Dr appointment today

[mary2]

Well, I found a Dr; he is also a neuroped who was recommended by my dd's ped. He is supposed to be from a newer school.

As I have been a little confused about how Concerta has been working on my son, I decided to ask for an opinion other than the therapist's.

Yesterday my son attended therapy again and she insisted on concentration issues. There is a thing she does think Concerta has been good at and this is at diminishing body movements and I agree with that. But again she insisted that it is difficult for him to follow steps or instructions. She told me that after explaining him two or three simple instructions to follow he wasn't able to start with the first one, so again she suggested it wouldn't be a bad idea to check with a doc.

I will take him this afternoon and I am a little clueless about what other possibilities my son might have here in order to improve his concentration, but I feel better if I ask a different opinion. I am taking with me all other test results that confirmed my son didn't have another medical condition that could resemble adhd; having those records with me will avoid this new dr from asking me to take him for more medical tests.

Well, wish us luck.

[katiekat]

Good luck with the new doctor Mary. I hope it works out with him.

[misty]

I hope the Dr appointment goes well. Its a good idea to get another opinion on the meds. Let us know how it goes.

[jj]

Lots of luck Mary2.

[puzzled]

Good luck mary! I hope this doctor is a bit more 'with it' than the other one seemed to be!

[charliegirl]

I hope all goes well.

[mary2]

Well..., I am back.

First I have to say that I liked this Dr. He is much younger than the previous one and definitely a better listener and speaker.

I explained all my son's story; he asked me some questions and then examined my son. Both of us got to the conclusion that Concerta is being effective to some extent but the concentration keeps being an issue. Basically Concerta has been a very good med at managing the hyper factor, it was pretty obvious that my son remained very calmed and quiet during the whole appointment; there is a difference, when he was on Strattera or off meds he was in constant motion; so I was very clear about this difference.

Here where I live, we don't have options as Adderal or just something different than metylphenidate (Concerta/ Ritalin) or Atomoxetine( Strattera). He mentioned another med that is very new (I don't remember its name at this moment) that could help in concentration but it hasn't been tried in young kids, so...

He told me that the difference between Concerta and Ritalin is the sustained effect. Concerta tends to have a firm and sustained effect during the hours it works. Increasing the dose for my son would be too much for his size and age; so he suggested adding a small dose of Ritalin (5mg) in the mornings when he will have to concentrate more at school, and keeping the 36mg of Concerta he has been taking for about 7 months. The rest is just observation to find out if this adjustment really helps him.

I told him about his appetite issues which are real bad; in fact, his growing percentiles have gone down a little. He prescribed a treatment for the appetite and told me that if the line stays there for too long or goes down a little we will have to stop medication for some time.

I also asked him whether this small increase could possibly stimulate tics which haven't been an issue up to now. He said that after being seven months on Concerta it would be difficult for them to show up or be too obvious, but not impossible

So..., I came home with a headache; I feel I just want my son to feel happy about school so badly . I will try the Ritalin tomorrow morning and will assign him a little homework to see how he does. Anyways, I will be only adding the extra dose for school days.

I hope this works.

[puzzled]

So concerta is the only long acting ritalin choice you have in your country? I am glad that you like this doctor more, that is half the battle, really.

I am also glad that he gave your son something for the appetite issues.

Try not to stress too much, you need to keep yourself together too!

[charliegirl]

It sounds like your dr may be talking about Vyvanse as the new med that hasn't been tried in children. I think the main studies have been concluded but they are doing continuing ones now.

I hope thats it. It takes longer to take effect, about 2 hours, but there don't seem to be the ups and downs or the melt downs at the end that you find in similar meds.

www.Vyvanse.com

[mary2]

CG: no, the med the Dr mentioned wasn't Vyvanse; I asked him if this one was available here and he said no. It was another one; I should have written its name to research a little more about it just for general knowledge, but I didn't. This one doesn't even need a prescription here (in Venezuela you will only need prescription for very few meds; Concerta and Ritalin you do need one).

I am just hoping this combo works better for him; if not, well?? I have another good reason to get out of here, Lol.

Dr. also suggested to evaluate a school change for the next school year ( I hope not to be here the next year, Lol), since my son's school is bilingual (English/Spanish) and the demands are much harder than in some other schools. They spend half of the day being taught completely in English and the other half in Spanish (it is the same system that exists in the school I work). They also expose the kids to show what they know out to audiences very frequently, and this definitely makes my son too anxious and nervous; definitely it is not the school for him, I tried to place him at another school which I thought would be better for him, and he had an evaluation for this one, but... he wasn't admitted>.

I am hoping everything changes for the better soon for us. Unfortunately, choices for kids like my son are very limited here in regard to school or medical treatments.