ADHD prescription

[Anonymous]

My 7 year old DS is about 50 pounds and takes 15 mg. of Adderral XR. The effects are waning lately and I think he'll need an increase is dose soon. Does this seem like a lot for a child his age and size?

[Anonymous]

It's hard to say for certain because everyone metabolizes medication differently. If he's getting ready for a growth spurt, he may be burning it up more quickly than in the past. But, if he's got too high a dose, you're likely to notice it with increased side effects.

[Anonymous]

It differs from person to person, by age, and from drug to drug. Compound that with no real correlation between dose and severity of symptoms and you have no way of knowing without trial and error.
I have found that it helps to jot down notes about how my kids are doing. Nothing formal just "had a tantrum" or "seems to be acting worn down" or "hasn't been able to do a bit of homework for 3 days without tons of help". It helps me a lot when I am trying to figure out what is going on. Sometimes my perceptions are not really born out in my "data". For example, it may seem like he's had an outburst every day for two weeks, but it has only been 4 or 5 times and not every single day.
HTH!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for the insight.

[Anonymous]

My ds is about the same size as yours and also takes 15 mg of Adderall XR. I'm not sure if this makes a difference or not but mine takes 10 mg in the morning and then an additional 5mg around noon. He just added the 5 a few months ago when he seemed especially impulsive for several weeks. His doctor said that he had grown a lot since she initially prescribed the medicine and upped the dose. I still don't feel like it's perfect and that there could be something better out there but the psychiatrist feels like we are getting good results with this...so hard to know...