ADHD/Alderall - ADD / ADHD Message Board

x3lewisgina · 08-01-2007, 02:59 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm new on here and my boyfriends son has ADHD. I'm just now learning about it. He is currently taking 60mgs of Metadate CD. It's working fairly well except in the evenings when it wears off. We just switched insurances and now are covered by Kaiser. However, Kaiser doesn't cover this medication. From what I hear they only cover Ritalin or Alderall. Can anyone tell me about either of them? I've only heard bad things about Ritalin. We don't really want to switch his meds but at this time it would be really costly to keep him on Metade CD.

Can anyone offer any insite? Thanks!!!

mcr285 · 08-01-2007, 03:30 PM

i take adderall for my ADD and have taken it for 10 years. i was in my early 20's when i was first diagnosed. when i first started it, i had the usual side effects with the loss of appetite, reasonable weight loss (which i NEEDED!), not sleeping well, dry mouth... those are the only ones that really stand out in my mind. anyway, they lasted about a week and a half, maybe two weeks. i've never experienced a "coming down off it" feeling (although it can be pretty obvious when i don't take it because i can get perky to the point of people want to slap me!).

anyway, i've been taking 20mgs twice a day for 10 years and have never had any negative side effects from it. i easily quit taking it for each of my pregnancies, and stayed off of it while nursing. i quit cold turkey, it was easy for me to quit, and i didn't experience any withdrawl symptoms, and never once even considered taking it while pregnant or nursing. when i was finished nursing my babies, i went back on it without any problems.

a lot of people speak out against adderall, saying it is addictive and dangerous, and i certainly don't disagree with them! i think with all medication, caution should be exercised. you may have to play with the dose a bit to find the right fit for your boyfriend's son. if you do, make sure to do it with his doctor's knowledge so that he gives the correct prescription.

hope this helps!

addprogrammer · 08-01-2007, 03:51 PM

x3lewisgina,

Metadate releases more of its methlyphenidate active ingredient in the afternoon assuming a 8AM ingestion. Logic is most ADHDer's have more trouble in PM than AM - I agree.

But logic and ADHD do not go hand-in-hand.

Does Keiser Insurance cover Concerta? I do better on that. If not, probably Adderall, if covered, is a better choice. The variance is because I have a strong OCD component that necessitates a less powerfull stimulant to help with my ADHD.

How on earth can over-focus (OCD) and ADHD (attention deficit) live in the same brain is beyond me. All I know is that they do - in my brain.

Bob

PS mcr225 warning about addictiveness of stimulant meds is warrented. All prescription drugs have serious side effects that must be weighed to make an intelligent health care decision. Emotionally charged decision are NEVER wise. Period.

x3lewisgina · 08-02-2007, 04:50 PM

Thank you both for you. Evenings and mornings are deffinately his worst time. He has alot of anger issues and yells alot during those times. I've never dealt with this sort of thing. My kids are rather mello all around and this is taking some getting used to. I know he's been on Concerta before but it wasn't working well the last few months and they up'd his dose of metadate. If you ask me I think alot of it is selfcontrol but then I'm not the one with ADHD. It's a tough call and all we can do is keep working with him.

I'm not sure what's going to happen with Kaiser. We talked to the doctor today and she was going to try to contact them to tell them it was medically necessary. Hopefully it works out.

index.html · 08-03-2007, 04:59 AM

Quote:

If you ask me I think alot of it is selfcontrol but then I'm not the one with ADHD.

Sure it is. It's a combination of lack of self-control and an inability to pay attention. Unfortunately, it's not something that the ADHD'er can do much about. Telling an ADHD kid to "calm down" or to "pay attention" is like telling a blind person that he needs to see. Well, yeah, it's true, his life would be much better if he could see. But, there just isn't a darn thing he can do about it, is there?.

I hope that makes sense.

As far as the medication question, please understand that ritalin, metadate, and concerta are all the same med. They are all methylphenidate. What differs between them (and it's a huge difference) is the delivery system. Concerta and Metadate are longer-acting and have a more controlled "crash landing" at the end of the day.

If Kaiser isn't willing to pay for Metadate, all isn't lost, but it will probably take some time and some experimentation to find the best doses and best times of day to give those doses to get the desired effect but hopefully you'll get there.

For mornings, some parents wake their kids up half an hour early, give them the medication and let them go back to sleep. That way, they are a little more "human" when they have to get up. Likewise, a small additional dose of medication is sometimes needed late in the afternoon to smooth out the evenings.