Side effects on Meds...then what???

[jerseymom99]

My son is 8 and has ADHD...He was on Concerta first and now AdderallXR.  With both meds we saw wonderful improvements with his attention, focus and activity level, but then after a while he started these tic behaviors first towards late afternoon and early evening and then moving to throughout the day.   They seem to occur more when he is tired and bored.  It started with scratching by his eyes/forhead then he added in this little jump along with it.  Then he added extra repetetive touches to parts of his face/head.  All along his attention/focus/activity (and performance) at school remain good.  It seems we either have decreased ADHD symptoms with increased OCD or tic behaviors on the meds or the reverse off of them.  I need to contact his Dev. Pediatrician again.  We're also seeing an Allergist tomorrow (it all started with him saying he was itchy) just to rule that out.  

So, what do you do when he really seems to need the meds but they're causing other problems?????

[mimidge]

I have a 9 year old daughter with ADHD and tried Adderall (adderrall) first in first grade. Horrible side-effects - biting her fingernails and toenails to the point of OCD. She would bite and pick her cuticles to the point of bleeding. Very weird and paranoia acting behaviors and anxiety. Her teacher was even concerned about the side-effects. Tried many diff. meds. before having success on focalin and now the Daytrana patch. We now have a normal  educationally functional 9 year old girl with very little side-effects.