<p>Thanks for the responses. I know he doesn't smoke anything--is very anti smoking and drugs--hence his reticence to add any medications or even try a change. The only thing that makes him feel better temporarily is weight lifting.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom- I was recently at a lecture where the topic of cigarette smoking came up and someone said that there is some research out that says cigarette smoking is effective for ADHD.
Have either of your son's tried dexedrine? My son didn't like it but supposedly the comedown is smoother for some people.
I have really noticed the anxious and irratable behavior is so tied into dosage amount. With my son just small changes in dose can cause huge increases in irratiblity and crankiness plus anxiety. Especially the over-analyzing.
One option that I found worked well but my son didn't like as much was taking a low dosage of Adderall XR in the morning and then supplementing with regular ritalin in the afternoon for days that he had more work. I noticed that the mood swings were non-existant. I don't know why he didn't like it but it sure was nice for the rest of the family. According to his Dr it is not uncommon for people to use more then one type of med.</p>
<p>I can't remember why, but he didn't like the XR and is only taking the short acting Adderall--he has started breaking tablets in half and that seems to have helped the jitteriness. He tried Ritalin and one other that I can't remember and they seemed to bother him more. One good thing is that he has been able to sleep better--perhaps the lower dose or maybe because he has moved his workouts to afternoon instead of early am. Another thing he has learned to deal with is making himself eat about 5 times a day whether he is hungry or not. He has been able to maintain weight this way.</p>
<p>Has anyone read any reputable studies on vitamin supplements and ADD? I read something on internet with B complex, Magnesium and some other supplements. They claimed must be liquid to be absorbed better. I haven't found any true research on these claims.</p>
<p>mkm56, I hate to mention this, but with respect to your son's obsessive behavior, has the dr suggested that he might have OCD?</p>
<p>My D was first diagnosed with OCD in 8th grade, and not diagnosed with ADHD until the end of 9th grade. Her psychiatrist said it's very common for kids to have both. As it happens, my sister's daughter also has both.</p>
<p>My D takes Zoloft for the OCD and has recently switched from Concerta to Adderall, which she says works better for her, for the ADHD.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Does the Zoloft help with the OCD? I don't know if he does (have OCD). I don't see repetitive behaviors but I do see him being unable to let something go in his mind and move on (ie hurt feelings from a relationship, or something where he feels he could have/should have done better). So is that the hyperfocus that can come with ADD or OCD---or really do all ADD people have OCD to some point?</p>
<p>On his testing the OCD scale was within normal, but towards the high end. I don't know if Zoloft is in same family or not, but last year the Dr. tried him on Prozac for sleep problems and he had terrible side effects from it--actually made him depressed, nightmares, and difficulty dealing with just getting through the day.</p>
<p>Zoloft does help with her OCD; that's what it was prescribed for. The idea of getting "stuck" on things and not getting over them is a manifestation that my D has as well.</p>
<p>We have also learned that the condition of OCD is a continuum; and that sometimes it's tough to tell when it kicks in enough that medication is called for. I think the hyperfocus you mention is another symptom of OCD.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks dg, I will do some talking with him over break</p>
<p>My D has ADHD, but can't be medicated because of a side effect called Depersonalization. It's a terrifying feeling that you are disconnected, as if in a movie...like everything is unreal. Unfortunately, it came only 2 days after starting Adderall XR. The Adderall was like a miracle. She sat and did Chem homework that would normally have taken 3 hours in under an hour. But the depersonalization came and, even though she stopped Adderall after the second day, lasted a month. Since that time, it has come from Provigil ( a new drug that is being used off-label for ADHD) and from Minocycline--an antibiotic. She also had a weird feeling of crawling skin with these drugs. She is now terrified of taking anything but Advil. So on she goes, struggling with focus, but dealing with it because the alternative is so much worse. I work for a child/adolescent psychiatrist, and have seen many kids who take several types of stimulant drugs throughout the day for ADHD. It's pretty common to take more than one. Good luck to all of your valiant ADD kids! They work so much harder than other kids for the same rewards!</p>
<p>I used to take Aderal but because its a triplicate once I ran out I was off of it, anywho, if I remember correctly I didn't suffer any side affects, I was on Depakote and overdosed though... <em>shrugs</em></p>
<p>your kids on drugs what can i say ive seen first hand experience how my friends act on adderal my friends on it and she tells me at her ****ty school(the ghetto) shes been asked for it b/c it helps u lose weight...she gives it away it away only time she doesnt is at camp when im w/ her</p>
<p>i currently am taking Adderall XR. since you said that he was on the short acting one, asking the doctor about the extended release may be a good idea. i don't suffer from any of the side effects. i take one pill (30mg) in the morning (around 6:30am) before school and it lasts me until about 3pm. i'm going to talk to my doctor about adding a low dose one to get me through hw. my appetite hasn't decreased any (it wasn't high to begin with) and my sleep (if anything) has gotten better. if he likes puzzles (word, sudoku etc), i find that those help to calm me down right before bed because it helps me take my mind off of the stress of the day.
