Anonymous wrote:My child has a cardiac condition that we recently learned about with a prolonged QT interval. It turns out I have it too. This is what the kids who just suddenly "drop dead on a soccer field" often are thought to have. It is congenital for some, but it is also induced by certain medications, and I believe many ADHD meds are on that list. Kids like mine can absolutely NOT take meds that further prolong the QT. If you are on a med and notice increased heart rate like that, do NOT take them. Make sure to get an EKG and have the corrected QT interval checked out by a pediatric electrophysiologist, or at least a cardiologist who knows what they are doing. You don't want to play around with that.

Wow. I didn't realize that ADHD/ADD meds were linked to fatal heart conditions like that. I'm thinking that especially with younger children, they probably aren't thinking about the dangers of an increased heart rate.

My child has a cardiac condition that we recently learned about with a prolonged QT interval. It turns out I have it too. This is what the kids who just suddenly "drop dead on a soccer field" often are thought to have. It is congenital for some, but it is also induced by certain medications, and I believe many ADHD meds are on that list. Kids like mine can absolutely NOT take meds that further prolong the QT. If you are on a med and notice increased heart rate like that, do NOT take them. Make sure to get an EKG and have the corrected QT interval checked out by a pediatric electrophysiologist, or at least a cardiologist who knows what they are doing. You don't want to play around with that.

I always wonder about seemingly "healthy" kids or adolescents who drop dead on a soccer field or whatever. The press doesn't disclose which, if any, meds the child was prescribed. Of course there's usually several contributing factors. It's such a mystery to me, but not much discussion. If there's any mention of a sudden previously unknown cardiac condition, my antennae go up.

I just had to take my almost 9 year old DS off his 20 mg dosage of Vyvanse due to sudden personality and almost psychotic behavior over the weekend. We meet with the doctor on Monday and we need to tease out if this is the medication or something else and the only way to do it is to be medication free for 2 weeks.

This is causing him a lot of angst. He says he can't focus in school without it. I keep reminding him that he went for many years without medication and he will be okay for a few weeks. He just started medication in November even though we suspected for awhile.

Not every child reacts the same way to a medication. I thought he was doing fine and this came on rapidly in the evening. Apparently it can be a side effect from "coming down" from the med.

Anonymous wrote:I have two children on ADHD medication and neither has had changes in personality, emotion and affect. not at all. I'm really tired of this.

Which is awesome for you and your kids. It's not necessarily true for other kids. Not everyone gets the same side effects from a medication.

Seconding a request for a summary!

MY teen DS just disclosed to me that he has not been taking his ADD medication (Vyvanse) because it makes his heart "beat too hard".
I will be talking with his pediatrician about other meds that might not have this side effect, but the article posted sounds interesting.

OP, can you please paraphrase some of the article?

NP here. Please, can we keep things civil and not turn this into a pro-medication vs. anti-medication debate? I think when we start arguing about it in this way, we lose the chance for a needed discussion about the nature of ADHD and the appropriate use of medication – one that medical and mental health professionals are also struggling with.

Anonymous wrote:The March/April issue is an excellent resource for all parents. I happened to buy a copy at B&N yesterday.

Another good article:
"Is Depression Just Bad Chemistry?"
Can you also please post a link to that one?
It says:
"Among the problems correlated with depression are irregularities in brain structure and
PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS."

The psychological stress was bolded.
How fascinating.

Thank you, OP, for this thread.

This is the poster who thinks parents give their children depression. It was very kind of her to step into the thread for parents of teens with serious depression to harp on this.

The March/April issue is an excellent resource for all parents. I happened to buy a copy at B&N yesterday.

Another good article:
"Is Depression Just Bad Chemistry?"
Can you also please post a link to that one?
It says:
"Among the problems correlated with depression are irregularities in brain structure and
PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS."

The psychological stress was bolded.
How fascinating.

Thank you, OP, for this thread.

This is another very good article on the subject, based on a recent high-quality study:

http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2014/02/17/study-neurofeedback-brain-training-can-complement-adhd-stimulant-medications/

From what I understand we're not talking about how to "prevent" ADHD but about how to complement drugs to take better care of the symptoms and to prevent dose escalation.

Anonymous wrote:I have two children on ADHD medication and neither has had changes in personality, emotion and affect. not at all. I'm really tired of this.

If what you're saying is true, why are you complaining?

I have two children on ADHD medication and neither has had changes in personality, emotion and affect. not at all. I'm really tired of this.

I'm not going to post this to the other ADHD thread, because it's turning into a bitter argument. However, there is a very interesting article in the March 2014 issue of Scientific American Mind about using behavioral interventions in place of medications to treat and possible prevent (!) ADHD. It also notes a number of side-effects of ADHD medication that I hadn't heard about before, including changes in personality, changes in emotion and flattened affect.

It's behind a paywall, but worth checking out.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-adhd-be-prevented/