can ritalin subdue children? advice needed please

[ruthiew1977]

hi there...
My son (nearly 7) started on ritalin in his last term of year one.. he has concentration problems and can be a bit bouncy.. but is not overly hyperactive. All has been fab..he is very behind with his reading and various areas of his education due to hearing probs from birth.. but Ritalin has certainly made a huge difference, he is slowly starting to catch up with his class mate (we are a long way off.. he is at reception level if i am truthful).
The past two days he has gone to school with out his ritallin.. as the chemist had messed up his prescription.. and when picking him up today from school the lsa mentioned that she had enjoyed seeing his character, although he had no concentration and had not been able to do much work, he was more himself. This worried me.. i dont wont him subdued but i do need him to concentrate more, and the ritalin has certainly aided him in the classroom environment. I dont give it at weekends or on holidays.. he is only on 10mg a day.. 5 in the morning and 5 in the pm, I dont think you can get a lower dose? I have noticed that in the mornings once he has taken it he is quieter, but i assumed he would still be his cheeky self.. oh i dont know..he is short and little for his age.. maybe the dose dosnt suit him... i am waffling now:-)..if any one can let me know if they have experienced anything like this.. or any advice on the drug itself i would be very grateful. Many thanks for reading my long essay, ruth x

Thanks for that, this is what i have been thinking,, he is on 5mg in the morning and then 5 again at lunch.. its almost as if he needs a slightly lower dose..i did half the tablet so it was prob about 2.5 but it didnt manage his concentration.. but he was very bubbly:-).. is there a ritalin in liquid form? or some way of given him 3mg or 3.5!!

yes there is a liquid no i wouldnt recomend it...vile vile stuff :{

it can and does slow the mind i was on it as a child at about the dose your child is on

and i felt my mind was fogged sure i could focus but what is there to focus on when your mind feels dead

interestingly enough ritlin possesses structural similarities to amphetamine, and, though it is less potent, its pharmacological effects are even more closely related to those of cocaine.

strange isnt it...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylphenidate
wiki entry for it

I am on it now. As I type. It doesn't slow my mind at all. Quite the reverse.

The "zombie effect" is a known side-effect in a v small % of cases. The common side-effects are loss of appetite and insomnia. As Riv says, one issue is that we now know that the correct dosage can vary a LOT from child to child, so the default dosage in your GP's textbook is way too much for some, which I think was the cause of some of the problems in the early days. The way to start this stuff is to take the smallest possible dose, be on that for 2 weeks, if no improvement increase by smallest possible amount, etc. If you get side effects before you get improvement and they don't go away after 2 weeks, switch med.

How does he feel on it? Do you take him off it in the holidays?

My son hates not taking his meds. He says he feel so much more relaxed and in control on them.
I had a teacher say the same about my son but when I questioned her it was more that she had known him for so long without the meds and she had this belief that the meds where changing him and squashing his natural personality which was so wrong, he is still as cheeky as ever, just more able to control himself.

Thank you for your comments.. how interesting..jjones-it is so worrying when a teacher says something like that.. I have been so worried about him but some teachers still comment on his cheekyness.. so i wonder how much is subdued.

I may try and find out about the ritalin liquid.. he has 5mg in the morning and 5 in the pm.. i dont give it at the weekend or in the holidays.. its purely at school time. i did cut his table in half after the "comment" was made and gave him what would be 2.5 in the morning and again in the afternoon but i was told they found he was back to no concentration and full on bouncienees:-).. its almost as if i need 3mg.. really appreciate your comments... I ask him how he feels after his tablet and he says fine.. not funny or anything!!