ADHD meds for child - advice please

[Rudeypoohs]

Please could anyone advise of their child’s experiences with ADHD meds? Looking to have them prescribed to my little boy and would really welcome any advice/sharing of experiences please? Thanks very much xx

I'm really interested in your reporting of improved physical co-ordination @Probablygreen . DS13 is on methylphenidate for inattentive ADHD but DS11 shows many traits of dyspraxia - falls over his own feet a lot, drops things, struggles with ball sports, slow to tie shoe laces, terrible handwriting. He shows no ADHD signs though (I know the two can be co-morbid).

I haven't bothered to get DS11 assessed for dyspraxia as it didn't appear that there was much available to help with it, but now I'm wondering if I'm wrong and medication can help?

Game changer in this house. Our DD ASD and ADHD. Had a terrible year a while back, was excluded from school multiple times in quick succession. Managed to get her onto meds for the start of the next school year and she is now flying. Major meltdowns all but gone, doing really well academically, friendships starting to come.

It has definitely made her ASD traits more noticeable. I don't think any worse, I just think she is stiller so her issues with social communication are more obvious. It has actually helped us focus on getting her help for this.

do you research on long term impacts so much is unknown. Studies now are showing an impact on long term brain health and white matter reduction.

@Comingupriver Can you share a link to these studies please? This isn't research I came across when researching for my son.

@Comingupriver Actually, there is a lot of research that shows medication increases white matter and can even eventually lead to children with ADHD and abnormal MRIs growing into adults with normal MRIs, suggesting that medication helps to develop the brain. Unmedicated adults with ADHD do not show this same improvement on brain MRIs.
All medications have risks, but I wouldn’t stop my child having medication that would help symptoms of a physical disease, why is it different for mental disorders? There’s a lot to be said for a good quality of life.

@Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr unfortunately I don’t think there is an assessment for dyspraxia (now known as DCD) anymore, my paediatrician certainly thinks there isn’t. We just got referred to occupational therapy and given some exercises to do, which of course didn’t help at all as it’s his focus that’s the problem. I don’t think you’d be able to access medication without a diagnosis of ADHD. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a fix-all and he’s still pretty uncoordinated, but at least he’s not crashing into trees on his bike or tripping over rocks and falling in potholes as he walks, as he actually sees those things now. With swimming, he couldn’t relax his muscles enough to keep his body buoyant and now he’s getting able to do that, so it’s coming more naturally. Handwriting is getting there, still way behind where it should be (around reception age and he’s now in Y4) but definitely more rapid improvements than we have seen in previous years, so that I think he could reach Y2 or possibly even Y3 level by the end of this year.

Totally agree with this.

I wonder if using (e.g. methylphenidate) for DCD has ever been trialled? Sounds like an interesting possibility if not.

Asd can be masked by the adhd so when you medicate the adhd the autism becomes more obvious.
My ds has asd, adhd, tourettes and anxiety, he started on methylphenidate in p1 and it was perfect for him until he maxed out on dosage and had to change to Lisdexamfetamine (in p7) and again has had no problems infact when he's medicated he has fewer meltdowns as he's better able to process his emotions than when unmedicated and stims less though is more flappy in his stimming.
He's 15 now and will tell you that whilst it can seem at times that the meditation agitates his asd by making him hyperfocused on things it's not, he was always having the thoughts and feelings but he couldn't articulate them without the meds which makes the problem worse and triggers the meltdown out of pure frustration at the situation and his inability to properly process his emotions or articulate them.
How the meditation will effect any child is an unknown thing as some like my ds "tolerate" it extremely well whilst others like the pp dc dont, only time will How your ds finds them I'm afraid

The slow release capsules can be opened and emptied into a spoon of yogurt but they taste vile (I'm told) which ended up incuraging him to learn to swallow them

In my experience it's one of those things you don't know until you try it. I'd be very cautious giving medication to an ASD child who is very anxious and rigid as the medication can make this worse.

