ADD son refusing to take medication ,help needed.

[niamhsmummy]

Don't know whether I am on the right thread. Son started taking Ritalin in October last year. He has now been given Concerta (sp?) which are slow release. This is great as he is being a pain when it comes to taking his medication at school. The only thing is he needs to swallow Concerta whole whereas the Ritalin we were crushing and putting in something. The past week or more I have been called to school as he has refused his ritalin. Today I said he was to take the Concerta amd we would use that from now on. He won't swallow it though. He is being silly about it as it isn't a huge tablet and would be better as he wouldn't have to take anymore during the day. What can i do? we have tried everything, he is now in his room as he can't go to school until he has taken it.

We have just been offered a slow release patch called daytrana that might be worth asking about - although our 10 year old dd doesn't want to try them. They have the advantage that you can take them off when you want and the effect wears off pretty quickly - good if you have a bad sleeper like us.

I don't have much advice about the tablets though - a friend's daughter refused to take hers and they had a terrible battle over weeks. sorry i don't have any practical advice about that.

did he take it and go to school?

You have my sympathy! I dont know if your Ds has a problem swallowing tablets or with doing as asked. Ours was both. Every child is different so I doubt my experience will help but here goes! Fortunatly our son will do almost anything for a small piece of chocolate!! We also started concerta in a holiday, so could use a casual take it leave it approach!! (nothing to oppose!) I had just started taking some tablets so once we got over the initial opposition we could prompt each other (ie him tell me, like an adult) and then have a swallowing race! Our son was going through a dreadful time (exclusions, victim of bullying, oppositional behaviour at school, struggling with friendships etc), and was desparate to avoid "getting into trouble" We explained we were trying to help him learn to slow down, my tablet was to slow my tummy down his to slow his thinking down but I think it went over his head!! We still treat the tablet like a morning routine (teeth, dress)and use a sticker for each chore. It also helped to realise the tablet is almost unbreakable/ unchewable. Good luck! It is a year now and concerta has helped our son!

Ps i seem to remember practising swallowing with tic-tacs which are bigger and posed no problem! I wish you luck!