Focalin XR and Intuniv, Anyone? (Also Mood Disorder Question)

[Indianamom2]

I've posted here before about DD and her lack of motivation to care about her grades. She also has ADHD and has been on Focalin XR for months now. I do think it helps. We just got back from the psych's office and she added Intuniv to the mix after I expressed my concerns about her grades slipping lately.

Anyone else do both? Does it help?

On a related note, how do you know if your child has a mood disorder? Who diagnoses it? I assume a psychologist, but I really don't know for sure.

Feeling kind of bummed for DD.....

[pinkmomagain]

My daughter has been on each of the meds but never together. Focalin XR works best for my kid.
A psychiatrist can dx a mood d/o and, in my opinion, would be the best to do so since medication would likely be required. Did you bring up your concerns to the dr?

[lmh2402]

DS was on Intuniv for a very brief time - it was NOT a good fit for him.

He's now using ER Clonidine with much better results.

Not familiar with the other medication. We are flirting with an ADHD dx and psychiatrist has said we might try adding an ADHD med (not sure what/which) to the mix in a month or two, but at our last visit he raised DS' dose of zoloft and obviously only wants to make one change at a time. so for now we're working on bumping the zoloft before we add anything else

[LBW]

My middle son was on Intuniv for a short time, and had pretty bad side effects. I know kids react differently though, so it may work for your daughter.

My youngest was on Focalin (actually the generic version) for a while, and it did seem to help.

Would the psychiatrist diagnose a mood disorder? That would be my first guess.

[mackmama]

No BTDT on the meds, but a good therapist or psychiatrist can diagnose a mood disorder (LCSW, MFT, PsyD, PhD, MD).

[minnie-zb]

Lots of kids don't care about grades and are unmotivated. I"m not sure how that equates to a mood disorder?

Is she struggling in school with the work? Could she have an undiagnosed learning disorder?

[annex]

My impression was that Intuniv is used more to treat impulsive and/or aggressive behaviors in children with ADHD. I don't see how it would help with grades. My DS takes it, and it definitely doesn't improve his focus (more likely to make him sleepy at school). Since it moderately helps with the impulsive behaviors (and he had a negative response to stimulant class meds), we have continued to use it. For mood disorders, I would not expect it to be a first line med for trying to treat those.

[Indianamom2]

Thanks all. I'm not clear on why we needed the Intuniv either, except that last time we were there, I mentioned that DD's teacher said she had a hard time staying in her seat (she's in 5th grade).

And the mood disorder question was sort of unrelated. DD has always been highly challenging, but she's also pretty irritable a lot. I have a younger sister who is highly irritable like this and I DO NOT want DD to act that way. That's the very brief background for that particular question.

[lmh2402]

DS is dx with extreme generalized anxiety and separation anxiety as well as OCD. these things seem to present in DS as extreme irritability, short temper, very on edge and often sharp tongued. like way beyond normal 7 year old attitude. however, these symptoms only ever presented at home. he was/is perfectly behaved at school

my understanding is that the intuniv - and now the clonidine in it's place - for him was to tamp down some of the outbursts and anger. as i said, the intuniv did not help - made things worse. but the clonidine has definitely helped.

[bisous]

I think sometimes Psychiatrists like to solve every problem with medication. At least that is my observation and my fear. DS1 sees a psychiatrist for ADHD. His school performance is not perfect. At all. He's struggling through 6th grade, but the I did the same thing! The response of the psychiatrist is to increase his meds. I think my psychiatrist is pretty conservative even. He works for Kaiser so he isn't really motivated by prescribing meds (doesn't get any kind of advantage for trying new types for example). I just think psychiatrists seem to be problem solvers by nature and see medications as the tremendous tools that they are. But I don't see why an increase for DS1 is necessary. His original problem was hyperactivity that got him in trouble almost constantly and caused him to lose friends. He's no longer having that problem. I suppose it could be argued that increasing his medication would make him even better at concentrating but I also think that we could have better systems in process and he could try a little harder too so I have resisted an increase in medication. I think what guides me is that he is happy, he is improving, he is healthy but he is still scattered and distracted at school. I still feel like we need to try a few more non-medication options before that would make sense.

I don't know anything about Intuniv so I can't help there. I would consider treating for mood issues if you think that your DD would benefit from something that will help her cope better.

[zukeypur]

We did those exact combination for a couple of years. It did help greatly with DD's impulsivity. Now we are only doing Quilivant XR in the morning. We have a prescription for a bumper dose of Ritalin as needed in the afternoon.

[bisous]

We did those exact combination for a couple of years. It did help greatly with DD's impulsivity. Now we are only doing Quilivant XR in the morning. We have a prescription for a bumper dose of Ritalin as needed in the afternoon.

Good to know!

[elephantmeg]

DD is on focalin XR and we have started boosting it was focalin regular mid day as she is starting to loose focus after school