He was very rigid as a toddler but this has changed over the last year or so and he is much more accepting of new situations and things not being totally routine?

@Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr im not trying to be unkind or difficult, if anything I’d like to be proven wrong but I can’t help worry at the lack of longitudinal studies for developing brains exploded to these meds. The issues is that much of the current research is funded by big pharma. But as I said I have skin in the game and would love to be proven wrong here.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3870784/

https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2019182528

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-02004-8

@Comingupriver I’m not sure those studies really support your claims in any way.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3870784 - this one is a trial of rats carried out over a grand total of 3 weeks. There is no evidence that the rats had ADHD, so it is not possible to state that the effects would be mirrored in humans with ADHD, when their brains are different to start with. In fact, this study even points out that the findings are in contrast to what has been previously found in human ADHD medicated individuals.

https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2019182528 - this one found fractional anisotropy to increase in medicated children. That’s a good thing, and generally indicates increased white matter integrity. This supports the use of medication, and negates your viewpoint. It points out that treating in childhood is important, as the same effect is not created in adults with ADHD, or in non-medicated children.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-02004-8 - This study quite literally concluded that there was no link shown between ADHD medication and anxiety and depression.

My DS has mild ADHD/ASD - I didn't tell his primary school about the diagnosis as they have no issues with him, but started giving him Atomoxetine ( Strattera ) at 7. I think he got chatty and more open with us and more focused on tasks and during playtime. Stopped this "pacing back and forth" thing he does at home.

But he remained sensitive to some naughty kids ar school, so it didn't help to control emotions. I've read somewhere that A. was initially tested as antidepressant or anti-anxiety medicine and feel it was very good for him.
But unfortunately within few weeks DS started complained daily that his tummy aches, and as it's listed as a common side effect, I had to withdraw it. Never heard these complaints before or after.

We will not be trying Methylphenidate as in the country where we are from it's given in difficult cases and if it needs to be withdrawn, it should be done very gradually with caution, unlike atomoxetine.

My dd has both and is on adhd meds. It has massively improved her anxiety because it quietens her brain and she ruminates less.

My son has autism as well as ADHD and was prescribed methylphenidate as soon as he was formally diagnosed age 7. I will say that initially his mood plummeted which apparently isn’t uncommon and once he adjusted the meds did work in helping him focus at school.

But he isn’t taking them anymore. This is because he’s now at a different special school that has more options of intervention, therapies and behaviour management and these work well and work better for him without needing to take the medication. That said, I’m not against him trying the medication again in the future.

Forgot to mention another thing I got excited about with Strattera - he started trying new food!
These medications if they work for you DC can be life-changing, but it's very much trial and error in psychiatry because everyone's brain chemistry/physiology is slightly different.

Our DD aged takes slow release methylphendriate. Game changer. Schooling easier and more enjoyable. Home life bearable. When it wears off we are back to chaos. IMHO it’s wrong not to try meds. We wouldn’t deny them for any other condition.

My son has both ADHD and autism, we did meds but he can't swallow the capsule and you can put them in yogurts etc but he won't as he can't take it without chewing it.

So unfortunately the paediatrician can't give him anything else (apparently).
He is in school with a one to one in a room on his own because he can't stay in class because of his behaviour and he won't do any work because he can't concentrate.

My 10 yo DS has been on Medikinet for 2 years.

He did seem more anxious at first, but only for the first few months after starting the meds. And the anxiety only happened for a few hours after taking the meds, when the meds wore off the anxiety wore off too.

He is rigid both on and off the meds, that's part of his autism and the meds don't seem to make it worse or better.

The hardest thing we had to deal with is how quiet he seems on the meds, but we realise that's because when he's unmedicated he's NEVER silent, he constantly makes random noises, sings, talks (even to himself). So although he seems subdued to us, he's comes across as normal to everyone else 😂

DH was worried that the meds were "changing his personality" but his "personality" comes back with full force once the meds are out his system!