I Screwed Up with My DD's Meds, Need Advice

[Anonymous]

My 12 year old DD was on focalin for about 15 months. We switched her to vyvannse last month because it felt like the focalin wasn't very effective anymore. Vyvannse has worked really well, but I'm down to the last two pills in the 30 day prescription, and her psychiatrist is out of town. I called the office today, and the receptionist was very irritated at me for waiting this long to call in (she has every right to be, I don't even understand why I waited this long, and I'm very upset with myself) and said that the back-up psych needs 48 hours to fill the script. Which would make it essentially Monday before I get it and can fill it. So... here's where I need advice. DD cannot go without meds (which, yes, makes me even more guilty for waiting so long). I still have a lot of unused focalin sitting in a drawer. Is it terrible for her to take focalin for the days in between running out of vyvannse and getting the new script? She didn't seem to have any major side-effects when starting vyvannse. She said she felt a little dizzy but that went away after a day or two. If you can give advice and not judgement I will be eternally grateful, as I'm already self-flagellating enough.

[Anonymous]

That stuff happens tall of us. Can you take her to her primary care doctor and have him prescribe a week or two until the psychiatrist comes back or even take her to a walk-in clinic?

[Anonymous]

You have to ask the doctor this question.

But sounds like she will miss a day (2 pills and Friday/Sat/Sun) assuming you get it filled on Monday.

Figure out which day you can best miss

[Anonymous]

Can she not go without on the weekend? Can you give her caffeine as an alternative? V8 makes an energy drink from green tea that works quite well for my daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to ask the doctor this question.

But sounds like she will miss a day (2 pills and Friday/Sat/Sun) assuming you get it filled on Monday.

Figure out which day you can best miss

OP here. Maybe I should save the two vyvannse that I have and give them to her tomorrow and Monday, so she has them when she's in school. I hate to have her skip any day because it really does affect her interactions with the world. Plus, Saturday is Yom Kippur. It will be hard to imagine her sitting in synagogue without her meds. Plus I'm fasting and not sure I can handle her un-medicated while also going without food, water, and coffee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to ask the doctor this question.

But sounds like she will miss a day (2 pills and Friday/Sat/Sun) assuming you get it filled on Monday.

Figure out which day you can best miss

OP here. Maybe I should save the two vyvannse that I have and give them to her tomorrow and Monday, so she has them when she's in school. I hate to have her skip any day because it really does affect her interactions with the world. Plus, Saturday is Yom Kippur. It will be hard to imagine her sitting in synagogue without her meds. Plus I'm fasting and not sure I can handle her un-medicated while also going without food, water, and coffee.

Can you let her skip services? I wouldn't have her fast either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to ask the doctor this question.

But sounds like she will miss a day (2 pills and Friday/Sat/Sun) assuming you get it filled on Monday.

Figure out which day you can best miss

OP here. Maybe I should save the two vyvannse that I have and give them to her tomorrow and Monday, so she has them when she's in school. I hate to have her skip any day because it really does affect her interactions with the world. Plus, Saturday is Yom Kippur. It will be hard to imagine her sitting in synagogue without her meds. Plus I'm fasting and not sure I can handle her un-medicated while also going without food, water, and coffee.

Can you let her skip services? I wouldn't have her fast either.

She's not fasting. She's only 12, I'm definitely not making her fast until her bat mitzvah, and even then, we'll ease into it slowly. She actually likes services b/c there's a lot of kids activities and she can hang out with her Hebrew school friends, so it won't be so much that she can't sit still in services. But that she might just get a little impulsive and irritating.

[Anonymous]

Call your pediatrician—hopefully they can help you with a short term dose!

[Anonymous]

Ask your pediatrician to call in a script for a small dose

[Anonymous]

You definitely can get your pediatriican to call in four pills - urgent care might be willing too - but I'd just call your ped. This is a very common med and not something that you are trying to extract from them - oxycontin would be a different story - ADHD meds they probably prescribe at the ped all the time - mine does

[Anonymous]

My kids always skips weekends, what is the urgency here?

[Anonymous]

If you can't get your pediatrician to get you a prescription, I'd save the Vyvanse for Yom Kippur and give her the Focalin on the other days. They don't interact/contraindicate and you already know she can take the Focalin. It's not as if you're doing something new.

And, don't be so hard on yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to ask the doctor this question.

But sounds like she will miss a day (2 pills and Friday/Sat/Sun) assuming you get it filled on Monday.

Figure out which day you can best miss

OP here. Maybe I should save the two vyvannse that I have and give them to her tomorrow and Monday, so she has them when she's in school. I hate to have her skip any day because it really does affect her interactions with the world. Plus, Saturday is Yom Kippur. It will be hard to imagine her sitting in synagogue without her meds. Plus I'm fasting and not sure I can handle her un-medicated while also going without food, water, and coffee.

so what time does the doctor office open on Monday? Do you work on Monday? One day wouldn't be that bad right? If you get the meds by 8 go to CVS by 9am and school by 10 am?
if not I will let her have some focalin on Sunday and Monday. She might have a off day from school on monday, but it wouldn't be good if she without her meds when she in the synagogue. My DS started laughing inappropriate when we went to church and I forget to medicated him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids always skips weekends, what is the urgency here?

OP here. Your kid is different from my kid. My kid cannot skip, it gives her headaches and nausea, and affects her behavior badly. Different kids have different needs. Consider yourself lucky if you can take the weekends off. We cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can't get your pediatrician to get you a prescription, I'd save the Vyvanse for Yom Kippur and give her the Focalin on the other days. They don't interact/contraindicate and you already know she can take the Focalin. It's not as if you're doing something new.

And, don't be so hard on yourself.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm being hard on myself because every day for the last week I've looked at the pill container and thought "today I really need to call the doctor" and I just kept putting it off, and that is the story of my life. Thanks to all the PPs who suggested calling my pediatrician. I put a call in to the nurses line this afternoon and will follow up first thing in the morning. I never would've thought of that so thank you!! Also thanks to the suggestions about how to space out the vyvannse vs. focalin. On a positive note, since it is Yom Kippur, DD doesn't have any sports or plans because my in-laws are coming to visit. So she'll mainly be around family (and we'll have two cars at synagogue in case she needs to go home) to support her.

Thanks again!!