Adding non-stimulant med

[Anonymous]

DS7 is on metadate for ADHD. It basically only works for school hours and he is horrible to be around starting around 7 pm—cranky, combative, insulting (and in AM too). Even a super low dose affects his sleep, so trying a booster dose midday backfired.

He was difficult before, but I wonder if stimulants exacerbate some of this behavior? We are reluctant to stop as it is really necessary for school, but boy, I would like to enjoy being around my kid again. It’s really exacting a toll on our family.

We have an appt this week with doc and I am interested in adding a nonstimulant (genetic test said Intuniv or Vyvanse was better than Strattera) to see if that might even him out. For those who have BTDT, how did that process go for you? When did you begin to notice results? What do I need to worry about or ask about?

[Anonymous]

No experience with a kid, but when stimulants on their own weren't working well for me, we added Intuniv to my concerts and it worked wonders, both raising my baseline and smoothing out the crash when the Concerta wore off. I was really tired my first week on it, but the fatigue faded after that.

[Anonymous]

Vyvanse is a stimulant

[Anonymous]

For my kid, Vyvanse was much smoother in wearing off than Concerta, which is why we started with. No crash in the afternoon. It is a stimulant though.

[Anonymous]

My DD is on Intuniv. It helps a lot with sleep and with hyperactivity. She doesn't use the stimulant any more. I think she's trained her brain by now or she's matured or something, but her test scores and school work are good enough without the stimulant. Stimulants do have those side effects: they lose weight, they don't want to eat, they can't sleep until late at night, they crash when they come off it, tics are exacerbated as is anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vyvanse is a stimulant

This. Every kid different, but mine reacted horribly to it, became anxious and paranoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my kid, Vyvanse was much smoother in wearing off than Concerta, which is why we started with. No crash in the afternoon. It is a stimulant though.

It is much smoother, less up down than others, lasts a lot longer which is not great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is on Intuniv. It helps a lot with sleep and with hyperactivity. She doesn't use the stimulant any more. I think she's trained her brain by now or she's matured or something, but her test scores and school work are good enough without the stimulant. Stimulants do have those side effects: they lose weight, they don't want to eat, they can't sleep until late at night, they crash when they come off it, tics are exacerbated as is anxiety.

OP here. Thanks to all for catching my Vyvanse error—it's been a while since I was researching meds and my memory ain't what it used to be . But interesting to know that it might be a good alternative to Metadate.

PP, this is why I would love to be able to get off stimulants altogether (someday)—I can't deny they help him, but he seems especially sensitive to the side effects—def seen an increase in tics, too. I really think a lot of the anxiety he is showing is more related to stimulants than anything organic to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is on Intuniv. It helps a lot with sleep and with hyperactivity. She doesn't use the stimulant any more. I think she's trained her brain by now or she's matured or something, but her test scores and school work are good enough without the stimulant. Stimulants do have those side effects: they lose weight, they don't want to eat, they can't sleep until late at night, they crash when they come off it, tics are exacerbated as is anxiety.

If the medication is having all those side effects, you need to try a different medication. My DS is on Focalin XR, a stimulant, and he does not have any of those side effects. The only thing we have is that he is not hungry at lunch time (and eats little, like 2-3 cheese sticks and fruit) we work around that by feeding him a big breakfast, big dinner, and lots of high calorie snacks after school and in the evenings.

[Anonymous]

OP here. This is our fourth or fifth stimulant. They have all had those side effects—the extended release versions were total disasters. Metadate seems to be the best so far—appetite suppressed, but comes back at night; no weight loss. But sleep, tics, anxiety, crankiness—UGH.

[Anonymous]

Is the doctor a child psychiatrist? Prescribing is an art and sometimes it is hard to find the right meds. The anxiety may have to be treated separately with a SSRI.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. This is our fourth or fifth stimulant. They have all had those side effects—the extended release versions were total disasters. Metadate seems to be the best so far—appetite suppressed, but comes back at night; no weight loss. But sleep, tics, anxiety, crankiness—UGH.

Strattera, clonidine and Intuniv are the three second line medications for ADHD. You should try them. Less kikely to cause all the side effects you mentioned.

[Anonymous]

DS was on Ritalin LA and clonidine. We ended up dropping Ritalin but the clonidine really helps him with his emotional regulation and sleep. Subsequent genetic testing shows DS has two different hits against him so far as respon ding to Ritalin ... which sort of explains why didn't really help him.

So far as changing stimulant medication, I'm recalling Vyvanse is contraindicated for kids with anxiety .. which is why we never tried it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS was on Ritalin LA and clonidine. We ended up dropping Ritalin but the clonidine really helps him with his emotional regulation and sleep. Subsequent genetic testing shows DS has two different hits against him so far as respon ding to Ritalin ... which sort of explains why didn't really help him.

So far as changing stimulant medication, I'm recalling Vyvanse is contraindicated for kids with anxiety .. which is why we never tried it.

I don't think that true. I have two anxious kids who take Vyvanse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS was on Ritalin LA and clonidine. We ended up dropping Ritalin but the clonidine really helps him with his emotional regulation and sleep. Subsequent genetic testing shows DS has two different hits against him so far as respon ding to Ritalin ... which sort of explains why didn't really help him.

So far as changing stimulant medication, I'm recalling Vyvanse is contraindicated for kids with anxiety .. which is why we never tried it.

I don't think that true. I have two anxious kids who take Vyvanse.

+1. Op, is your child on anti anxiety meds in addition to stimulants or not?