ADHD meds question

[pastrygirl]

I might be going down this road soon, got a very surprising tentative ADHD diagnosis yesterday. When all of you say the meds wear off, does that mean your child goes back to his or her "old" self, pre-diagnosis? Or is it worse? The school and I can handle his normal bad behavior, but I'm not sure I can handle any worse than this!

[egoldber]

When younger DD's meds wear off, she goes back to the "old" problematic behavior. They are often a bit worse. Initially, they were a LOT worse, but I think that has subsided. But honestly, I think it may feel worse because we're now so used to the new behaviors!

And to update our meds saga, Concerta was a disaster. She was up after midnight and one night until 2 am!!!

After a few weeks of trial and error, we have a good regimen though.

In the morning, she takes 10 mg Metadate CD (similar to Ritalin LA) + 5 mg generic short acting Ritalin. At lunch at school, she takes another 5 mg short acting Ritalin. This gets her through the school day easily. By the time I pick her up at 5:30, it's pretty well worn off. On the weekends, we have better success with her taking the second dose at 2. That gets her through dinner and she can still sleep at night.

[pastrygirl]

Thanks. Still mulling this over!


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[daisymommy]

My younger brother was on Ritalin LA our entire growing up years, and yes, that's what it was like for us too. My mother always complained that it wasn't fair she never got the benefit of the medication my brothers life was better for the medication at school, but it all came back out in full force once he got home and the meds wore off. This was usually at 3:00. It took hours upon hours to get homework done, with my poor mother sitting hostage at the table helping him.

DS is on Dexedrine LA and its the exact same story in regard to meds wearing off. Thankfully it lasts long enough to finish homework, but my gosh, come 5:00 he's like a Tasmanian devil!

We have to do melatonin to get him to fall asleep by 10pm. If he skips it, he can't fall asleep until 1-3 am!

We use the GNC cherry sublingual tablets, 1 mg. and have for years with no need to increase the dosage.


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[daisymommy]

I might be going down this road soon, got a very surprising tentative ADHD diagnosis yesterday. When all of you say the meds wear off, does that mean your child goes back to his or her "old" self, pre-diagnosis? Or is it worse? The school and I can handle his normal bad behavior, but I'm not sure I can handle any worse than this!

For the first hour or so, my son is even more hyper and wild. It's like all the activity that was suppressed got bottled up and then unleashed with gusto! After that, he is back to his same old unmedicated self.


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