Ritalin Causing Seizures?

that medication is known to harm the liver do research online. my son has been on Adderall XR and Vyvance and we have small problems if any. These two are time relaesed so it's once a day and it's not so hard on thier systems.

I work with children who take medicine for the same thing. However I have notced that Ritlin has not been the drug of choice for many. Adderral seems to work pretty good. Let us know what you try because I have a grandson who will most likely be on one of the medicines in a year or so.

My initial concern is that your son is only 3 years old. I am surprised a doctor would prescribe a stimulant drug for a child under 5 years. (and most don't like to under 7 yrs.) Believe me, I understand where you are coming from. When my daughter was growing up I told many a professional, "You can drug her or you can drug me, but ONE of us is gonna'be drugged!" (Somewhat in jest. - I've never done drugs in my life.)

My second concern is that your son may be reacting to an allergy such as red dye which is in a zillion foods. If ADHD runs rampant in your family, perhaps the diagnosis is right on, but I'd still explore other avenues because of his young age...because Ritalin depresses the appetite resulting in less calorie intake and will slow his growth. He also needs other therapies whether or not he's on medications, such as talk therapy and behavior modification or training. As parents you need support as well. It's a TREMENDOUS job and takes lots of energy, stamina, determination, mental strength, patience...the list goes on in dealing with this challenge.

There are so many new meds out there - Ritalin is an oldie (but still may be a goodie) but perhaps a non-stimulant is more effective. Work closely with health professionals, and remember YOU ARE A PROFESIONAL as well...a professional mother to your son. YOU know him better than anyone. Trust your instincts and protect him from decisions that may go against what you think. Advocate for him. Contact NAMI and attend their no-cost "Visions for Tomorrow" course. You can get free support through them. It's open to all parents and caregivers of children with brain disorders. You will have many, including family members who will tell you your son doesn't have a problem that it's your parenting. They just don't understand - most don't unless they live it.

Feel free to contact me and we can talk by phone. I've got lots of experience and resources I can share with you. My children are ages 17 - 26 and I've got a boatload of experience! I am a member of this forum in hopes of being a beacon of light for the young moms raising children today. You all have a tougher job raising children than any generation before you.

HI S.,
I have a son who has autism which is along the samw kind of spectrum as ADHD. I am not sure about what to do about siesures but I read the book by Jenny McCarthy who is also the mother of an autistic child and he had a lot of siesures. Jenny put her son on a special diet and it helped a lot. We also have our son on a special diet and believe me it does help. The diet is called the gluten free casein free diet. It is a great diet. There is a lik between the gut and the brain and it causes behaviour problems when things are not working well. This is not just a belief it is fact. If you are interested look up gluten free casien free on the internet. YOu can contact me if you want to as I have been using this diet for a long time for my son. My son used to be crazy if he had milk or cheese and as soon as we stopped all dairy he calmed down tremendously.
I hope this helps you.
Good luck,
W.

I'll echo the previous response by suggesting that you explore drugless options for dealing with your son's ADHD. Nutritional, naturopathic, homeopathic and chiropractic options will NEVER put your child in danger, much less initiate more serious conditions, such as seizure disorders...which will eventually require further medication. Also, non-toxic, drugless avenues are more effective at dealing with the underlying CAUSES of his attention and hyperactivity symptoms. As it stands, you are playing Russian roulette, as many of these powerful, mind-altering drugs are destructive to developing nervous systems, and can create problems that cannot be undone. Although the drugless methods may involve slightly more effort on your part, they are much more capable of restoring his ability to 'mainstream' later on. Good luck.

Hello! I have three girls with various ADHD/autism issues. Our oldest was at the point that we were seriously considering meds and we decided to try to change her diet. She was already having few refined sugars and no artificial colors ect (red is a big culprit.) But I heard about the gluten free diet and decided it couldn't hurt to try. Get The Kid Friendly ADHD/Autism cookbook http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&in...

