pass 🙏

[sissy978 in reply to TheColdestWinter]

Thank you for your very kind words, that was my Mother's quote and I have never forgot it. Thank you once again.

[WaveBug]

My daughter is now 11.5 and has the same issue. it has gotten significantly better over the years (thank god), but even now she has a small accident from time to time. We saw several doctors but the best qualified are through a speciality program at a local Children's Hospital if you have one in the vicinity. Your pediatrician can make the referral. We did ultrasounds, cat scan (or MRI), xrays, saw a gastro doctor, etc and everything has always been physically normal. The only exception was potentially a weaker pelvic floor muscle (holding her poop/pee with thigh muscles vs pelvic floor) so we did some physical therapy for that. In our case what was happening was that she was starting to lose sensation/the signals that she had to go werent getting to her brain because the colon was getting stretched out from withholding (when she would inevitably get distracted). there's a lot more to this but trying not to go too deep in this forum. We did elimination diets, bloodtests and she already drinks a lot of water, eats tons of fruits & veggies. i just felt i HAD to respond as i know how you feel - not knowing what to do, tired of insisting she "sit on the potty", afraid she is going to have an accident in school and get picked on, etc. Obvi a specialist will have the best direction for your specific case but we were directed to give her an Exlax choc square every night before bed and miralax in the mornings (both for at least a year) with sitting on the toilet for 5-7 mins an hour after meals. obvi this isnt always possible to manage (esp at school) and i was skeptical, but it really helped. The first thing that got better was bedwetting. when there are bowel issues, there are often urinary issues too. She hasnt wet her bed in over 1.5yrs which i was super worried about going into sleepover age and poop accidents are minimal. I'm sure you already know but encopresis (what this is even though my daughter never really had constipation) is quite common with ADHD kids. you can imagine how easily it happens when they may get a signal to their brain that they have to go, forget about it 2 seconds later, repeat cycle until it's too late. anyway i hope this is helpful and i wish you luck.

[sissy978 in reply to WaveBug]

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to send me this very valuable information! Yes, Christian has been to doctors as well and we have tried similiar medications. I so appreciate your advice, this little boy is so sweet I pray every day that he will get better. He is my grandson and my daughter is a recovering alcoholic. I will pass this information to my daughter. Thank you, Thank you!