DS starting ritalin tomorrow - wish us luck!

[dustystar]

Well we saw the paed today and he has given ds ritalin plus he is going to assess him fully for both ADHD and ASD. The school have got to fill out a Conners rating but since they are of the same mind as me then I think its pretty certain that Ds will get a dx of ADHD.

I'm glad he listened and agreed to give ritalin a try but now i am feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing. I really hoped we'd never get to the point where we had to turn to ritalin but now we are here I am worried that it wont work, will cause him not to eat or sleep etc etc. Watching panorama the other night didn't exactly fill me with confidence either.

DS was excited and wanted to start today I have convinced him it is better to wait until the morning so please wish us luck Heres hoping that this can help him and that all our lives can be a bit less stressful.

Good luck to you Dustystar. I did not watch the Panorama but read articles about it, and I thought I read that Ritalin can be very effective for at least the first few years, but may run out of effectiveness after that?
It should give you a little respite though; my DS is also hyperactive, though his diagnosis is ASD not ADHD, and it is exhausting. I would be very interested to hear how you both get on. Big hugs!

Good luck. My dd has been on it since April 06 and our lives have changed so much. Let us know how you get on.
I know what you mean about being the last resort, it certainly was for us. However my dd has a medical condition that needs medication and that's how I see it. Same as epilepsy. diabetes etc

You're right BH its just hard sometimes to get my head around it. Thanks for the responses

hi dusty star
Hope it all goes well as it possibly can and that your son makes a good adjustment. fingers crossed.

Its good your son is excited! Hope it goes well Dusty. Dont worry if benefits are not immediate- it may take a while to reach a suitable dose.

Wishing you lots of luck. I have a friend whose DS has been on Ritalin for a few years and it has really helped him - the only child I know with ASD (not AS) who is successfully m/s for secondary! We tried Ritalin with DS years ago but after just two doses we gave up - it didn't suit him at all. He has been on Risperidone for 4 years now which deals with his tension/anxiety and is much more suitable for him.
I think you have to take BH's attitude and accept it and make sure you are giving the correct dose for it to work, not keep trying to minimise it as we did over and over. We just gave in as it was our own anxiety that was interfering, and we decided that, if he was having medication then he should have the dose that works.

I am in discussions for my son to go onto ritalin, so will watch with interest to see how your son gets on! Good Luck !!

Thansk for all the messages

He had his first dose this morning but only 30 mins before school so no obvious difference tbh. He said he felt the same but he did seem less hyper as we walked into school - although thats probably just my wishful thinking lol.

Sorry i meant to post on this thread yesterday and then forgot

He had a good day apparently. He started off badly and the little toad told them that i had sprinkled the ritalin on his breakfast without telling him and that was why he was angry When i asked him why he had told them this he said that he thought they would be worried about him having medicine wrapped up in plastic (they are capsules lol)

He calmed quickly though and had the best day he's had for ages. He told me that he loves the tablets becuase they help him work better and be more sensible and that makes him happy He ate all his lunch too which was another thing i was a bit worried about. He had a bit of a tough time at the club he goes to in the evening and got upset but no tantrums which is good. The only downside yesterday was that he couldn't get to sleep until 2 hours later than his usual bedtime.

Sadly today so far has been less successful. he was ok before school but had a very up and down day at school. He has also been self harming at school today which he has done before quite a few times but today his TA was shocked as he hit himself so hard he has bruises across his face and eye

He had a huge meltdown at one stage too and it took both his TAs to hold him he was so angry. His afternoon TA siad she's never seen him quite like he was today- he just didn't seem to know what to do with himself at all, or what he wanted or how he felt He had a meltdown in the car on the way home too although he is calm now.

I'm feeling really quite disappointed as i was quite hopeful of another good day but i suppose I'm expecting too much too soon.

Am sorry you havent had such a good day! Keep positive though!! Big hugs from Suffolk for you!!!!