ritalin - behavior when not on it

[ilovemyboys2]

My son (7 - ADD) was put on a trial of ritalin.  I have noticed that as the dose as gone up from 5 mg/2x a day to 10 mg, he is more aggressive, 'hyperactive', and less focussed when he does not take it then he was before he ever had the medication at all.  For example, he had 10 mg yesterday, and now today, he has not had any and he is having alot of trouble with these behaviors mentioned above.  Will this type of reaction lessen over time?  Is he on too much?  He did not have much of this at lower doses.  The medication has been effective otherwise.
He weighs 56 lbs and is 4'4" tall.  

thank you for your time

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I suggest you report this to the doctor who is treating him so he can make adjustments in the dose. Different doses do have unpredictable effects, and more is not necessarily better. You might also ask this question on the child behavior forum here at medhelp, they deal with these kind of issues more than I do and may have more specific advice to give you.

[grrlfriend]

hi there,

It's not uncommon for folks with AD(H)D to have what's called the 'rebound effect' where the symptoms return as the medication wears off -- it's unclear whether this is subjective (just seems worse because they were so much better on the stims) or an actual biochemical thing.
Try posting your question at the ADD Forum on www.about.com (run a search for ADD once you're there and the ADD page with forum will come up) --many folks there with lots of experience with this.

Helen