dadwhocares
06-21-2004, 06:26 PM
I have a 10 year old son who was placed on Ritalin at the age of 4 because his mother practically begged the doctor. We were freshly separated and she thought he was too much to handle. For the record, I disagreed! My son is currently taking 72mg of concerta per day and 15mg of zyprexa. His mother sends the medicine over in a sample zyprexa bottle. I recently called my son's physician to talk to her about son and received a call from her nurse. I need to say that my ex is also a RN and I had a feeling that they would call her before doing anything for me, I was right! I asked for a copy of my sons medical records and was treated rather roodly. I called the doctor on another day and again asked for the doctor but was once again intercepted by the nurse and she wanted to know what I wanted to know about my son. I told her that I need to know what dosage had been prescribed for my son and she said 54mg per day then as if she thought about it for a minute she then said he takes two 36mg pills a day. I have him every weekend and last weekend we forgot to give him his medication and he was more calm than usual. This past weekend I only gave him one pill since I have no written dosage to go by and again he was calmer that when he takes two pills. Should a child be taken off of the medication and re evaluated.
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WILDDCHILDD75
06-23-2004, 08:45 PM
i have 2 of my own who have adhd. if you think your son needs an eval. the schools can do some of the test to see if they think the child needs extra help. also you could try going into the dr. office and ask them in person for the medical records. if they don't want to help the only other things i can think of is if you can get your son for a week or 2 over the summer make him an appointment with mental health and talk with them about your questions. if your ex is as hard to deal (like mine) you may have to take things through the courts. but if you feel he doesn't need the meds. take him to a dr. express your concerns and start from there.
msmars5188
06-24-2004, 02:32 AM
I'm no doctor or anything but that sounds like A LOT of concerta for a 10 year old kid. I'm not even on that high of a dose, and I'm older and (i assume) that i weigh more than your son. Maybe its just me but i find that somewhat odd. Best of luck to you.
brainf0g
06-24-2004, 06:31 AM
If you feel that his diagnosis is an error, have him evaluated again by a pediatric psychiatrist who specializes in AD/HD.
Concerta doses aren't measured by weight. Everyone is different.
Concerta doses aren't measured by weight. Everyone is different.
dadwhocares
06-25-2004, 12:33 PM
I signed a release to get his medical records from his current pediatrician over a week ago and still have not received them, however I talked to the nurse at the office where he was going and she told me she didn't understand why his mom stopped taking him there. We both assumed that it was because the doctor would not give my son a higher dosage. I am currently in a court battle and was origonally going for custody but that has changed to shared parenting and they are fighting me all the way. Yesterday I think my ex handed me the smoking gun though and I think I will be able to resolve the issue soon. I am not sure if my son has ever been re evaluated since he was 4 years old and hopefully I will get them for an extended period of time this summer and I will have him re evaluated.
NatalieatSIS
06-25-2004, 04:26 PM
Well, I am a mother of 2 boys with ADHD, and a Step-mother of 1 boy who has been on different meds since he was about 4, now age 12. He has been taken off of all meds because of his Dad's beliefs and other issues dealing with suicide thoughts. I believe that he has been treated for ADHD for years, and it was the wrong diagnosis. Plus, he was given a very HIGH dose of Concerta and other meds. He is doing much better without. My boys are doing well with only 27mg of Concerta and are only 7 & 9.
Enough about me. I am not a doctor, but I will give you my opinion.
I believe you should definitely have him reevaluated. They may be treating him for the wrong reason, and his doses sound entirely too high. Although, all children are different, and react differently.
Go with your gut feeling, and get him tested yourself.
You have just as much rights as she does, and you are doing the right thing.
Enough about me. I am not a doctor, but I will give you my opinion.
I believe you should definitely have him reevaluated. They may be treating him for the wrong reason, and his doses sound entirely too high. Although, all children are different, and react differently.
Go with your gut feeling, and get him tested yourself.
You have just as much rights as she does, and you are doing the right thing.
dadwhocares
06-28-2004, 05:02 PM
I picked up my kids Saturday morning so my son already had 72mg of concerta in his system. He was yelling in the car and could not keep his hands to himself. He was wired all day long. Sunday morning we woke up at 6:30 and went fishing. About an hour into it he said "did I take my medicine?" Nope I said, and he asked me " how am I doin'?" I told him he was doing fine. To be honest my son has a nack for getting tangled up when he is fishing, and that didn't change this weekend. The only difference this weekend was the way he acted when he got tangled up. While on his medication he would usually blow up and tell me how stupid he is, and then he would quit fishing, this weekend without his medication he calmly told me he was tangled up and asked me to help him, he calmly waited until I got him untangled, then he went back to fishing.
