I took my kid's ADD med.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe she doesn't have ADD. I would explore other avenues.

OP here.

She most definitely does. Suggested by school-I thought they were nuts. I was in the "ADD is over diagnosed" camp.
Had a private neuropsych eval and it's definitive.

OP, what is your psych saying about this reaction?

How does your psych monitor your child for medication reactions?

It took several tries for us to find the right Rx for our son. Different meds, different doses...it was like a two month process and she made sure to start in the summer before he went back to school so the Rx would be correct.

[Anonymous]

My son takes Vyvanse 20 mg every day. You can watch him go from near constant movement and constant stream of consciousness talking to calm in about an hour or so. He said it makes him feel calm and in control of his own body. The side effects are real- hardly any appetite until it wears off and occasional trouble falling asleep. He had the trouble falling to sleep before the meds though because his body was in constant movement. He also didn't eat much because he couldn't sit still long enough to sit through a meal. For him, it has been a miracle. I've never taken his medication and never would because I DON'T HAVE ADHD. What did you expect OP?

[Anonymous]

My son is older and is able to express very clearly how he feels on Vyvanse. The first 2-3 days are tough (we stop during the summer, so he has experience this more than once). He feels very anxious, jittery and nervous without cause, out of sorts and like something within him is not quite right. It is specially bad the first day.
By day 3 he says he feels how his mind stops racing all the time and he is able to focus easily and how he has more energy and disposition to stay on task instead of drifting away (he's inattentive). His manner of speak slows down (he talks so fast that unless you know him well you would not be able to understand him), his handwriting improves dramatically and he is able to read without going over the same page over and over again. Socially, it is easier for him to communicate, both express what he wants and keep up with what others are saying. He says that normally he feels he lives on a time delay, either going faster that everyone else or slower and getting lost. The meds take care of that.
Loss of appetite is a big issue. Once he takes the medication he can't even look at food for about 8 hours. So he has a big breakfast and a big dinner, but at this point almost nothing else during the day. That is the main reason we stop the meds on weekends and summer. Once he is off them he starts eating like the teenager he is. His growth patters has not been impacted at all.
Maybe your daughter needs to take it for at least a week before exploring other options so her body can adjust, but maybe it is not the best medication for her.
Good luck.

[Anonymous]

My kids take methylpheinidate meds (Concerta and Ritalin LA) vs. dexamphetamine meds (Adderall, Vyvanse, etc.). Two different prescribing doctors (one kid also has moderate-severe anxiety so sees a psychiatrist) and both had the kids ramp up slowly. Both started with short acting meds vs. long acting. Once we got the dose right with short acting, then we switched to long acting forms for school.

My older child started taking them in middle school (she is combined type, primarily inattentive) and says that she couldn't tell any effect at first (started on a weekend), but at school could tell that she had an easier time concentrating.

If your child is reporting these feelings, it's possible the dose is too high (at least for starting out) and/or needs to be on a different med. Also, different long acting meds have different release profiles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend took his son's med and said the same thing. If it is so tough on the adults, imagine the effect on the small bodies ESPECIALLY BODIES THAT DO NOT HAVE ADHD AND WHERE IT HAS NOT BEEN PRESCRIBED BY ONE'S PHYSICIAN. .

Edited your quote slightly.

Imagine if you do not have high blood pressure or a racing heart and you took grandma's beta blocker.
I am guessing that it too would feel terribly weird and your body would react accordingly.


Our DS has the applicable diagnosis and and after a few tries, we decided on Vyvanse. It works for him. He feels normal when he takes it. Other meds did not.
It is a very individual decision.
OP, I hope you and your family find a solution that works for all, importantly your DC. GL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It shouldn't make her feel that way though. If she truly has ADD, it should sort of calm her down but allow her to focus. People with ADD don't speed on those drugs like people without it do.

Not true.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

So this is not our first ADD med. her psych is very careful about starting out low dose and gradually going up.

I can't recall the first two she tried.

Basically he just suggested we be patient and try try again until we find something that works. Or, he said we can stop trying meds and try to manage it without meds. I'm leaving it up to her... She is 16, she does not like how this feels, it's her body. I feel certain due to my body's response that it's very possible these meds are making her feel some of the things I experiened. Or maybe not the same feelings, but similarly dramatic.

I did specifically tell him I took this stuff myself. He laughed and said "most moms of kids I treat have." He also said it is absolutely 100 percent NOT true that kids with ADD will react differently on the meds than someone without ADD. He said that's a total farce. He said everyone reacts differently to meds, whether they are ADD or not. He said some ADD kids take Vyvance and feel like they are on speed (like I felt). Some kids take it and it helps them feel better. In my kids case, she may just be really sensitive to these meds and unable to take them. It happens. It works for some kids and not for others--and if it does not work, it has nothing to do with not actually having ADD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, have you told the doc about this? I have ADD and I remember when I first took my Vyvanse, my thoughts were more like, "OMG, I feel calm. My mind is not busy racing with 100 different thoughts pulling me in different directions." I almost cried to know you could feel that centered. And I felt more awake & alert. Prior to the Rx, I would drink about 12 cups of coffee in the a.m.

