After over a month of waiting, we finally got the prior authorization for our son to start Jornay PM. He has been having so much trouble in the mornings and evenings with body control, anger outbursts and just generally not following directions. And the worst part is he is not sleeping at all. Sometimes he doesnt fall asleep until after midnight. Keep in mind he is 7 years old and needs sleep for his development. He also wakes up early (sometimes in the 5am hour). I am really hoping that JornayPM will help with all these symptoms and I am looking for feedback for others who have switched from Concerta to Jornay. What time do you administer the medication? When does it typically wear off in the evening and did you see improvements in evening behavior? Usually week day sports and activities are a nightmare because they always occur right when his Concerta is wearing off and he becomes a wiggly, bouncing, shouting mess that coaches can't seem to handle. I want him to ENJOY activities and not always be the one getting in trouble. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Jornay PM - 7 year old ADHD - CHADD's ADHD Pare...
Jornay PM - 7 year old ADHD
we used Jornay for a bit. We dosed around 8pm for 7am wake up. My son lost his appetite during the day and ate a ton around dinner, after it wore off. We also had insomnia, so we stopped the Jornay.
Hope it works for you.
Hello, Aweib,
Everyone responds to medication in their own way. I'm glad you are giving Jornay PM a try! Be sure to write down any important details so you can share during follow-up appointment. Have you thought about trying behavioral therapy too? Here some information that can be helpful: chadd.org/for-parents/behav... cdc.gov/adhd/treatment/beha... triplep.net/glo-en/home/
If there is anything else you need, please let me know.
Liseth
Health Information Specialist
CHADD's National Resource Center on ADHD
We’ve been on journey for over a year. Boy, 10y, 65lb, I think. baseline is sleeps well and eats normal. Combined ADHD with more inattention than hyperactivity. Is squirmy and fidgety but doesn’t climb the chandelier type of wild. Bedtime 9pm.
We switched from Quillichew, that made him very argumentative and irritable.
On Journay our mornings are bliss, which helps with not starting the day angry or in a hurry.
We tried 20mg and 40mg, and several start times.
What worked best:
20mg - start time 8pm : still has some trouble waking up at 6:30, but moves well after 30 min. By 3pm there is very little left, and he’s very distracted/forgetful. Good mood, though. Not doing evening sports at the moment, but when he was that’s when we went to 40mg.
40mg - start time 8pm: woke up on his own around 5:30-6am, moved well and independently. Stable mood through the day, bouncy and distracted around 7-8pm. Had hard time falling asleep, pushing bedtime to 10-11pm. Tends to hyper-focus and just be more quiet and borderline isolated. But not depressed, more like content with reading a book the whole afternoon, instead of going to the park.
If he took it earlier than 8pm, he would wake up too early. Any later, he wouldn’t sleep well or enough.
Eating is inconsistent, but generally early breakfast and late dinner was the way to go.
20mg is too weak, 40 is a bit too strong. I think 30 would be the perfect match for him, but they don’t have that. ☹️
We’re sticking to it a little longer, until we do genetic testing and I try to fat him up a bit to see if the extra body weight helps slowdown the absorption. The morning bliss is priceless for the whole family. It sets out day in a very positive tone.
I hope it works for you kid!
Thx so much for your input. Sounds like our situation with our 7 year old in 1st grade. Sleeps 9pm-6-:30 am give or take morning time. Currently on Vyvanse 10mg-split dose, to try to stimulate his appetite at lunch. Takes a short fast acting Ritalin half a 10mg tablet at wake up time. Helped withAM school behaviors. However, always is thinking people are staring at him now. I state cause you’re interesting. 🤨 We too are awaiting appointment with psychiatrist for med management through the same place he gets CBT therapy….which helps ALL of us!
Constant growing=Constant med adjustments
Blessings-Stacey
my 6 year old son only stayed on 20mg the first week, that week was truly awful at school. Only 2% of kids stay on the 20mg dose, per the Jornay website (health professional side of the website). Most kids end up on 60-80mg but that’s not with other adhd meds. It was better when we bumped up to 40mg and a week later we bumped to 60mg and he was doing really well throughout the day. It took him awhile to fall asleep the first week or two and he was waking up very early, 5 am hour. Falling asleep slowly got back to normal as his body got used to the meds but the waking up early got better but after a few months, still woke up around 6am. My son seemed to metabolize the med fast so we would dose around 8pm and it would kick in 10 hrs later. It was like an internal alarm clock. He lost his appetite at lunch at first but that also slowly came back after a few weeks. We would have stayed on Jornay since it was really helping his ADHD symptoms but his mood changed a bit and he developed a germ phobia about a month and half into the med, which his doctor said can happen on a stimulant and usually that side effect doesn’t show up right away. So we stopped the med a few weeks ago and it appears those thoughts have gone away. We started Qelbree (non-stimulant) and it hasn’t been helping at all so far. It’s upsetting about the Jornay side effects because it really helped his adhd symptoms. Good luck.
Hi! This is not the advice you asked for and I wasn’t either during our last trial and error phase with finding the right stimulant and dose.. but I wanted to suggest a magnesium supplement to try and help with his sleep. My son is 8 and is on Azstarys, a methylphenidate based stimulant for his hyperactive/impulsive type ADHD. This stimulant has worked wonderfully for him (for now) but we were noticing some irritability and anxiety related outbursts when it would start wearing off after school. We started him on a fish oil/omega 3 supplement, a good probiotic and multivitamin as well as a magnesium supplement. Magnesium can help with sleep and relaxation. Have a look online, there’s some research that shows that having such supplements in addition to a stimulant can help the stimulant’s absorption and effectiveness. After a few weeks, we noticed a very positive change with our son in the evenings when the stimulant wears off and he’s sleeping very well. Good luck!
Yes it is documented (can’t remember what the % is) ADHD kiddos have low magnesium and other vital minerals needed for synapses in brain development and everywhere actual.
I feel genetic testing should be a standard first line (covered by insurance) test when beginning ADHD medication. And then later on maybe pick and choose which V and M doc should assess.
Blessings-
Stacey
I’ll add that my son was on Concerta at 8yo and it was a nightmare! He only lasted a few days actually. So hopefully you’ll have a big improvement just moving from that! Good luck!
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