ADHD Meds for Kid - without appetite suppressant?
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Anonymous
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I’m close to starting my 10 year old son on ADHD medication since his learning issues have worsened and he’s falling behind in school. He’s had some growth problems and is small for his age, so I’m worried about him starting medication that it will lead to suppressing his appetite and him eating and growing less. I’m also worried about sleep disruption.
I’ll be meeting with my doctor and asking these questions in a few weeks. But any parents who have been here have helpful advice? Any thoughts about different types of medication and how you saw them impact your kids? |
Anonymous
| My son is underweight and has sometimes fallen off his growth curve. When we started ADHD medication he lost a few pounds so they added Cyproheptadine as an appetite stimulant which has really helped. |
Anonymous
| My skinny 8-year-old lots lots of weight on either Ritalin or Adderall (sorry I can't remember which--it's been a long year) but got that back with Strattera. That said, he was more regulated on the first drug, and I'm starting to wonder if we should put him back on the first one and deal with the appetite and sleep separately (he also had a hard time falling asleep.) Know that it might be a many-months journey. It has been for us. |
Anonymous
| We haven't found a stimulant that doesn't suppress my son's appetite. He is less than 1% for height and weight but since his ADHD is so severe that he legitimately cannot function without the meds, we are in a no-win situation. We feed him a protein-filled breakfast, send him a lunch to school that he eats at aftercare around 4:30, has dinner around 6:30, a second dinner around 7:45 and usually another snack around 8:30. It's like his appetite comes back full force and he makes up the day's calories in four hours. As far as sleep disruption, ours suffers from inability to fall asleep with or without meds so we give a melatonin (per doc) and hope for the best. |
Anonymous
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Agree that all stimulants seem to limit appetite. We have tried two short acting doses - one at 7:30 at breakfast and another at 12:20 after lunch. So he is covered by meds most of the day but will eat big breakfast, eat a bit at lunch, and then big snack and dinner.
But my super skinny kid was too distracted by the lunch room environment to eat well there unmediated anyway - we didn’t lose anything there. |
Anonymous
| My son takes Ritalin and while it suppressed his appetite in the beginning at lunchtime, he did seem to get it back a good bit once he adjusted more to the meds. Same with sleep. We still use melatonin many nights because it helps him get the amount of sleep he needs and that is CRUCIAL (almost as crucial as meds) so we finally just really gave up on worrying about melatonin, our psychiatrist and pediatrician both said please don't worry yourself on this, it is pretty benign and if it helps him, use it. So, that's what we do. I know the appetite doesn't even out for all but just wanted to share that story that it did get better for us. In the meantime, we did big afternoon snacks and sometimes and after dinner snack to make up. |
Anonymous
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All stimulant meds come with likelihood of appetite suppression at some dose, often in the effective range for treatment. Strattera/Atomoxetine and Intuniv/Guanfacine are the most commonly prescribed non-stimulants. |
Anonymous
| My kid doesn't each much lunch on Concerta, but her appetite is back by dinner. So I try to get a decent protein filled breakfast in her, then have a giant snack ready when she gets home; it seems to all even out. |
Anonymous
| Anti-diet: Feed high calorie drinks (milkshakes). |
Anonymous
Yes. My doctor also said for lunch, make it high calorie and don't worry about nutrition since they eat a healthy breakfast and dinner. It works! I do through in a pickle and some high quality beef jerkey but...calories. |
Anonymous
| My kid drinks eggnog year-round which has a good amount of protein and carbs, plus protein drinks. Our pantry is stocked with high-calorie snacks he loves (nutter butters, Nutella dippers, trail mixes), and he grazes starting when he gets home from school. I try to make him a big breakfast and a big dinner as well. He rarely touches his lunch other than sometimes he'll eat a Snickers bar and take a few chugs of a protein drink. Sleeping isn't an issue because he typically trains/practices his sport 2+ hours a day, so by 8:30 he's out. |
Anonymous
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Our DC's pediatrician requires a check in every six months to monitor weight and sleeping impacts.
And DC has been on Vyvanse since K. Definitely plan for bigger breakfasts and dinners, and otherwise good luck! |
Anonymous
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I’m the op of another thread about a newer non stimulant medication called qelbree.
We tried Guanfacine and Focalin so far. Guanfacine mellowed my son out for a bit but did not have a significant impact long term. Focalin had some benefits but also suppressed his appetite, made him more anxious and caused a bad rebound when it wore off. Our neurologist recommended we try qelbree. It was approved by the fda for adhd in 2021. Has been around for a long time though in Europe and decades ago in the us as an anti depressant. I don’t know how it will work yet as we’re just starting, but we are hoping it helps alleviate his adhd symptoms enough and that it doesn’t impact his appetite the way stimulants have. |
Anonymous
Why neurologist instead of psychiatrist? |
Anonymous
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Qelbree and Strattera are both SNRIs, kind of similar to Prozac, which is an SSRI. Neither of the SNRIs are as likely to cause appetite suppression as the stimulant class.
Strattera was approved back in 2002 or so, and I think Qelbree was off the market for a few years back then. They just weren't making it for some reason. That's probably why Strattera gained traction first. |