For myself, the Elvanse (Vyvanse) is fantastic. It stimulates (I do not have the typical ADHD thing where stims calm down), makes it easy to get started on things, gives me focus, makes me motivated and euphoric.
Since I usually don't see the 6 hours at school after my son took his meds, I decided to give him some on the weekend (doc said it's entirely up to us when there is no school). 15 mg slow-release Methylphenidate (Medikinet). We kept it to that one dose in the morning, without the optional instant-release afternoon hit.
The effect was quite shocking:
- He appears to be strongly sedated. It's like when I take a pretty hard benzo dose. The hyperactivity stops completely, and he just wants to sit on my lap and lean on me / cuddle. Not sure it's tiredness, though; he still wants to go outside and play and follows through with it.
- Inside, he also does his usual projects. But instead of storming into my office for a quick hug as usual, he waddles in and sits in my lap for a long cuddle. He was very focused on an ambitious Lego project, but that has happened before.
- He does not find it easier to get on an unpleasant task all. Had to clean his room and was as unhappy as always, although I offered to do only a quick unit of work.
- At the playground, it was the first time in weeks that he wanted to get picked up earlier. It coincided with the first day in weeks where all friends were gone early, too, so might not say much. He just sat in the sand and looked sad when I arrived; usually it's all laughter and dashing around. Maybe just no friends, but then again, he usually finds a quick instant-friend.
So, I'm not happy with that result. Sure makes it easier for the teachers when he is sedated, but the idea was that he could follow his passions like chess and math even better, get tougher challenges at school. Instead, they just gave him As and let him sit sadly in the corner, is how I picture it now.
What do you think, childhood medicated ADHD folks and others?
Additional notes:
- Of course, I'll keep communicating my and the teachers' observations with the doc. But medical care is limited; we are so glad that he has someone who writes the prescription.
- The dose was increased from 10 mg to 15 mg for two reasons: 1. 6 hours later, I and the occupational therapist saw 0 effect. 2. The teachers reported a strong decline in effect, after being very happy with 10mg initially. It's also possible that he didn't take it properly with enough food and water, or that the generic medicine he got as a replacement is at fault.
It probably is the wrong type of medication for his ADHD case. Sedation like that doesn't sound right fundamentally.
That was my thought as well. I have a 9 year old on meds. He is able to focus, learn, and talk like a neurotypical while on meds. The main side effect we really notice is he has a wider range of emotions when on meds, gets sad or upset more easily, things like that. I mainly suspect this is due to him being more in tune with the world around him.
Full sedation like the OP is describing sounds like a med or dosage issue. It sucks that there's not an exact science to this due to differences in physiology.
So hard to get useful feedback from a child. I can just observe what I see and ask the teachers. The teachers were happy with 5mg but said that 15mg had no effect. Doesn't even make sense, so it was probably another factor playing in, such as a topic at school that he liked or not enough water / food during intake. The teachers even warned us to increase the dose unnecessarily, but with all information considered, the doc did it anyway, which made sense at the time.
I'll try a lower dose myself again so I can give more feedback to the doc, and we'll see if he needs something else. Pure sedation to make the teachers happy is not the goal here.
I'm an adult, late-diagnosed. If it helps any, my ADHD symptoms seem to come back in full force when I go over my optimal dose. Too much could sometimes be worse than too little (but usually still better than without).