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Post by kellyh on Aug 30, 2007 11:13:10 GMT -5
Woohoo!!! Just one more small hurdle and we're in the study! We went this morning (Megan and I that is) to have her blood drawn, me fill out a butt load of paperwork, and she had 3 EEG's done. If the bloodwork, her height, weight and the EEG are all within normal ranges, then we'll start the study next Tuesday. On the DOWN side....we have to take her off her meds for 7 days to clean her system out...and that will be HELL! Hubby is home with the girls this week and he forgot to give her her pill tuesday.....she was a mouthy, rude, argumentative little butt head who wouldn't sit still all day....glad I was at work and only had to put up with her after I was home from work!!! :-) SHE'S just tickled pink because we get $25 for each of the 9 visits and they made this check out in HER name!!! I did give her $20 but told her that with the next checks, she'll only get $10. The other $10 goes in the bank and I get $5 for gas. And coffee. This study is to determine the efficacy of the 20mg, 40mg and 60 mg doses, though we only go as high as we feel she needs. And being that she's only on 20mg of Adderall XR, they don't think she'll need to go higher than 30 or 40 mg.
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Post by misty on Aug 30, 2007 11:20:57 GMT -5
Thats great! I can feel your excitement. Please, keep us informed each step of the way (except maybe during the week that shes totally off meds...LMBO)!
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Post by kellyh on Sept 5, 2007 7:37:58 GMT -5
I'm snickering as I write this, though I know it's not appropriate....Megan got in the trial and we have to have a 7 day "washout" period before we can start her on her new medicine....I'm only laughing because I know that life is going to be HELL for a week! It already started this morning when she was way snottier than normal to the simple question of, "What do you want for breakfast?" Sigh.....I wrote notes to both of her teachers....I do pity them because she just started yesterday at this new school. They are both aware of her ADHD because the whole reason we transferred the girls to the public school system was because Megan needed some special education in math and English and the private school refused to provide the extra assistance (that's another story). She has an IEP.
She was on meds yesterday which make her a much nicer, more even keeled child....she has focus and isn't too distractable on meds....but NOT on meds.....man.....this weekend is going to SUCK!
They said that so far, no one in the study has had to titrate higher than 40 mg. So that's good news. And she's thrilled because she gets paid $25 each week that we go for 9 weeks! Of course, mommy gets a $5 cut and $10 has to go in the bank. But for a 7 year old....$10 a week is still a lot of money. Considering the fact that she has no concept of money and quantity...she'd rather have 5 ones than a single ten dollar bill. She's a cheap bribe!
"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for. Perfection I leave up to God." Michael J. Fox
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Post by misty on Sept 5, 2007 8:01:41 GMT -5
You wrote this post on Sep. 5, 2007 at 8:34 AM Edit Post Delete Post & Replies Report this post Replies: There are no replies to this post. Be the first to reply to this post. Reply to Post ADHD and us! Group Home Back to Forum List Write a New Post Advertisement Where did all that stuff come from? |
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Post by charliegirl on Sept 5, 2007 14:08:09 GMT -5
You're really in for a fun ride for the next week.  I bet that by the time its over you are going to gain a new appreciation for the meds all over again. I hope the Vyvanse works well for her. Keep us posted. |
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Post by katiekat on Sept 5, 2007 14:10:54 GMT -5
Good luck!!!
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Post by kellyh on Sept 5, 2007 14:37:02 GMT -5
Ummmmm.....not sure WHAT'S up with that! Hey....I plead blonde. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it....actually....it's the computers fault....it's ALWAYS the computer's fault!!! You wrote this post on Sep. 5, 2007 at 8:34 AM Edit Post Delete Post & Replies Report this post Replies: There are no replies to this post. Be the first to reply to this post. Reply to Post ADHD and us! Group Home Back to Forum List Write a New Post Advertisement Where did all that stuff come from? |
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Post by beckyy35 on Oct 6, 2007 8:56:54 GMT -5
How did the trial go? My son's doctor is starting him on Vyvanse 30 mg this weekend.
