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Oh my, concerta trial


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Yesterday was my 7 yo's first day on Concerta. I noticed no difference whatsoever in her focus during school time, but of course it's day one and she's on the lowest dose. Her appetite was normal - 3 meals and 2 snacks. This is good since she is almost 8 and only weighs 44 lbs; her jeans have to be slims AND have the adjustable elastic in them, so she cannot afford to lose weight. I went to work in the afternoon, but when I talked to dh, he said she did seem a little calmer than usual.

 

So I got home from work at 2:30 am, and as I'm walking in the door, I hear dd say, "Hi Mom. I'm still awake and I'm not tired. Look at my picture. Where's my focus medicine? I think I should take some more focus medicine because I have to focus on my picture. All I could do was make a picture because your computer wasn't here and the other one was off, and I couldn't turn it on because if dad found out, he might be mad. My stomach feels upset because I'm STARVED!" And on and on. I was tired and had to go to bed. I fixed her a bowl of rice krispies, turned on Animal Planet, and got out some coloring books. This morning, the table was covered with her pictures and books. The living room floor was covered with stuffed animals and a play money tray; she was playing store. She fell asleep in dh's recliner at about 6 am and slept till noon.

 

This is a kid who usually runs hard all day and then falls asleep when her head hits the pillow. Will her sleep schedule get more normal after her body adjusts to the medicine? Cause being up alone all night and sleeping all day isn't really going to work. :confused:

 

ETA: By the way, the picture she made while everyone else was sleeping was the best picture she has EVER drawn and colored. My dh said maybe we need to give her the medicine the night before so it kicks in by morning. :-)

Edited by LizzyBee
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Hmm... One element of my younger daughter's ADHD has always been that she has trouble going to sleep and trouble waking up in the morning, so it was hard to judge the effects on Concerta on her sleeping.

 

When she first started taking it, I noticed that if she took the medicine too late in the morning, it tended to keep her up a bit at night. Now we have it down to a science. She needs to take it before 8:30am. If she takes it any later than that, she has trouble sleeping.

 

It doesn't effect her eating habits, though I was worried it would. As far as how it effects her, we adjusted her dosage once. (She started with the lowest dosage, and now takes 27mg.) She says it doesn't make her feel any different when she's taking it. When she doesn't take it, she says she feels like she's in a fog. We still have a lot of other things to deal with (the negative self-talk, the disorganization), but when she's on the meds she gets her schoolwork done much more quickly, and she's able to respond to me if she's doing something else. She can actually shift her attention at will, more easily, if that makes sense. It didn't make her easier to get along with, or give her the ability to keep her room neat (I wish!), but it does make it easier to communicate with.

 

One other thing I'd like to add... If you haven't read it already, there's a book called "Understanding Girls with ADHD" by Kathleen Nadeau. It was HUGELY helpful to me in understanding how my daughter's brain worked and how it affected other parts of her life. Anyway, I highly recommend the book. :)

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She took the pill between 8:30 and 9:00, so we didn't think it would affect her sleep like that. Her dr said one good thing about concerta is that when it wears off, it's gone; it doesn't build up in the body. We're going to give her to her the minute she wakes up on Monday and see if that helps. (For now, she's only going to take it on school days, so she won't be taking it over the weekend.)

 

If you find something that helps your dd keep her room neat, let me know! Whoever invents that pill will become very, very rich! :D

 

I own that book. I don't buy many books because I have a great library system that has almost everything we want or need, but after checking that one out from the library, I decided I needed to own it so I can highlight and make notes in it.

 

Thanks for answering.

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Yesterday was my 7 yo's first day on Concerta. I noticed no difference whatsoever in her focus during school time, but of course it's day one and she's on the lowest dose. Her appetite was normal - 3 meals and 2 snacks. This is good since she is almost 8 and only weighs 44 lbs; her jeans have to be slims AND have the adjustable elastic in them, so she cannot afford to lose weight. I went to work in the afternoon, but when I talked to dh, he said she did seem a little calmer than usual.

 

So I got home from work at 2:30 am, and as I'm walking in the door, I hear dd say, "Hi Mom. I'm still awake and I'm not tired. Look at my picture. Where's my focus medicine? I think I should take some more focus medicine because I have to focus on my picture. All I could do was make a picture because your computer wasn't here and the other one was off, and I couldn't turn it on because if dad found out, he might be mad. My stomach feels upset because I'm STARVED!" And on and on. I was tired and had to go to bed. I fixed her a bowl of rice krispies, turned on Animal Planet, and got out some coloring books. This morning, the table was covered with her pictures and books. The living room floor was covered with stuffed animals and a play money tray; she was playing store. She fell asleep in dh's recliner at about 6 am and slept till noon.

 

This is a kid who usually runs hard all day and then falls asleep when her head hits the pillow. Will her sleep schedule get more normal after her body adjusts to the medicine? Cause being up alone all night and sleeping all day isn't really going to work. :confused:

 

ETA: By the way, the picture she made while everyone else was sleeping was the best picture she has EVER drawn and colored. My dh said maybe we need to give her the medicine the night before so it kicks in by morning. :-)

 

When we switched dd #2 to Concerta last fall and did the "getting it dialed in" period, we found that she hit a point where her daily focus was great but she couldn't sleep. The doctor suggested melatonin and that was hugely successful. It works best if she takes the melatonin about 1 hour before bedtime and also takes a warm bath.

HTHs

Edited to add: The meds definitely affects her appetite for lunch, so we make sure she gets a good breakfast and has access to healthy snacks at will in the afternoon. Our biggest challenge is getting her going in the morning - I'd love a solution for that!

Edited by JustGin
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My unmedicated ADHD daughter takes melatonin each night to help her sleep. All the doctors we have contact with have approved this. It's completely safe and works great! Just be sure to use the lowest effective dose. Too much has been known to cause very vivid dreams, sometimes nightmares.

 

My daughter could not get to sleep for anything before the melatonin. She used to lie awake for hours and she had horrible anxiety/fears (she also has Asperger's and OCD). Now she is asleep within 30 minutes of giving her the melatonin. She is 6 years old and slim and I give her a 1 mg sublingual tablet each night. But most people give a higher dose than that.. usually at least 2 mg. Older/bigger kids may need at least 3 mg.

 

And just to let you know.. On the bottle it will say "Do not give to children under 18 years of age" or something like that. This is put on all supplements that are not regulated by the food and drug administration.

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Have you already done a trial of a short-acting dose of Ritalin? It seems like that would be the first choice, to see if it works and if there are any side effects before trying the extended release version (Concerta).

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No, bec the doctor said she has had the most success with Concerta, so she usually tries it first. It did cross my mind over the weekend that maybe regular Ritalin would be better than the extended release since it should wear off sooner. Thanks for the reminder.

 

By the way, her focus was so much better today. She could actually carry a train of thought long enough to act on it. She actually did her copywork while I was in the shower. Usually, I have to remind her numerous times to sit down (or stand in front of the paper) and finish it before she moves on to something else, even though I only give her 1 or 2 sentences to do.

Edited by LizzyBee
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