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NatalieatSIS
06-28-2004, 05:16 PM
Dadwhocares:
Sounds like the medication isn't even effective to me. When my boys get their medication, which is only 27 mg, within an hour it is effective and they are calm.
His dosage sure sounds high, and if it isn't effective, I would think that he is being treated for the wrong diagnosis. Or, he needs a different medication. If you see that he is doing fine without, he definitely needs to be reevaluated as I said before.
Maybe you could talk to his mother and discuss giving him a break this summer as I am?
I am really enjoying seeing mine happy and they are doing fine without their meds this summer so far. I think they needed a break, plus they are growing up and learning to cope better. I mean there are still times that my youngest son is very hyper, but it is hype in a good way.
At school, he has to be so calm so that he doesn't disrupt class and be quiet. This summer he isn't having to do that. So, I am sure I will probably have to continue giving him meds throughout the school year to be able to sit still and learn.
Sounds like the medication isn't even effective to me. When my boys get their medication, which is only 27 mg, within an hour it is effective and they are calm.
His dosage sure sounds high, and if it isn't effective, I would think that he is being treated for the wrong diagnosis. Or, he needs a different medication. If you see that he is doing fine without, he definitely needs to be reevaluated as I said before.
Maybe you could talk to his mother and discuss giving him a break this summer as I am?
I am really enjoying seeing mine happy and they are doing fine without their meds this summer so far. I think they needed a break, plus they are growing up and learning to cope better. I mean there are still times that my youngest son is very hyper, but it is hype in a good way.
At school, he has to be so calm so that he doesn't disrupt class and be quiet. This summer he isn't having to do that. So, I am sure I will probably have to continue giving him meds throughout the school year to be able to sit still and learn.
dadwhocares
06-28-2004, 05:58 PM
I appreciate the responses and I know in my heart that my ex is too hard headed to take him off of it and see what happens. I know she would see that he doesn't need it but then she would have to admit that she was wrong. I am currently in a huge court battle for custody or shared parenting, so it looks like she is going to interfere with my extended visitation again this year, but I know my son does not need the meds.
bearboy
06-28-2004, 08:14 PM
some doctor has to be prescribing this medication to the child...
dadwhocares
06-28-2004, 09:27 PM
yes there is a doctor prescribing this to him however I was there when he was origonally put on ritalin when he was 4 years old. His pediatrician told my soon to be ex at the time that he did not want to put my son on it but my ex BEGGED him to do so stating he was uncontrolable. I told the doctor that he was fine when he was with me but he went ahead and put him on it anyway. I feel like once that was done the door was wide open. Keep in mind that my ex is a very persuasive RN.
WILDDCHILDD75
07-03-2004, 05:12 PM
it is so great that you are so involved with your kids my kids father want return there phone calls. you might need to try to get an emergency order to remove the kids from her care until all is settled in court. i have seen some of the other things you talked about and just wanted to suggest that you involve child protection services, they may be able to help get information in which you can not. and again best of luck to you
bearboy
07-03-2004, 09:09 PM
as the childs parent, you have a right to all medical information. if she refuses to provide it to you, you could contact the county because you can have a hearing which includes you, her, the doctor that writes her the RXs (if there is one) and if you had taken him to be looked at, your doctor. good luck.
lateeth
07-04-2004, 03:55 AM
I don't know a lot about how custody works but I would think it important that whatever dose of whatever drug is consistent and that the child does not go bouncing back and forth from one drug to another or a high dose to a low dose every time he changes parents. This medical issue with your son should be brought up during your court hearings and maybe the court can assign a third party physician to re-diagnose and have new rules for how much and what meds to take that both of you can agree on. From personal experience, I have found that psychiatrists are often into overprescribing. I stopped taking my son to one after she decided he needed antidepressents in addition to his ADD meds because at his appt one day he was a bit tired and down after school (nothing unusual for a child). Now he sees a child neurologist which i have found to be much more sane. The psychiatrist was not doing any counseling anyway which was the main reason I chose a psychiatrist to prescribe in the first place. The neurologist actually spends more time talking with him at his appts than the psychiatrist ever did.
Good luck on this. I know it is difficult dealing with.
If you have joint custody you should have just as much right to make decisions as your ex. I know the pharmacy keeps track of prescriptions which are filled for each pt. If you have medical insurance, maybe there is some way they can track that he is not geting double prescriptions filled.
Good luck on this. I know it is difficult dealing with.
If you have joint custody you should have just as much right to make decisions as your ex. I know the pharmacy keeps track of prescriptions which are filled for each pt. If you have medical insurance, maybe there is some way they can track that he is not geting double prescriptions filled.