First Experiences with ADHD Meds for Kindergartener

I am right there with you, I don't WANT my kid on meds but other wise she is very hard to live with , she has behavior trouble at school , she has peer trouble, she has no impulse control, she can NOT control her emotions.

Becareful about not giving him his meds on the weekends because you'll see a crash, happen, you might see some major anger issues when he comes down off of it.
That's the main reason why we switched to the short acting formula and not the long. And it's much cheaper and has a generic. Vyvance was BAD for us , again anger issues. She's on 10 mg of short acting focilin 2x a day. yes she takes it at school. That's what works for us, she dosen't have a bad afternoon at school and she doesn't bring it home and we have a bad evening.
We tried all that diet change stuff and supplements did not work, if they do work then it's not ADHD ,it's a food allergy or nutrition lacking.

I can tell from your post you are a very loving mama! Your son is lucky to have so much love and support around him. You and your little guy will find your way through this and figure out what works best.

I would never criticize anyone for the choices they're making in this situation because I'm not really in anyone else's shoes. We've had tremendous benefit for ADD in diet and nutritional supplements, and I insisted on trying that route before turning to meds. I'm very glad I did that -- but I'm sure that doesn't work for everyone. But I will say, this post reads as though you are trying to justify your decision to yourself -- you can't be 100% sure of anything but still have a "niggling fear." In fact, if you were 100% sure, I don't think you'd bother writing this post at all. When I read this post, it sounded as though you were trying to convince yourself it was the right thing and hoping others would say the same. No one on here knows your son or the struggles you've had, so no one can say whether you're making the right decisions or not. But you certainly are not alone in having to face those decisions, and there's no doubt you want the best for your child.

Dang! Talk about sticker shock with those meds. I feel your pain sweetie. Keep open communication with the teacher and the doctor and even the pharmacy (I am on a first name basis with my pharmacist - he gets Christmas cookies from me!) Remember - all those folks work for you and your son, they get paid to answer questions- no matter how many you have!

As far as getting your son to take pills... start with getting him to swallow m&ms first... thats how we did it.

Meds are sometimes the only path. With our son who is now 17 it was a nightmare before meds. As far as the pill. If he is not able to swallow the pill my sons meds came in capsule form. the doctor told us to open it over a spoon of oatmeal or whipped cream and give it that way. he could just swallow the spoonful of stuff rather than trying to swallow a capsule. We also only gave it on school days and it worked fine. The only thing I will tell you is that most adhd meds are controlled substances. doctors write the scripts and at least in our area you have 5 days to fill them. if your stretching it trying to make it last longer the script dates might not line up so be careful of that. Also keep an eye on his emotional state with the new script. my younger son had an awful reaction to ritilin and spent all his time an emotional clingy crying mess. stopped that one after about 10 days. switched to adderall which worked great for several years. then to vyvance which he still takes only on school days. my older son had adderall for a short time and it made him into an angry aggressive kid which he had never been. we tried it for about month. decided to stop it. (his add was more the drifting off into space kind of thing not the fidgity can't control impulse stuff) so the meds affect different kids different ways. just watch and see.

Yep, going a million miles an hour to just 55 miles an hour, will make your child seem like a zombie.. But in reality, in his brain, instead of it being on fast forward.. it is now at normal speed.

He is now able to actually concentrate on one thing at a time. Eventually even plan ahead!

Once he is older, he will be able to verbalize EXACTLY how his brain works off of the meds as opposed to on the meds.

My husband has ADHD.. You know they never grow out of it. So he is an adult with ADHD.. He says this is an example of a minute in his life.

Getting ready to walk out of the door for work.
grabs his keys, realize it is not the right set, notice the book he was looking for yesterday is under the table. Bends to pick up the book and realized the handle on the table is still loose, decides to get the screw driver to adjust it. then his phone rings from work, they ask him a question, answers the question, while looking for something, but cannot remember what it is. Notices, that there is a crack in the ceiling and he needs to think about patching it. He meant to do that weeks ago. Notices he has a set of keys in his hand and needs to put them where he will remember them, but first needs to search for his scooter and work keys. Takes a sip of coffee and thinks, this is really good. Which beans did I use to make this? Was the container getting low? Needs to remember to tell me to pick some more up.

Walks out the front door down the steps, starts his scooter. Needs to finish his coffee, cannot drive with a cup in his hand. Places the cup down on the carport, (I will find about 5 cups out there at some point).. then leaves.

He will have walked past the sticky notes reminding him it is trash day. He will not have pulled the cans to the curb, and not have noticed all of the neighbors cans all out on the curb, until he is at the end of the block.. Then he will either race back and pull the cans out... (leaving our trash in the house) or just go on and decide we did not have that much trash and he will do it next week!!

This will have been all in about 2 minutes.

This is what it is like in their heads. So to have a moment of pure clarity, is fascinating to them. Tho be able to actually concentrate on the lights in church. to notice the architecture. to notice how the sounds of the speaking or sound of the choir, with the words actually making sense.. can be fascinating to them. They will stop and seem spacey, but it is that they are so amazed at being able to just observe. My husband can almost appear to be glazed over, but instead he is enjoying all of the things he normally would overlook. or be distracted by. It is like a whole new world to him.

We tried meds for 6 weeks - the first two were great - what we were anticipating - the remaining 4 were horrid. It was filled with adjusting the meds because they were not effective enough after the first two weeks. We then began Occupational Therepy and other forms of helping our ADHD kindergardener. I certainly hope you have gotten the school's special education department involved with your son and I certainly hope they are helping to document the changes be positive or negative. Trying to keep this short because I have to take mine to school in a few but do not be surprised or dissapointed if this is a short lived 'miracle' as meds work for some, they do not work for others and it's trial and error to find the right combo.

Your child should be different on medication. He should still be the same person with the same personality, but life should be in focus for him now. To me, what you described sounds really positive. You're really fortunate to have found a good match on the first try with medication.

Our son has been on ADHD medication since he was four. We were very, very uneasy about it all and have had our ups and downs with meds over the years. However, we tried taking him off of meds and lasted two days. He simply wasn't functional ... at home or at school. He was completely out of control in ways we couldn't control at all. That alone told us medication was the right thing for him and we were helping him by giving him medication.

Our son is almost 10 now and just made honor roll at school. That's something that never would have happened if he wasn't on medication.

Hang in there! I know it's a very difficult choice with medication, but it sounds like you've found a good match for your son. I bet you get a super report from school!

ETA: Our son takes Concerta and Strattera. There's no generic for Strattera, so it was $280 the first time we picked it up at the pharmacy! Gulp! I totally relate to the "Is this worth it?" feeling when committing that much money. Luckily, we go down to our normal copay with refills, too.

Im here for ya! We chose the daytrana patch and my first time buying it I about passed out! Make sure to ask your doctor, or call daytrana themselves for a discount card. It will give you a free month and 20 off a month for a few months!
As for the zombie I called my doctor the third day because I was worried. Like Laurie said this is your son at normal speed. I ask mine all the time how he feels and just make sure he is ok. I will tell you we started out like you only during school but he felt so much better and less "scattered" that he often asks for it on the weekends. I let that be up to him though. The nice thing about the patch is you can cut it. If you think he is getting to much cut it in half. I know it says not to but our doctor said that is more the drug company trying to make.extra cash. So at times on the weekends we will do the 1/2 just so he has what he calls a clear mind. He has been on daytrana for almost one year and we have not found a need to up it or add a "booster" or sleeping pill as others meds sometimes need! Please feel free to inbox me if you need to chat or have questions!
A.

What meds is he taking @ 200$?