ADHD medication Concerta XL

[switchofmymind]

This has been prescribed for my DS (10) for adhd, he also had asd. I have read the side effects and its worried me a lot to be honest. On the other hand he is really not coping and I am at a loss as to what to do next. Can anyone help me organise my thought or offer an opinion?

My son has tried a variety if meds to find the one that suits him best, bottom line if he isn't medicated school can't cope with him, if he is medicated he does well in school and is able to form good friendship bonds. My ds is 10 also.

Ds only has his meds at school they are slow release 8 hours so by the time I collect him they are pretty much out of his system. Unless I go on a school trip or in to listen to readers I don't see him on his meds.

It was the best choice we made for him, he is much happier and school is easier for him.

Ds also has asd as well

There is a long thread on the special needs boards about adhd medication so maybe worth having a read.

Ds is medicated to adhd but on a different drug. It’s been amazing for him.

If you worried can you get in touch with the consultant to discuss things?

I have recently started taking ADHD meds (Elvanse) and it is like being given my life back.

Obviously, this is very different as I am an adult and can make the decision for myself. But I would say consider the positives for your DS as well as the negatives. It could make his life much better.

In addition, ADHD meds all have a pretty short half life, so it won’t take too long to know if it’s working or not. That means that if it’s awful, he doesn’t have to stick it out for months, so trying them out is much easier thAn eg antidepressants that take up to six weeks for side effects to settle down and positive effects to be felt.

FWIW, I have had a few days feeling weird each time I’ve increased my dose, so it’s not totally consequence free.

Some 80% of people with ADHD get some relief with medication. I reckon it’s worth a try.

Thanks, I did have a quick look at the SEN boards, will go and have a read. I have been posting about him for a while on and off, but name changed for this.

I bottom line is that the school can not cope with him, he is close to exclusion.

Thanks for the personal prospective, its so hard to know what to do.
The way I am looking at it, not giving it could have serious side effects too, been up since 5am, overthinking.

I dont want to scare you, but adhd itself statistically can shorten life expectancy. This is because of the increased potential for risky behaviour. At your son's age this means things like lack of awareness of surroundings such as traffic.
As adhd-ers get older they may drive a car, encounter drugs, have unsafe sex.
Speaking from experience, the side effects of the medication are the lesser risk. He will be monitored by his doctor while he is taking them.
You and I can't really understand what adhd is like for the sufferer and meds such as concerta are prescribed because they are needed.
I'm a parent of an adhd-er and I have wept buckets worrying for dd's future.
Sh has had about 4 different meds and is now on Elvanse. She has a place at uni in September. It's a no brainer for her.

KelpianCasserole that is exactly the discussion I had with DH, the statistical risk due to risky behaviour. I am leaning towards starting it, but think I should wait until next weekend so he's at home the first 2 days?

I dont think that's a bad idea. Dd had a headache for a day or 2 then it settled. You will know pretty quickly that its working, try asking for a piece of homework to be done or something like that. Dd is inattentive type and although she was excellent at maths, sometimes her brain wouldn't let her even pick up the pen to do an exercise!
Don't get me wrong, she's still a bit like it but she can function 90% of the time.
Just like to add, learn everything you can about the condition because there is a lot of misinformation and myths out there and prejudice.
Dr Russell Berkley is good, and Jessica McCabe (how to adhd). Order books from amazon. NEVER listen to people who say it can be treated with coffee/Red Bull/diet etc. It's ignorant BS.
Finally ADHD is NOT lack of attention. It is an inability to REGULATE attention. If only I had known that 15 years ago dd would have been saved a lot if stress and anguish. We all would!

KewlpianCasserole thank you, you've been really helpful. I have read a lot and attend a monthly support group, I've been on some excellent training too. I was (or so I thought) confident in my research and as such happy to medicate. I guess just seeing it all in black and white just shocked me a bit. I will look up Jessica McCabe, I have watched a 3 hr lecture with Dr Russell Berkley, and was very impressed.

Thanks again

It is the best thing we ever did for DS. He was 8 and it has been a miracle for him. He takes concerta xl every day. He has had no side effects in the 2 years he has had it.

I am very much of the thinking that I would refuse to give DS1 his inhalers so why would I refuse DS2 this. I don't believe it is prescribed lightly in the UK.

I would give it a go, you can always stop it. The first week was tough as he was so much calmer whilst the medication worked then it was worse for a few days in the evenings but this soon resolved and he is calmer all the time and is sleeping so well.

We also have a higher dose instant release version he can take in the afternoon (430 onwards) and this can help when he has particularly busy nights and needs to be calm/focused. That wasn't prescribed at first but we have used those for the last year, but not every day.

Happy for you to PM me

Re the homework issue mentioned by Kewlpian. DS would often take 2 hours to even start homework, there would be tears, shouting, throwing things. Pretty much immediately he was able to just do his homework immediately with no fuss.

OP dd had undiagnosed ADD. Methylphenidate was the making of her. Admittedly 17 when diagnosed so much older but by then anxiety and depression had set in aling with self harm.

fuss.

Today 11:48 OhTheRoses

OP dd had undiagnosed ADD. Methylphenidate was the making of her. Admittedly 17 when diagnosed so much older but by then anxiety and depression had set in aling with self harm.

My dd was similar. School 6th form wouldn't support her. New 6th form college has been brilliant.

Thank you all. Maybe it will help, dreading another week of school issues, meltdowns and stress

He's off to secondary in September, I hope to have him in a better place by then and also a fresh start

ADHD meds have been life changing for both my husband and daughter. They're both on Elvanse now. Concerta is the default first-line medication for kids with ADHD, but it doesn;t work for everyone. It did nothing for my daughter, just made her crash hard in the evening and be even more combative than usual. We tried it for a few weeks, then switched to Elvanse. It took a bit of dose-tweaking, bu she's a million times better now

Methylphenidate has been life changing for DS.

It does affect his appetite so we work hard to give him food he can't resist and watch his weight.

He takes melatonin to help him sleep and that's also made a huge difference.

He's 13 and I wish he'd started on the meds a few years earlier, before he really started feeling like a failure.

Thanks. After the day I've just had (and it's not over yet) I can't see I have much choice but to try. He went crazy at his grandparents (they have seen bits of it but never to that degree). Was a wake up call to me to just how bad things have got.

Are you working tomorrow? Does he need to go to school? Could you let him have a day off and start medication.

It wasn't till DS started taking meds that I truly realised how hard his life was without them. Initially he'd take them weekdays only, which meant at weekends he'd be back to his fully-ADHD self. He soon decided he wanted to take the meds at weekends as well.

My son tried methylphenidate for a while, we tried a few different types and decided the side effects outweighed the benefits so stopped.
I have no regrets trying and may try again in the future, the adverse effects stopped when he stopped taking the medication.

He's been a school refuser so we both need to be on work/school if at all possible.

Thanks for the insights, it's helpful to see how others have found it. I guess part of me is still on denial and wondering if he really does have autism and adhd or if I am just an ineffective parent. Which I know is crazy.

It’s so hard, isn’t it? Even though it’s soooo obvious that my DC are neurodivergent, I still worry that my parenting is the problem.

Re the 'is it just my parenting' question, I think it helps that DS is my youngest, and it was just so obvious he had lots of ADHD symptoms. He spent a long time being tested by an ed psych who pointed out not only the ADHD but also various other processing issues. I've found that now we have that information we can help him much more, as can the school.

My oldest probably also has ADD, but refuses to go through any diagnostic process, and my MIL very very obviously has it too, but it would never actually occur to her, and she has a lot of classic ADD coping mechanisms in place that mostly get her through life.