It explains how many of our kids are very sensitive to gluten (found in wheat and oats and other grains and in many pre-packaged foods) and some also in caesin (found in dairy products.)

My oldest stopped having such severe behavior issues, my second was able to pay attention to things/more aware of her surroundings and responded to her name, and my third daughter speaks more often and more clearly on the diet.

Of course, as I said eliminate artificial additives (including in the vitamins) and limit sugar. But for us, taking out the gluten has been the key.

Oh, I almost forgot to add that a friend of mine was on Ritalin for a very short time as a child and when her parents found out the military wasn't accepting people on Ritalin they immediately took her off. Well, two decades later she was kicked out of the Navy when it was discovered she'd taken Ritalin for a few months. They said it causes such severe health problems they couldn't rick the permanent damage she may have had as a result of the medication. I wouldn't give it to my child for anything. Most doctors will no longer prescribe it.

Blessings,
S.

This may be way out there, but have you ever had a sleep study done? My husband began having seizures and we found that he has sleep apnea. ADHD can be caused by sleep disorders and it can cause so many other problems. You might want to ask his doctor about having one done to at least rule out if sleep is the problem. Its a simple way to find an underlying current as to why some things happen. Also, you probably need to have your child see a good pediatric neurologist. The adult brain and the adolescent brain are completely different as to how they handle medications. Seizures can be somewhat like allergies when it comes to diagnosing why. The best neurologist will tell you that they just simply don't know what causes them, they can just treat them. I do have friends that have found out that its something like aspartame or a certain preservative in foods. But, you can drive yourself crazy. Chemicals in carpet have also been blamed for seizures. My husband sees an excellent neurologist and I know that he can recommend a good one for your child. There is a good one at Dell named Dr. Kocen (?) I believe. I found through this website. It takes months to get an appt. though. Sorry I don't have specific answers, but I would definitely try the sleeping route, you'll be surprised as to what you'll find can happen to children who have this go undiagnosed.

I've read that any of the stimulant meds for ADHD can cause seizures in someone who already has a seizure disorder. Perhaps your son is prone to epilepsy and the meds are causing the seizures. Straterra is the one non-stimulant med for ADHD.

Have you heard of Omega 3 fish oil for children with ADHD? It has some studies behind it and seems to help, but it takes time. My niece's daughter has both adhd and epilepsy, and they won't put her on stimulant based adhd meds anymore because her seizures were worse on them. The psychiatrist recommended she try the Omega 3 fish oil. They have her on Straterra I think for the ADHD.

Probably the reason they told you to reduce the amount given to him is just to be precautious. Because your husband has epilepsy, it might just be something your son can't help but get due to heredity. I have seizure disorder, and have been told that I have to take pills for the rest of my life......but.......I would suggest that you ask your doctor about taking him off his ADHD medicine and just put him on seizure medication (only if they definitely determine he has seizures). The medicine I have to take controls your seizures as well as calms you down (anti-anxiety). Maybe there is something for kids that can do the same thing? If it was the first time he had the seizures......he might just have them when he spikes a fever or gets sick. Anyhow, I hope he gets the right medicine he needs and feels better very soon.

Over active thyroid can cause these ADHD sytoms. First have the child tested for Thyroid by an "Endocrinology". Do not use your regular doctor for this. Before any child is diagnois or ADHD or learning problem they should always rule out thyroid problem, because it can cause all of this, including memory, over active child, hot, cold to many to list.

my daughter has been on Adderall for most of her life and it has helped her alot. The only side effects I've seen is her weight. In other states they have banded it because of sudden deaths in children.
My son has adhd and has grandmal seizures. He is not one any medicaine for the adhd because its not that bad and I have ways that I inform the school on how to handle him and have him pay attention.
For the seizures I would do as the doctor said and lower his med's for now to see if he was getting to strong of a dose also talk to your doctor about what happened. Ask them if he should switch medicaines also remind the doctor that your husband has epilepsy. The 2 seizures your baby had may have been caused by the medicane or it could have been caused by something else.