another tip about the eating. my doctor said that if i found that my appetite decreased, to try eating breakfast before taking my pill (even something as simple as a biscut...) because it will boost metabolism and make your appetite increase to hopefully counteract and appetite loss from the pills...</p>
<p>re lesmizzie:
well... the drugs WILL make you lose weight if you don't need them because they are stimulants. what your friend is doing is illegal and she can go to jail for it. that's why adderall doesn't have free refills, it's essentially speed, just more dangerous if you aren't monitored by a doctor.</p>
<p>re tanyanubin:
if you would like some things to possibly help her, feel free to pm me! i'm a junior in hs that has been struggling with ADHD my whole life. i only got medicated after starting hs, so i know some tips!</p>
<p>Hey guys, just wanted to chime in, hopefully you can help me out. I took Adderall for a week last winter (5 mg pills once a day) and experienced no lasting side effects but recently I took it again (this time 20 mg pills for 3 days) but freaked out when I realized that it was having a lasting effect on my consciousness. Has anyone else noticed this? I can no longer focus as much on reading or writing and I can't seem to grasp words as concretely anymore. I've also become more nervous. It can't be anything other than the Adderall--I recognize these as the temporary side effects I felt while on Adderall. Except now they have become lasting. I have never had such a problem with my brain and frankly it's frightening. I know you're not doctors but I'm just throwing this out there...?</p>
<p>...it may be because the dosage was too high. or you may have been misdiagnosed, there isn't really a 100% surefire way to diagnose ADHD... so it could have been something else instead.
i'd see the doctor about anxiety.
also, if you've been under stress or are taking more than one type of stimulants (check allergy meds) that could be it too.
i used to have really bad shakes and stuff like that, and it turned out it was from over stimulants (even sodas and coffee and such)</p>
<p>Anxiety/stress sound like likely culprits. We'll see. Thanks for your input</p>
<p>i stopped taking adderall over the winter break and slept perfectly fine. i started back up exactly two days before this post you see here. it is now 11:30 where i am! i cannot sleep! i don't have anxiety! my body is tired! my mind is overly active and would zone out! i'm ont really hysterical, i just like adding exclamation points for emphasis. I knew adderall was too perfect to be true. Of course, a drug that can relieve the burden of always rereading what i previously read and help me focus in class has to come at a high cost. MY SLEEP! Please someone, for the sake of hope, tell me that me that my body needs to just get used to it and i'll be sleeping like i was wheni i wasn't on it. FYI, i take adderall once a day at 6:00 a.m. and a dosage of 15mg.</p>
<p>I take adderall 30mg once a day and go to sleep around 11:30, until 5 or 6 am.
I also am at the gym everyday( well 5 or 6 days a week) for at least 2 hours ( 40 min aerobic-20 minutes stretching-50 minutes weights)
Your body wont feel the need to go to sleep unless it is tired- it also helps to reduce tension- are you getting sustained aerobic activity everyday?</p>
<p>( Researchers also found that exercise helps immensely with ADD)</p>
<p>Gista, my son is still dealing with the sleep problems at school. Like you, he didn't take his Adderall over Christmas break and slept fine at home. He does exercise minimum of an hour a day and eats/drinks no caffeine. I wonder with him if the sleeplessness is stress related (worrying about classes, projects, papers, etc) and just living in a dorm (mostly the uncomfortable narrow bed--he's 6'3"). He's adamant that he will NOT try any other sleep meds after the fiasco with Ambien--so for now he is just tired most of the time. We live within an easy drive, so he has been coming home for one night of the weekend just to sleep in a quiet room with a comfortable "big" bed.</p>
<p>i don't exercise as much as i should. i'm actually starting to now, but very lightly. i'm going to start exercising slow and progressively get more intense. last time i was on a strict work-out regimen, i ended up hurting myself. i'm starting out with 5 minutes of biking a day, then tacking on a minute every week. do you think working out earlier in the day will help me go to sleep at night? </p>
<p>mkm56, sleep meds are not the way i'm going to go. i take melatonin ever so often, but eventually that wouldn't be a viable solution. i hate taking meds as it is. my sleep is very importnant to me. 8-9 hours of sleep combined with adderall and exercising produce a rejuvenated ME! that's ready to take on the day's challenges. but, i have to decide on one or the other. i'm still a young kid and defintely need my sleep. so i'm going to forgo the adderall, most likely, and just put up with my disorder. Some people call it a fake disorder, but somepeople call it real and genetic. I see it in my mom and my dad. I also read a book called "driven to distraction" and it detailed accounts of people with ADD. and i saw myself in those people. To be honest, i initially thought that my supposed ADD was just poor intelligence. I wanted to learn and i wanted to reap the benefits of education, however i was unable to because of my poor reading retention and lazy-ass work ethic. With adderall, i'm like superman, but with out sleep, i'm a dozing off dumbass. I still think that i have poor intelligence and that i'm a lost case. Sadly, adderall, the only thing that gave me a glimpse of hope for a bright future, is making me sleepless. Oh well, i can probably just settle for a retail clerk job. They pay enough just to get by and have good benefits. Life is pretty much unexciting when you have the mental handicap that i have.</p>
<p>Gista, how old are you? Have you been worked up by a psychiatrist/psychologist for your ADD? Maybe there are other medicines that would help you and not interfere with your sleep so much. My son tried some other ones, but they bothered him in other ways (may not with you). If you haven't had a full battery of testing done, there is always the possibility that you may have something else in addition to the ADD that could be addressed--like a processing disorder that could explain some of the reading difficulties. </p>
<p>Right now my son is taking about half of what he is prescribed on the Adderall in order to try and find a balance between being able to focus and still being able to sleep some at night. Talk with your Dr. and see if he/she has some options to offer. Good luck. Don't give up on your education!</p>