Hello,
My DD14 has a diagnosis of ADHD and ASC. She started 18mg Concerta XL end of December, we have a review next week. Just wondering any advice on if we should ask for an increase or to change medication.
The positives are that she seems so much happier in herself, more willing to have conversation, is nowhere near as irritable. She sleeps better, is less resistant to anything really, maybe it’s wrong to say but she is much nicer to be around. She usually avoids my Dad as finds him really loud, so when we visit she usually sits in another room. However on the medication she actually sat next to him the sofa and joined in conversation. Which was amazing!
It’s probably helpful if I mention that she has always had an issue with regular eating, breakfast was always a challenge. Dinner not so much, however big issue with binge eating - huge bags of popcorn, sweets, biscuits.
Anyway - the negatives: She barely eats anything! Even when the medication is supposed to have worn off. She is sleeping a lot, very tired, fell asleep in class. I have spoken to the prescription team and they said the medication does not cause tiredness. However she has gone from having racing thoughts to thinking clearly, I can’t see how this cannot be relaxing and then make her tired. She has always struggled to sleep since being a baby. Must be a nice feeling to finally be able to switch off. She feels it is making concentration harder though, stating she is drifting to daydream mid conversation and is struggling ‘more than before’ to follow things in class. Getting distracted now by daydreaming, whereas before she would be distracted due to feeling frustrated having to sit still or by small sounds that irritate her. She also has no motivation, isn’t showering as much as before, not drying her hair when I can get her to shower as she is ‘too tired’, homework etc is harder.
I guess I am wondering is this normal in that she is adjusting to having a quieter mind? We are both worried about increasing the dose in case it makes her more tired.
Any advice much appreciated.
Thank you.