my nephew now 15 had adhd, and was impossibly difficult to handle all his life.
my sister tried everything but did not want to medicate him.
she put him pn a completely natural diet.
no colors, artificial flavors, nitrites (in bacon and processed foods), only pure natural fruits and veg and unprocessed meats. she got a list of foods of the internet which can aggravate adhd and stuck rigidly to it.
the change was immeasurable after only one week. he is still an active boy, but he controls his own diet now because he knows if he eats additives it makes him irritable and jittery.
you could try that, it can be a lot of work but worth it if it does the trick.
if your husband has epilepsy you should get your little boy tested. i cant comment on the medication, personally i would not medicate my 3 year old until i had explored all the other options, i am surprised your doctor allowed it to be frank.

This post broke my heart. I don't have any experience with ADHD, but I had to respond. I urge you to explore options other than meds as some of the other mom's have suggested. Though these meds have been used for years, each child can react differently & it frightens me to think of what these drugs can be doing to kids. I'm not anti-medication, but as a parent I try to make it a last resort. I think sometimes the medical community is quick to assign pharmaceutical remedies before trying natural options. I read that Michael Phelps (Olympic Gold swimmer) had ADHD. His mom got him involved in swimming as a way to help him & look how amazing this young man is! I don't know what type of medication, if any, he took, but I think its brilliant that his mom gave him something to do to release energy & become involved in. Clearly he is focused & driven. I would stop the meds, change the diet & try to find activities that interest him. My prayers are with you & your child. Sincerely, A. W

You need to get a second opinion on this and also have testing done on your son to make sure he does not have epilepsy,since there is a family history. He may need to be on a completely different medication if he does have epilepsy.My cousin went thru the same thing as your son. The Bluebird Clinic in Houston is the place to go for this. I hope this helps.

S.,
This is possibly a tough one which well unfortunately mean that you and your husband will have to be one top of it at all times. First, if you question your doctor, you should get a second opinion. If you have good insurance, I would suggest going to the best that you can find. I suppose it is possible that your son does have epilepsy and these symptoms of ADHD or just pre-cursers to it.
I will caution that any advice you get should be carefully considered. The truth is that, in our society, so many of these kids are being diagnosed with ADHD when it is actually not that at all. ADHA has become a default for too many unexplained things, and while the explanations of your son do sound indicitive to ADHA, you could actually be looking at something else.
Scarry story...my son was diagnosed with ADHD, they gave him many different meds and nothing seemed to take it away. At 13 they gave him Concerta and he became a hermit! He was so paranoid of the outside world, that this little guy who always ran around and explored everything and seemd unafraid of anything, became incapeable of going to school. We took him off any and all meds and took him to specialists who discovered that he was being treated incorrectly. He actually has a very gifted I.Q. level and has an anxiety disorder. Once we treated him for the anxiety, he calmed down and was able to focus ~ but, because of the mis-diagnosis and incorrect treatment for 5 years, he was unable to complete school because he was sooo far behind and he is in a state of depression due to his circumstances. My son is now 20.
Don't let your son slip through your fingers like I did by believing that the doctor I had was omnipatant. (Spelling?)
Best of luck to you. God bless and I hope it all presents itself with a simple solution.
D.

I don't know that much about it, but thought that I should share with you, that my step sister had 2 boys on ritalin, and at least one of them was a real handful, like no body wanted to be around him. Come to find out, they were not adhd, they were practically genious's. so they were on the meds w/o the condition (mis-diagnosed). well the oldest, finally was discovered, and at a very young age was put into college courses, and now that he wasn't bored to death, he excelled in school and became the most sweet and gentleman you had ever met. the meds had serious consequences though. he almost went blind, and they did not know if he would ever be able to have children. well he did go on to have a child, and he wears glasses but can see, and is extreemly intelligent. But the mis-diagnosis, and meds almost cost him a normal life. not to scare you, but to make you aware of a possibility. best of luck, and health for your son. If it were me, and I put my son on a serious med and he had a couple of seizures, he would come off of that med immediately. you can't always trust dr.s, they make mistakes too, that's why their insurance is so expensive! God bless

Hi Shae,

One of the side effects of too much Ritalin is seizures, that's probably why they decreased his meds. Don't stop his meds unless you talk to the dr first. It may do him more harm than good going cold turkey off the med. Talk with his dr about the possibility of switching meds if that one isn't working.

