Another thread for us to support and encourage each other in medication journeys for our children, right from considering medication for your dc and the earliest days of trying the medication for the first time. Lots of information here also with potential medication switching and the path of moving up dosages until the right stopping place is found (titration).
All information on here is from a parent experience perspective. I am definitely not an hcp, just a mum who is happy to share my family’s ultimately positive experience with the medication, through ups and downs. Others posting here are also just doing so as parent ‘experts by experience’.
That said, the parent knowledge on here is phenomenal and there is help on the benefits of the medication, management of potential side effects, as well as practical tips on how to make taking the medication more straightforward, taking med breaks etc.
This is a really good place to read about recent medication journeys from the supportive crowd on the thread.
A really good starting place for reading about the range of drugs available and what they do from a Great Ormond Street specialist with over 40 years of experience prescribing the medication is the Parents’ Guide to ADHD Medicines, by Professor Peter Hill, which is available on Amazon. A really accessible, honest and overall reassuring read, which helped me when I was very doubtful back at the start. Link here: https://uk.jkp.com/products/the-parents-guide-to-adhd-medicines
The tips on diet from this NHS factsheet on managing reduced appetite in children on the meds are also really useful www.tewv.nhs.uk/about-your-care/conditions/adhd/weight-loss/
As parents of children with special needs we can sometimes need a bit of support ourselves and I found this book very practical and reassuring on self-care and how to manage SN parenting. The book I wish I had had in the earliest days of having an ND child: Joanna Griffin, ‘Day by Day: Emotional Wellbeing in Parents of Disabled Children’. Link here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/day-by-day/joanna-griffin/9781911383536
There have at times been some temporary shortages of ADHD medications and if that ever happens again, a good way to try to find medication locally is the Boots pharmacy stock checker: https://www.boots.com/online/psc/?srsltid=AfmBOoppsRIo5bvorLTCII5ca_6qZvIAbFYvGGCipXV_0RI3US1MNDON . There is a useful guide to different Methylphenidate products here if switching Methylphenidate medications is ever suggested in this situation: https://www.choiceandmedication.org/psychiatryuk/generate/handyfactsheetmethylphenidateswitchinguk.pdf
This is thread 4 and thread 3 can be found here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_needs/5057892-starting-adhd-medication-and-staying-on-it-ongoing-support-thread-for-newbies-and-experts-including-medikinet-equasym-concerta-strattera-and-others?page=40&reply=152553122
Thread 2 can be found here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_needs/4800866-starting-adhd-medication-and-staying-on-it-ongoing-support-thread-for-newbies-and-experts-including-medikinet-equasym-concerta-strattera-and-others.
Thread 1 can be found here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_needs/4466553-Starting-Medikinet-any-experts-around?page=38. I’ve posted my path with my dc from starting meds through to the end of titration here, as have many knowledgeable mumsnetters, so these are good places to read back to see a range of ways that meds journeys can unfold.
Welcome back to everyone who has been on the threads before and please do join us any time if you are considering, starting or on ADHD medication for your child and you will find a very warm welcome here!