Ritalin LA twice a day?

[2sweetcheeks]

My almost 11 year old son has been on ritalin la for about a year or two now. It recently has not been working like it used to. He has been taking 20 mg. His doctor wants him to start taking 20 mg in the morning and then 10 mg at noon. I have not heard of the long acting form being taken like this. Has anyone else had their child or themselves take the long acting ritalin more than once a day?

[index.html]

It isn't too uncommon for Ritalin LA to be prescribed this way. The fact is that, for some people, it isn't as long-acting as advertised. The only problem for you to look for with your child taking it this way is insomnia - it may make it very difficult for him to go to sleep.

If giving the second dose at noon is a problem, try talking to the doc about Metadate or Concerta. They are even longer-acting forms of ritalin (methylphenidate) than is Ritalin LA.

I am curious. When you say that it isn't working like it used to - is the problem primarily late in the day or is it also in the mornings?

[2sweetcheeks]

Thank you for your response. It seems to not work as well during the time he is at school. I am not sure if that is in the morning as well as towards afternoon or not because his teacher has not been specific about when he has the most trouble. I do know that he is having a hard time completing his work and forgetting to bring work, notes, newsletters or his planner home. He was on the Ritalin LA for most of the school year (and the previous school year) and he had been quite disorganized since school started this year. His doctor changed him to the regular fast acting Ritalin twice a day for a month to see how that worked for him. He seemed to do better during that month but there was some room for improvement. That is when she decided to try the Ritalin LA twice a day and see if that worked better. I was a little leery about giving it to him that way because all the dosage or usage instructions I could find did not say it could be given more than once a day. As of right now he has not had it twice a day and the way the prescription was written his school can't give it to him until I get something in writing from the doctor anyway. I guess we will just have to try this and see how it goes. He is a very smart boy and his not completing work or getting all his homework done is starting to hurt him since they take 5 points off if something is late or not completed. I know it is just going to get harder as he gets in higher grades. I just want to make sure he can do the best that he is capable of.

[addprogrammer]

Originally Posted by index.html

It isn't too uncommon for Ritalin LA to be prescribed this way. The fact is that, for some people, it isn't as long-acting as advertised. ...

I had my shrink appt. a few weeks back and we discussed "how long in real life" for long acting formulas. My shrink's ball-park was about 20% for getting the advertized 12 hours, majority between 7 and 8 hours with the bottom 20% barely squeaking out 6.

My family doctor has school age ADHD twins and she tells me they do better in terms of all day efficacy on one 20mg Adderall IR AM then they have on any XR versions - Ritalin or Adderall.

So we come full circle yet once again. We all respond uniquely. The advantage us adults have over children is the ability to communicate that the med is not working as specified. Getting the dosage correct for children is very much dependant on parent and teacher observations.

Every time I start down the self pity road, I think of you parents and that snaps me out of it in a hurry.

Keep up the good work.

Bob