Are you saying that your current husband has ep, but your son isn't his biological child? If this is the case then you don't have to worry about him inheriting ep unless you or your sons father has ep in the family. My daughter has had ep for 3 yrs now. She inherited it through her fathers side of the family. She will be on meds for the rest of her life.

Since your son has had 2 sz, watch for others, it could be a coincidence with the meds, or he may have ep. Two sz qualify you as epileptic. Just to let you know, people can develop epilepsy for unexplained reasons. If he happens to have another seizure, get with a pedi neuro.

Good Luck,
T.

I don't have experience with ADHD, but I do have some with Dopamine disorders, which I believe ADHD is.

I would try the diet recommended by other mothers in their responses. I would also give him vigorous exercise. Diet and exercise are the two things that God gave us for good mental health and physical health.

I, too, had a nephew who was underutilized. He was getting in trouble in school, etc. When he was finally placed in a gifted and talented program he excelled and became a new child. His results were great!

I strongly encourage you to focus on diet and exercise and stimulating/challenging activities.

My daddy always said, "Idle time is the devil's playground."

I don't know anything about your specific problems, but I do want to offer a book that could help. It's called "Healing Children Naturally". The primary emphasis is on food, ie. removing wheat and processed sugars from our diets makes a tremendous impact on the way the human body functions. The author is Micheal Weiner. It is not a cheap book, but it is practically worth it's weight in gold.

If you don't know anything about dietary changes I can offer the tidbit that often times children that suffer from things like Autism improve with removal of certain foods from their diets. Also, a lot of issues that we treat with medicines on a regular basis, kidney stones, gall bladder issues, etc. are mostly preventable if only we eat what is good for our bodies vs. what is mass produced and availible on the shelf at the market.

Best wishes!

Hi SHAE,,,
what ever you do dontjust stop his meds there are bad effects to just stoping it make a appointment woth is pshy as soon as possable so they know what is going on an ER dr has no idea of his history or your familys and all of that is a big contriputure i'm BI -polar and i know i have bad reactions to some drugs and higher does go back to the pshy'call them today this is your sons mind we are talking about not the chickenpox
Pleasehelp him
good luck L.

I know I'm late, but just wanted to add my 2 cents. I'm glad you were able to find an alternative medication. I know there are lots out there and sometimes it takes trying a few to find the right one and right dose. My sister is also sever ADHD with a genius level IQ. We managed a lot of her ADHD symptoms with simple changed to our diet. So growing up we restricted artificial colors, flavors and natural sugars called salicilates (found in apples and grapes.) This diet worked great so I didn't know if it was something you'd like to try. Sugar, believe it or not, is not off limits but you'd be amazed at how the artificial colors and flavors (especially red) will effect an ADHD child!

The good news is my sister is a productive and well adjusted adult now!

Good luck!

He is very young to be medicating. You should check into the possiblilty of a gluten/casein allergy causing behavior issues. There is a very strict diet to follow but can help you child. Also, some forms of epilepsy are very genetic. If you see a pattern take him to a neurologist. My 2 1/2 yr old was diagnosed with epilepsy at 1 and has been on medication to control it. The seizures are sublte (absence seizures) but seizures can be exhausting for them. If he has been having seizures without your knowledge that could also be causing behavior problems. Just watch him closely and maybe make a journal so you will know how frequent they are. Anyway there are other ways besides medication. I will pray for you on this journey! Good luck.

