Medication question

[JamB11]

Medication question- Over the last couple of years we have struggled with finding the right stimulant medication. For my 12 year old son. We have done a Genesight testing but have only seen real benefits with fluoxetine for anxiety. My sons impulsivity continues to be a huge problem with his daily functioning in 7th grade.

Three weeks ago he started Mydayis 12.5 mg. The reports from his teachers the first week were amazing, but since then we have not seen the same improvements. Does that mean that the dose needs to be increased? Our follow up appointment with his doctor is on Wednesday.

[Hidden]

I think Mydayis is the ‘slowest release’ stimulant medication so it lasts up to 16 hours? What you need to bare in mind- will your child be able to fall asleep well in the evening if you increase. What about eating/ has it been affecting negatively your child’s appetite? If you increase it would be even worse.

What I noticed with my son- stimulants increased his anxiety and increased his impulsivity, he also had a severe rebound. So obviously our experience was that giving ‘more’ milligrams per day stimulant only made everything even worse not better.

I’d say if you son does suffer from anxiety and low mood (because fluoxetine is an antidepressant) then ‘stimulants’ shouldn’t be his first line of treatment. There are a lot of medications in non stimulant group and they are actually all slightly different (working on different neurotransmitters in brain) so I’d say you could give it a try. Non stimulants are sort of all in one as most of them will also tackle anxiety, low mood etc whilst controlling ADHD symptoms.

Saying that my son who is on Atomoxetine 40mg is still irritable at home after the whole day of school and then till late sports clubs and then more sports clubs at the weekend and doing home work- he still does kick off mildly sometimes (he is lazy and all he wants to do is play football in the garden or watch TV and play with his brother etc- all the fun stuff and not the studying and chores). So let’s say he’d answer rudely to me- like in a rude tone of voice etc. But in general he’s fine until evening- coping with all the demands that as a 9 year old he has, so school and sports clubs daily and home tutor coming once a week to do maths catch up with him. He goes to sleep (sometimes reading in bed a bit) at 8pm and wakes at 7.30am. This was impossible on stimulants- he was a mess and had we continued we probably would have to keep adding ‘antidepressants’, ‘antipsychotics’ and so on. Instead we swapped to a non stimulant and he is on 1 medication to tackle everything - anxiety, ADHD and low mood.

However whatever your decision is, many parents here recommended Periactin and they were saying they give it with the stimulant medication to counteract the low appetite and also it’s calming and sort of mildly sedating in some children so I think if given at bed time it may help sleep. You could ask your doctor about it, because my information about it is only as a parent who read about it on this forum.

[Elijah1]

You likely need a dose increase. Discuss with his doctor.