Posted by Stacy on January 12, 2000, at 10:52:50
He was a little shy about posting on the message board himself, so I told him I would try to get some information for him.
He is psychologically well adjusted, but has a severe case of ADHD. He was diagnosed at our local Cerebral Palsy Center at 2& 1/2 years of age. He's been on various medications throughout his life, but Ritalin gave him the most benefit. He started taking Adderal about 3 weeks ago. Prior to this, he had been on Ritalin (30mgs. per day - 15mgs./AM, 15mgs./PM.) The Dr. put him on 30 mgs. of Adderal, because he said that the dosage should be equivalent to the Ritalin dose. He was on vacation from school, went off the Ritalin, & began taking Adderal. Everything went exceptionally well; he had a much better attitude, didn't experience the rebound effect that he did on Ritalin, & felt good. It was the first time in his life that I'd ever seen him function so well. When he began to do school work again, he found he had a hard time attending. My husband spoke with the Dr. about this, & he said we could titrate the dose from 15mg./AM & 15mg./PM to 20mg./AM & 10mg/PM. However, he has become increasingly irritable. When I first noticed this I thought it might have been partly my fault, because the new natural supplement I'm taking for my ADHD seems to have made me a little bit grumpy (we've had a lot of "blow-ups" here during the past week!) I also thought it might be due to his age, & that I just hadn't recognized it when he was on Ritalin because of the extreme Ritalin "highs & lows" (Ritalin induced Jeckyl/Hyde type personality.)
Today he was much worse. Earlier this week, I was thinking about calling the Dr. regarding a possible dose increase; we had thought he might have needed an increase in the Ritalin dosage before he began taking the Adderal (as I already mentioned, the Dr. had stated that he would need the same mg. dose of Adderal as he'd taken of Ritalin.) He had been having some degree of difficulty concentrating on school work for a while. He was on 30 mgs. Ritalin for almost a year & a half, & has grown substantially during this time (he is now 5' 8" & weighs 183 lbs.) So 30 mgs. was not really much for a boy of his size & age, considering the severity of his ADHD.
I've been going through some of the prior posts, & in the January section I noticed some of the people with ADD/ADHD were taking Adderal (I think one person may have even mentioned irritablity.) Could someone please share with us if you know anything concerning this? My son's really upset, & could hardly do his school work this morning. He says he felt great during the first week of taking Adderal - better than he's ever felt in his entire life! I feel so bad for him.
I have posted a few times before regarding advice for myself, & only one person replied to these questions. That wasn't a big deal for me; but I'm the type of person who feels that it is more important when it comes to my kids (you parents may know what I mean.) After many years of prayers, tears, spending money on all kinds of doctors,supplements,medications, etc., we're just about at the end of the line! If you know anything about this, or have had a similar experience with Adderal, we would greatly appreciate your input!
poster:Stacy
thread:18805
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000112/msgs/18805.html