Wow, you poor thing. I am so sorry you have to watch your son go through this. I know this may sound off the wall, but I have a almost 3 yr old son who suffered from seizures. After working with several doctors and being offered several medications with promised increases in dosage, my hubby and I researched alternatives. I have the name of an excellent chiropractor that works with kids and all sorts of disorders, including ADHA and Autism. He has helped my son beyond description, and with a diet change, my son is now seizure free. Please message me for his name and number. Or you can email me ____@____.com luck in whatever you decide to do, I just know how scary meds can be, and wanted you to know there are other options.

Hi, I personally am against use of Ritalin, as it is a psychotropic drug which affects the central nervous system, on a young child. However, since your son is on it, increasing the dosage may very well cause some type of negative brain activity as Ritalin directly affects the brain. Have you researched on how food/diet affects young children's behaviors? There has been many benefits for ADHD children by adding fish oil (omega 3) and cutting back refined sugar, processed foods, fast/junk foods, and introducing a healthier diet. Medical doctors will most likely tell you that Ritalin and many other psychotropic drugs are safe, even though they have many side effects and contraindications. Pharmaceuticals are a major profit for them. I agree someone who mentioned that you cannot just quit giving it cold-turkey as it will give terrible effects. Therefore it has to be weaned. I don't mean to scare you but I don't know of any good way to put it, but this type of drug if used for long-term has devastating effects. I'm sorry you and your little boy had to experience the seizures. That is not good. Please take your time and read up some more about changing his diet if you haven't yet and also how Ritalin is not a good alternative. Individual kids have their own energy levels. Many times, they need to channel their energy levels and release it and be challenged somewhere. I've also heard of swimming and other types of high energy sport/activities helping children with ADHD. Best to you...

hi shae, my son also has adhd, my son started taking rx since, he was 5yrs old, but now he is 14yrs old , my son has been off of rx for 3yrs now. thank you god, he is still alittle hyper, but sometime can control it. my son was on ritalin for while. he didnot like how he felt when he was on this medicine. in my opion different rx work differently on children . me and my doctor would try different rx, because the the medicine would work for awhile, them we would have problems like couldnt sleep at night time, he wasnt hungry, he felt like a zomby, or the hyperness would come back, could pay attention at school . hope this help. good luck to you and your precious son !! god bless

Hi Shae,Our son was diagnosed with Severe Infantile Autism (& ADD)and was started on a med that brought on petit mall seizures...we discontinued the drugs all together and went totally with nutritional supplementation. He never had another seizure & is now 26 and fairly "normal" with a few social inconsistancies.
It's a pretty safe bet that if you change medication dosages and seizures occur which had not before, reducing to pre-seizure dose would be helpful. A second oppinion with a pediatrician experienced in seizure disorder would be appropriate.
Best of everything to you,
Karen

You are very young and strong to be going thru this, God is always there to help, this message board is awesome and will give you lots of answers.

Have Faith and ACT on that Faith, God will open your eyes.
Drugs have serious Side effects,

Scientist believe that many behavior disorders start with deficient nutrition, try giving your child a chance to be nutrionally sufficient, there is a fruit called Garcinia Mangostana and has a wide array of vital nutrients.

Our bodies get hit more than thousands times per day with Free Radicals, from breathing, eating and even just drinking water.
Ask your doctor How can XANTHONES help your child.
these are phytonutrients found in plants.
www.pubmed.gov is the National Libray of medicines and has the science to it, enter xanthones in the search box and read about it.

god bless,
Oly

Along with the gluten/casein free diet you can look into digestive enzymes. www.enzymestuff.com I have a 5 yo son with mild autism and the enzymes we use (AFP Peptizyde from Houston Nutraceuticals) has helped him tremendously with speech and behavior. I do not adhere to the gf/cf diet as it can present other food allergies and intolerances down the road. Enymes are natural and help us break down the gluten and casein in foods. We do avoid some foods but not altogether. Another suggestion, as I am not clear if you do this already, is to seek immediate medical advice from a neurologist since your son is having seizures. They may be better at offering some insight than a psyche doc. And perhaps a Developmental Ped may be a more general approach in helping you. Sounds pretty scarey, I hope that you are able to find answers and solutions that work for you.