Anyone else feel like meds don’t help their adhd kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I could have written your post. What worked for us, after trying literally everything:

Instant release Adderall in quite literally the lowest dose available. And cut it in half and make it even lower. On an empty stomach each morning.

For whatever reason, modest starting doses make my DS’s inattentiveness worse and brought on side effects.

[Anonymous]

PP here. The extended release seemed to dull him and make him sluggish. So did Intuniv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

The SSRIs increase weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD/ASD/low processor has been on Adderall for a few years now. It's the only med that works, and it's banned in many countries because it is considered a dangerous drug because of its mixed amphetamine salt combo.

Adderall is the only medication that works for him, and only if he uses it sparingly. He can't take 20mg (his optimal focus dose) every day, otherwise after prolonged use for months, it doesn't work anymore. He takes 10mg extended release daily, and 20mg during exams or finals. When he needs a short span of focus, such as driving for errands, he takes 5mg immediate release.

Every ADHD stimulant has decreased his appetite, which is problematic for him because he is underweight and on a weight-gaining diet. That's another reason not to use meds at their optimal dosage.

And of course, no medication can correct the socio-emotional communication issues that autism causes.

I just want to say to this poster that we are in this exact same situation. My DS is sooo skinny! The Adderall works well and does curb some of his social "avoidance ". We are new to the med though so thanks for the tip on prolonged use making it ineffective! like the idea of a low dose for driving etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

[Anonymous]

At some point if multiple adhd meds don’t work you may need to circle back to the adhd diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

[Anonymous]

How do you know when to stop? I don't understand why is there's worsening side effects after 6 weeks to keep going to a therapeutic dose based on weight? Kid has lost weight and says they hate the medicine and doctor and I don't know what to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know when to stop? I don't understand why is there's worsening side effects after 6 weeks to keep going to a therapeutic dose based on weight? Kid has lost weight and says they hate the medicine and doctor and I don't know what to say.

Why are you putting your kid through that? It’s not life or death and the meds are not magic. Just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

[Anonymous]

Sorry my psychiatrist said they’d cause weight loss. Lol. This was years ago but it caused me to never trust psychiatrists. Their profession is a lot of junk science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

My DD was 125 before SSRIs (and stimulants, and Guanfacine) and is now 185. She’s been off of everything for a couple of months now and still seems to be gaining weight. But she’s 16 and feels the world is fat phobic (although I can tell she does not feel good about how she looks and feels), and she continues to eat a lot of carbs and sugar. So I don’t think the weight is going to come off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 16 and we finally stopped the meds after 8 years. We did:

Focalin
Ritalin
Metadate
Straterra
Vyvanse
Jornay
Concerta
Guanfacine

Nothing seems to have done a thing really. She’s pretty inattentive and has had periods of a lot of dysregulation. We also did Zoloft, Abilify, and Effexor. She gained 60 pounds in 4 years of experimenting with those.

She’s now obese, off of everything, pretty regulated and doing fairly well in school. We are about a month off of everything.

I thought stimulants decreased weight?

I think it was the SSRI that initially caused the weight gain, and her her the stimulants did not act as an appetite suppressant for her. Now she’s on nothing but Guanfacine and still gaining weight. So I don’t know.

Guanfacine causes weight gain

That's what I've read here! But the doctor's INSIST that it doesn't. She has really bad eating habits and is very sedentary too, so it's so hard to tease this all out. All I know is she's gained 60+ pounds in the last 4 years, and that's when we increased the SSRI's and she's been on meds since.

I was 120 before SSRIs and gained 20-30 lbs on them. Effexor made me the fattest but all of them caused significant weight gain and carb cravings. I tried 8 kinds. My psychiatrist insisted this was the opposite of what the literature said and that if anything they’d cause weight gain. After going off Effexor (took 1 year) I lost 25 pounds easily with diet and exercise - and I finally had energy to exercise because the meds made me exhausted and sleep 12 hours. Medication is not a panacea.

My DD was 125 before SSRIs (and stimulants, and Guanfacine) and is now 185. She’s been off of everything for a couple of months now and still seems to be gaining weight. But she’s 16 and feels the world is fat phobic (although I can tell she does not feel good about how she looks and feels), and she continues to eat a lot of carbs and sugar. So I don’t think the weight is going to come off.

PP here. It took me a year of dedicated effort to lose the extra pounds and retrain my taste buds from eating junk. The meds stayed in my system for a while and I was sedentary and used to that lifestyle and completely de conditioned. I was also exhausted all the time. Any medication that causes that amount of weight gain is likely going to do more harm than good. I was even more depressed on SSRIs than not because I was so fat, I looked awful, felt awful, etc. It crushed my self-confidence and killed my social/romantic life. It’s going to take time to undo the damage. I would stop chasing meds if she’s having such significant side effects.