Lamictal or Clonidine for teen with ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Lamictal. This drug for this purpose only works in “name brand only”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has she had a neuropsych evaluation? Could it be something other than ADHD or in addition to? I agree that I would try another stimulant or two or some nonstimulants before going to Lamictal.

Our child psych has repeatedly said she doesn't care about evaluations like that in regards to medication. She doesn't medicate relative to diagnoses in that way, she medicates for symptoms to improve a child's life. Having another label isn't what will magically get you the right meds IF you have a good prescriber. They can do their own diagnosing, plus observation etc.

Most psych only see patients 15-30 minutes. That doesn't give you a good view.

PP you're responding to. It gives them plenty of a view if they're listening to patients, parents and teacher reports.

[Anonymous]

I take a very low dose of lamictal as an adult who has a longstanding ADHD dx (from teen years). I also think I am on the spectrum. I did not tolerate stimulants well when I finally tried them in my early 20’s. 50mg of Lamictal and 50mg of Zoloft help me regulate my emotions so much better. It makes a big difference with parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lamictal. This drug for this purpose only works in “name brand only”.

That is so not true

[Anonymous]

I would try Clonidine at first

[Anonymous]

My child had a lot of brain fog, some stuttering, and more sicknesses/mouth sores while increasing on Lamictal. It seemed like it worked well with emotional regulation but the side effects just drained and frustrated them. We decreased dosage and eventually took them off. There is no other mood stabilizer we would consider because of side effects.

Clonidine with a stimulant worked well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I take a very low dose of lamictal as an adult who has a longstanding ADHD dx (from teen years). I also think I am on the spectrum. I did not tolerate stimulants well when I finally tried them in my early 20’s. 50mg of Lamictal and 50mg of Zoloft help me regulate my emotions so much better. It makes a big difference with parenting.

What does it mean to ‘not tolerate’ a stimulant? Curious what that looks like

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take a very low dose of lamictal as an adult who has a longstanding ADHD dx (from teen years). I also think I am on the spectrum. I did not tolerate stimulants well when I finally tried them in my early 20’s. 50mg of Lamictal and 50mg of Zoloft help me regulate my emotions so much better. It makes a big difference with parenting.

What does it mean to ‘not tolerate’ a stimulant? Curious what that looks like

Maybe it was user error? I hated the way they made me feel. I was very anxious as a grad student. I was not on other meds at the time, just a stimulant. I found myself completely focused on random things in my apartment… not the school work that I was hoping to focus on. Rough time of my life. And I was very isolated.

[Anonymous]

In our situation, Lamictal was a game changer because the emotional dysregulation was causing significant impairment. I was also more comfortable with Lamictal compared to the atypical antipsychotics which have long term issues. Once the emotional dysregulation was under control, the ADHD was more manageable and easier to treat.

[Anonymous]

What does it mean to ‘not tolerate’ a stimulant? Curious what that looks like

“Not tolerating” stimulants is a common problem. For DC, stimulants caused severe insomnia, feeling jittery, increased anxiety, and a couple of other issues.

[Anonymous]

Can I ask what dosing you all have your kids/teens on for Lamictal. It seems to only give dosing for epilepsy and my teen’s doctor just had her go 25mg each week up to 150mg. It seems like a lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I ask what dosing you all have your kids/teens on for Lamictal. It seems to only give dosing for epilepsy and my teen’s doctor just had her go 25mg each week up to 150mg. It seems like a lot

DC is 16 years, on 100 mg. It’s a medication that is titrated up very slowly. 50 mg worked for awhile, then it had to be increased. DC has been on it for 3 years. I thought about asking the psychiatrist to decrease the dose but DC is doing well so I’m reluctant to make changes to the medication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter sounds like me when I was a teen (49 now). I had big emotions and was born to amazing parents who had no idea how to handle that in a world where things were meant to look good.

This was a long time ago, before we had more understanding of this and drugs to treat it. I became anorexic/bulimic as a teen- and had to leave college to attend inpatient treatment for 3 mos at 19.

Still not having names or drugs for myself, I then turned to alcohol and drugs to self medicate. I overcame those issues in finding sobriety- but it wasn’t till my early 40’s that I found treatment that worked. Despite my “issues” I was incredibly and against all odds able to be very successful financially. That said - I still suffered deeply and fell for a narcissist whose abuse of me felt like home. He talked to me like I talked to myself.
I feel blessed to have amazing children and have lived a full life- one where I’m successful on the outside but still horrid to myself on the inside.

Stimulants and buspar turned things around for me- suddenly I had the ability to pause before I reacted in big ways to my big emotions. I might be borderline- I’m not sure if I am or if I just lacked tools.

I am very close with my family. I’ve lived a hard life but it’s made me into a beautiful, multi faceted person. I was “gifted” - but I suffered. The more you can let your daughter know that she isn’t a “problem”- she’s likely very bright and she likely has a huge heart that she wears on her sleeve- but a PERSON- one who is imperfect like everyone else- the more I think you’ll help her. She isn’t a problem to be solved or a puzzle to be fixed- she’s a girl who feels things in ways that are likely as big as her talents the more I think you’ll help her.

Good luck OP- be a safe place for her to be weak around as she likely struggles with perfectionism and deeply wants to please her probably can’t overcome the thoughts in her busy bright mind, the more she will feel sad. My emotions terrified me and I wish I. Od hug the little me and tell her that my brilliance and my heart could coexist/ that I wasn’t quite like most people and that wasn’t a defect or a defect- but a gift that needed to be empowered and embraced, the better I think I would have done. Because I was so bright I could hide it well as I tried so hard to find ways to masquerade. I beat the hell out of myself for so long and I wish I had had thee meds sooner.

Hang in there and remember she’s a person not a problem, keep loving her, keep understanding these ways she acts aren’t aimed at you- she likely loves and trusts you enough to struggle to you.

Be well, Op. love and prayers to you all s you navigate this.

PP there are a lot of studies coming out showing that undiagnosed ADHD girls are being treated or diagnosed with bipolar or BPD. But the fact is, girls have a lot more head ADHD (in their thoughts) more than boys and that leads to poor synapses in the brain and stunted prefrontal cortex. Then the high emotional regulation also appear like it is other diagnoses when in in fact it is ADHD. I know plenty of girls that have done really well on Lamictal, Clonidine, Intuniv, Stratera, Latuda, etc... either alone or in combination with a stimulant. My friend's daughter is on Intinuv in morning and Clonidine at night and it works really well. And this was after years of trial and error with stimulants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take a very low dose of lamictal as an adult who has a longstanding ADHD dx (from teen years). I also think I am on the spectrum. I did not tolerate stimulants well when I finally tried them in my early 20’s. 50mg of Lamictal and 50mg of Zoloft help me regulate my emotions so much better. It makes a big difference with parenting.

What does it mean to ‘not tolerate’ a stimulant? Curious what that looks like

Increased heart rate, irritability, twitching, and very agitated on the come down period in the afternoon. Hard to get to bed at night. For kids that are already too skinny, not eating well due to nausea becomes a big issue and probably another reason they are so agitated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid takes both clonidine and lamictal. It's great.

+ 1

Lamictal for mood and clonidine to help her sleep. Works brilliantly, no side effects.