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Child mental health

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Methyl phenidate in 13 yo

1 reply

Whixhwaydoigo · 01/03/2026 16:58

Dd13 with ADHD and autism! Super high functioning but feels lonely as she finds it hard talking to more than one person at school but of course most hang out in groups. She is on methylphenidate which im
not too happy about but says it helps her concentrate. However she is very up and down and gets anxious about her health eg heart palpitations, not being able to breathe. I can’t work out whether it’s the drugs causing the problems or whether she’d be like that anyway. She often feels also like she wants to punch the wall but hasn’t acted on impulse. She can hardly get through the night without someone lying on her floor and gets affected really easily even about school subjects as she takes the weight of all of them on her young shoulders eg dealing with issues in modern studies etc so much aka she doesn’t want to take social subjects though they’ve said she has to! Last night we went for dinner but half way through she asked when we’d be back as she couldn’t stop crying! I can’t work out if her medication is working for her as the things she describes are common side effects. Anyone decided to stop the medication or any alternative?

OP posts:
Weyoun14 · 01/03/2026 22:01

Heart stuff is a known side-effect, but the other things are either that the dose is wrong (which you should hope isn't the case, if the palpatations are caused by the meds) or they're unrelated to the ADHD, and maybe asking her psychiatrist to refer her for child psychotherapy might be an option?

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