Dexedrine Side Effects

[jrmom]

My son is 5 1/2 and has a dx of autism and ADHD. Today he started taking dexedrine, 5 mg in morning and 5mg in afternoon. He has become extra hyper. He is constantly licking his lips (fast) and constantly moving and talking (also fast). He has hardly sat down all day, and has hardly eaten anything today. Is this normal? Will it eventually subside after a few days once his body gets used to it?

I'm worried.

Please respond ASAP.

Thanks.
Hope

[Kimberly315]

It sounds like his dosage might be too high...when my fiance was first diagnosed with ADD his doctor prescribed 30 mg of dexedrine per day (one 15 mg extended release capsule and three 5 mg immediate release pills every morning.) After taking his medication, he would be very excited and talk NONSTOP for several hours. He would also fidget a lot and developed obsessive behaviors (like spending half the day organizing his desk until every little thing was perfect.) He would also have trouble eating and sleeping and got really cranky when the medication started to wear off. His personality completely changed- he would be excessively happy and energetic for a while, then sullen and moody for the rest of the day. After talking to his doctor, he now takes one 15 mg capsule in the morning and one 5 mg pill in the afternoon. This dosage seems to be working- it controls his ADD but doesn't make him "high." I think some people are more sensitive to dexedrine than others- if 30 mg is too much for him (he's 6'2" and 200 lbs.), 10 mg. might be too much for your son. Hope this helps!

[EverWondering]

I have a NDR - nurses drug reference it says that for 6 years and older, initial dose is 5 mg 1-2 times/day; increase in increments of 5mg/week until optimum dose is achieved (rarely over 40mg/day.) children 3-5 years initial dose is 2.5 mg/day; increase by 2.5 mg/day at weekly intervals until optimum dose is achieved. If the drug is extended release it is 5/15 mg/day.

[Redhead23]

People on the autistic spectrum can sometimes be overly sensitive to medication, so extremely small doses can be required to find the dose that works best.

Since Dexedrine is twice as potent (i.e. 5mg Dex roughly equates to 10mg Ritalin) as methyphenidate (Ritalin), maybe trying him on generic (since these are available in scored 5mg pills, which are easier to split into 2.5mg) Ritalin starting at 2.5 mg might be a better idea, as this would allow for better fine-tuning.

[jrmom]

Thanks everyone,
I was scared and took him to the emergency room last night because he was still "freaking out". We waited 3.5 hrs to see the ER doctor. By the time we saw the Dr. he had calmed down a little, so they didn't really do anything but check his vital signs etc.....Any way, the neurologist never called me back yesterday, so the ER contacted him. He just said to give my son 2.5 mg in the morning for now on (none in the afternoon) and call back in a week. He also said to incease his Seroquel at bedtime to help him sleep.(Seroquel is a medication usually prescribed for schitzophrenia, but helps some people with autism). I did do that but my son still didn't go to sleep until 3:15 am.

I am just glad he finally did go to sleep and that horrible experience is over!

Thanks again for your replies,

Hope