Please explain the various ADD meds

[addprogrammer]

Originally Posted by kjrunner

I encourage you to read some of Daniel Amen's books. I may have mentioned this in the other link but Daniel Amen has a section dealing with social and family dynamics. There is a chapter called "The Games ADD people play," which gives great advice on how to deal with them.

Also, Driven to Distraction (forgetting author) is wonderful for the parent and the child.

I want to ditto kjrunner's book recommendations.

Also read her post at [url]http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=512267[/url]. It has very valuable info. I hope I didn't minimize its value by musing over our shared OCD traits.

Set aside a few hours for it and enjoy.

Sorry, still trying to conquer my TID.

Bob

[frazzledparent]

Thank you all very much for the information. I'll look into those books, kjrunner. I think they'll be very helpful. As far as your question regarding sensitivity to clothing/material and/or tags...I haven't experienced that with my daughter. She is, however, very sensitive to the NAME on the tag I needed that bit of levity. So, again thanks for the information. I now can discuss, with a teensy bit of knowledge, the drug therapy and can possibly ask some good questions as well. Thursday is just around the corner!

Karen

[addprogrammer]

Karen,

I had Foculin/Ritalin bass-ackwards. Foculin is dexmethylphenidate hydrochloride or d-methylphenidate NOT l-methylphenidate. Evidently methylphenidate (Ritalin) is the left sided molecule.

This is more than a geeky curiosity. Brains love right sided molecules. That means considerably less Foculin is needed to achieve ADHD symptom relief efficacy.

Another member posted that Foculin is maxed at 20mg per day. I questioned that statements veracity (in my own mind). I looked up the Norvatis prescribing info sheet and 20mg is in fact max recommended dose.

There may be good reason for a shrink to go over max, but generally the more over max, the more likely adverse serious side effects become.

Bob

PS I got to beef up my "I'm no doctor" caveat to a black box skull and cross bones warning.

[frazzledparent]

Hey everyone:

On to the next step. The meeting with the psychologist went fairly well. He is going to send his findings to our general practioner so she can prescribe something. What that will be is to be determined. I questioned whether a pyschiatrist would be the preferable way to go for medication. He said "yes", but in our area there are only three...seems they are lacking in the field...and the three around here are booked solid with more severe cases (psychosis, bipolar, etc.). He knows our family practioner and has confidence in her ability to prescribe something that will work. He was concerned about my daughter's "experimentation" with alcohol and pot. Yes, seems she has been using the weed! Says it helps her concentration. Hmmmmm. Therefore he thought that a non stimulant drug, like Strattera, would be the first step in combatting her ADHD. She, of course, wants Adderall because so many of her college friends are on it and it works for them. She seems to have her mind made up that Strattera won't work because she knows of one girl at school who uses it and it doesn't work for her. My guess would be that she doesn't take it regularly. Anyway, on to the family doc next week for another discussion and then hopefully on to some kind of medication so we can take the next step in finding something that will help her. Meanwhile, she's doing a great job with her summer English class!
Karen

[goody2shuz]

Frazzled ~ I am glad that you are on your next step of the process. I hope you won't be upset by what I am about to say but a little RED flag went up when I read your post. Your doctor is absolutely right about avoiding the stimulant meds if your daughter has admitted to alcohol/drug use. And I believe that I already forewarned you about my concerns in regard to that with my own daughter. It is the case of which came first the chicken or the egg....are our daughters using the alcohol/weed to self medicate because of undiagnosed ADD/ADHD or are they abusing drugs wanting to get something more accessible????

Listen to me for a minute. My daughter is very aware of what is out there and what kids are doing (as I am sure yours is as well) and could be quite manipulative which is another thing that is part of her behavior. We use to say that she could be a lawyer because she could convince you that the sky is really purple instead of blue!!

Anyway....when she was IMing with somebody recently (one of her college suitemates) the girl stated that she needed an "Adderall Rush". My daughter has requested to be tested for ADD and I have been concerned about her behavior since she was 14 so her asking for help was a really big thing for us. She seems genuine, however, since seeing that IM and knowing that she is into experimentation I couldn't help but question her motives here.

I did some research and it seems that alot of the ADD stimulants are a big thing with college students. They are a perscription that they can get rather cheaply through perscription plans ( a copay of $10 isn't bad) and they can crush it and inhale it and get themselves a nice high. Also, if kids are hard up for cash I hear that they can get $5/pill and if we have a month's supply that would be $150 or more depending on how it is perscribed!!! And believe me...I can see my daughter fitting into both of these scenarios the struggling college student who never seems to have enough money!!

From what I have read, Stattera is a good med of choice if addictions are of concern. I would guess that if it were my daughter's or your's motive to get their hands on something to experiment with or sell that they wouldn't be too happy being perscribed Strattera and would make a stink about taking it with an excuse similar to what your daughter is using. I would tell her that everybody responds to meds differently and that what works for one may not for another visa versa. And take it from there.

As I shared with you, my plan is to make my daughter's doctor aware of her alcohol and weed use and REQUEST that he keep that in mind when perscribing anything for her. WE certainly do not want to encourage an addiction here but I cannot dismiss the reality that we have something going on here especially since her sister has Bipolar/ADD.

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth and let you know that I am still a little bit behind you on the road but wanted to share my concerns with you since you seem to be going through the same situation as I am.

Again, I hope that I haven't offended you in anyway....the way I see it we're on the same team here and could use every set of eyes available to us to help us see what lies ahead.

Keep us posted with how things are going.

(((HUGS))) ~ Goody