Yes this was my exact experience too.

+1, I take a very small dose. Less than one 20mg pill.

[Anonymous]

I am an adult that has ADHD but never took meds as a child. As an adult I tried meds and felt the exact same was as OP. It calmed my mind but I felt "weird". My body just felt odd and I felt a little bit 'drugged' - really hard to explain as it was a very strange feeling. Then as it started to wear off, my body got tired but my mind stayed awake.

I am not anti meds in any way but I agree that every person reacts differently to meds. There is no one reaction for people with ADHD and one reaction for people without ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It shouldn't make her feel that way though. If she truly has ADD, it should sort of calm her down but allow her to focus. People with ADD don't speed on those drugs like people without it do.

This is a myth.

Well it calms me down - I have ADD and I don't speed all over on those drugs.

I have ADD as well, and I can say that my response is very similar to the OP's. I take a super low dose. I agree that it is strong. More people should try it before giving it to kids who don't have the language or life skills to realize how strong they are and to describe this. I take it by choice, and I am not saying that it should never be given to kids but the casualness and frequency really wows me having had some of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It shouldn't make her feel that way though. If she truly has ADD, it should sort of calm her down but allow her to focus. People with ADD don't speed on those drugs like people without it do.

This is a myth.

Well it calms me down - I have ADD and I don't speed all over on those drugs.

I have ADD as well, and I can say that my response is very similar to the OP's. I take a super low dose. I agree that it is strong. More people should try it before giving it to kids who don't have the language or life skills to realize how strong they are and to describe this. I take it by choice, and I am not saying that it should never be given to kids but the casualness and frequency really wows me having had some of them.

I should say that I take a super low dose (18 mg concerta) because that is all I can handle. Previously 5-10 mg of ritalin was huge to me. Other meds I can't even handle the lowest dose of.

[Anonymous]

There has got to be an alternative for children with debilitating ADHD. I thought vigorous exercise helps. Has anyone tried to take their children off meds and put them in vigorous, daily sports or movement classes?

And what about melatonin for sleep? Is it harmless?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tried a few ADD meds and we are trying to find something that works for her. This is the 3rd med we have tried. (Vyvance).
She took it for 2 days and said what she said about the other two meds: "I hate how this makes me feel".
She's never been able to articulate exactly what this "feeling" is that she hates so much (aside from upset stomach but that's not what she is referring to).

Today I just decided to take one. For better or worse, good or bad, I know it's not right to do but I'm trying to figure out what she's talking about or get some sense of her experience.

Holy crap.

This stuff is strong. And I can't articulate it either but wow...it was like a super fast super high where I could actually feel my body racing up. For about five hours I felt so weird. Good parts, I felt happy and uber focused on getting stuff done. I could clean my whole 3000 square foot house in about two hours. I was chatty and felt good. But part of it was weird-I felt like I was like, "outside myself"? If that makes any sense? I didn't feel like me.
I wasn't hungry at all...in fact, the thought of eating was got tally unappealing. I couldn't imagine eating. I literally wouldn't take a bite of anything. I was incredibly thirsty. My stomach felt awful, nauseous in a way I can't describe.
And then wow, the crash. Hour 6 I literally felt my whole body slow down. Like I could feel it actually slow down like you feel a car slow down while driving. I was so tired, I couldn't stay awake. I laid on my bed for an hour, but my mind was awake (my body was totally exhausted). My head was pounding.
I finally now feel back to normal.

So yeah.... Experiment complete. I don't have any idea whether our experiences were the same, but boy I will never "poo poo" her comments about these meds again. This is serious stuff. And this is the intro dose!!

I don't know how I feel about these meds anymore.

a few HUGE HUGE differences between you and DD OP -

1) I'm assuming you don't suffer from ADD/ADHD? which means it will effect you differently

2) You are an adult, she is a child. meds are metabolized quite differently between the two. So yes, while you were "high", focused, efficient and felt outside of yourself that by no means indicates that this is how she feels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has got to be an alternative for children with debilitating ADHD. I thought vigorous exercise helps. Has anyone tried to take their children off meds and put them in vigorous, daily sports or movement classes?

And what about melatonin for sleep? Is it harmless?

Just about everyone will say YES to having tried vigorous exercise in lieu of.....it doesn't work. it may help but it by no means fixes anything.

[Anonymous]

Many adults who don't have ADHD take adhd meds. People do it all the time in medical school. Docs prescribe it for themselves in residency. Like all medication, there are dude effects that everyone reacts to differently, regardless of their diagnosis.