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Post by kellyh on Oct 12, 2007 9:19:35 GMT -5
OK, now that I"ve got more than a free second at work....here's our update. Megan is on week 5 of the trial with Vyvanse and it's okay. I'm not raving about it, though at her current dose, she's doing well. The week of no meds was not a great week. It definitely made us realize just how much the meds do calm her down and curb some of that backtalk that really is what makes us want to wring her neck. Part of the paperwork I filled out included a list of behaviours with a certain score beside each one. I believe when we started the trial, the top score was 60 and we were at something like 50. The week of 20 mg really saw no great results, as the clinicians expected and told me to expect. Peachy. The second week, she was titrated up to 30mg. Her behaviour was a bit better as was her concentration. I really don't feel that having her on the different doses for only one week really gives me or the teachers enough time to see results, so I'm doing the best that I can with gauging her reaction to it. The following week, we upped her to 40mg. We saw a greater result from this dose. Her concentration levels were better and her test results from school seemed good. She did still have a few behavioural issues, but I think that was partly my fault. Her teacher told me that she's working on getting Megan to stop tattling so much. Well, I've always told Megan that if she asks someone to stop something (especially if they're doing something that bothers her when she's working like tapping a pencil or humming which is HUGELY distracting to her), and they won't stop after she's asked at least 2 or 3 times, to tell the teacher to ask them to stop. Well, the teacher saw this as tattling. Of course, Megan also does this and really is tattling, but in reality, sometimes she's just asking for the teacher's help. So her teacher said that she had a little course that she was going to give to the whole class about the difference between tattling and reporting something. Megan still tattles, but it's getting better. Of course, she has an older sister and they tattle on each other all the time....partly the reason my hair is going grey and the dye isn't helping!!!! So back to the trial....Megan's ODD issues even at 40 mg were still very present. That is something that I wasn't pleased was as when she was on the 20mg of Adderall XR, it had almost completely alleviated that condition. I've been reading that ODD is not something that can be controlled by medications but let me tell you, for Megan, having control of her emotions most definately helped her control her rude outburts and general sassiness. I'm not saying she had no episodes at all....but most certainly they were much more age appropriate for a 7 year old! On Vyvanse....it wasn't helping almost at all. So I decided to bring her up to the 50mg level. Which if you recall from my first or second post, they hadn't had anyone titrate up to in the study. Well....story of my life. She seems to have done better at 50mg...and that includes controlling her ODD. It's still not as good as it was on the Adderall XR, but much better. On the lower doses of Vyvanse, I'd noticed that she also had overly emotional outburts to small things that wouldn't bother a "normal" child. On this higher dose, it's helped. But again....only having her on each dose for a week is making it hard to judge. So this past week, I've kept her on 50 mg. I still have next week to be able to go up to 60mg, but I'm not sure I want to. I don't want to go too high and right now, her concentration levels are really good. I went over her spelling words with her this morning at breakfast and she did awesome. Though I'm not sure how she can spell "appreciate" and "backtalk" and not "snake"....but anyhow....she's getting better. Her spelling lists are 15 words long and she's doing pretty well. She's quite happy getting that money. The first $20 I gave her, we went off to Build A Bear. She has a new companion....to go with the other 4 or 5 Build A Bears she has! And I didn't give her the money 2 weeks ago as I hadn't gone to the bank and then last week, I said I'd give her $25....she requested them all in ones....same as yesterday at the bank....she wanted ones. She's all about the quantity...she has no real concept of money....sigh....or time. Getting out of the house in the morning for a 7:15 a.m bus is a nightmare most morning.... What else....oh yes. When she was off her meds, she gained a pound. When she was slowly going up in dosage, she gained a bit, too. These last 2 weeks, she's lost. So from January at her 7 year check up, she's gone from 85 pounds to 61.5 pounds. I can't remember how tall she was in January, but she's now 51 inches tall. She's one of the taller second graders. And I gained every last pound she's lost!!! :-) So I'm hoping that being on the same dose of Vyvanse this week as last will let me (and the teachers) see some more definite results. They were really good at getting back to me the first 2 weeks that I had asked for feedback, but these last 2 weeks, they've kind of sucked. Only one got back to me. So I'm going to definitely ask their opinions again for next Wednesday's appointment. Oh, and if you'll recall (if you've managed to get this far!) that at the beginning of this post I said that we were at about a 50 out of 60 on a scale of her behaviours....well, as of this past Wednesday, I rated her at a 3....which is darn near perfect! She still has to be redirected sometimes and doesn't always follow through on things....but her behaviour (from what I can tell from what the teachers are telling me) is improving in the classroom. So that's about it in a nutshell....and I have a pretty big nut, eh?  |
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Post by kellyh on Oct 12, 2007 9:20:40 GMT -5
Oh, and one other thing that I've noticed.....it sure as H*LL doesn't last 12-14 hours. I find it actually last just about as long as the Adderall XR and that was maybe 8 or 9 hours. But that's just our take on it....
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I was about to conquer the world but then I got distracted by something shiny.
