Concerta and ADD?

There have been some long term studies, not many. Try to get access to professional journals and look for studies by Russell Barkley and others— this will be the least biased info you’ll find. The manufacturer of Concerta has info. at Concerta.net as does Novartis at focalin.com Of course those that make the meds. want you to use them… but even their advertisements in magazines include detailed info on side effects, etc. I found the book “Beyond Ritalin” to be helpful when I first started researching ADHD and meds. Pattim is a frequent poster here who has a kid with CAPD and ADHD— from what I remember things didn’t “click” for her until both were addressed.

I’d be interested in what else the independent eval. suggested; as I recall, you said that the school had long suggested ADD as a challenge your brother was facing; how are they going to diagnose him on his IEP form and continue his spec. ed. services? I would still suggest that your brother be present at the transitional IEP meeting and that specifics of MCAS tutoring also be spelled out. I think you should also ask the independent eval. provider to really explain to you what his intelligence and achievement testing mean. That said, lots of good info. can be found by searching with google on Russell Barkley PhD….he’s the authority on ADHD, has been at UMASS for a long time, and is also on the schwab learning site explaining in depth about the classifications of ADHD(it’s a report of a conference)-this is the best explanation I’ve seen in a long time.

Thank you both for your response. The independent eval did talk about how his achievement was low but that it was due in part to not receiving proper services and accomodations and the fact that he has low processing speed. His IQ did change fairly significantly for the better, which was good news. She also suggested him using a computer for written work because his writing ability tested so poorly, she said when he has to write it is so slow, he right now can’t think about taking notes and writing lenglthy assignment. She also recommended Earobics. There were many other recommendations but it was the medication that sort of hit a raw note, so to speak.

She is writing a report detailing all her recommendations and it will be ready in about two weeks.

Thanks again
K.

my son was dxd with ADD and the diagnosis was a bit tentative since he wasnt a clear match. But I felt anything was worth a try-the studies I was told about(I admit I did not research much on my own) showed no evidence of long term problems. Ritalin has been around a LONNGGG time-realisticly, IMO, if there were horror stories out there, those who are so against the use of meds would be posting them.

Mine takes adderall, extended release, and it had helped-he still has issues but no question he takes in more info, processes more quickly and does far better in testing situations. He still seems to have memory/word retrieval issues(testing in process)which the meds dont influence either way.

If my kiddo is dealing with 4 issues and meds can take that down to 2, Ill go for it!

Nothing is forever-if you dont think its working or feel there are side effects, you take him off. Good luck

I think there are horror stories out there, they just might not be considered front page news.

The problem is that I do not see the same attention issues that the Dr. saw. I also want to know how much his APD contributed to the tests he had. The listening test clearly can not be used to determine he has ADD becuase he has such severe APD. He still can not discriminate between many sounds in the alphabet. She even said herself that she knew his APD would affect the test.

I am very leary of medication. It is now being used as a miracle cure, in my case, if your brother takes this pills all his troubles will be gone.

He has clearly not been receiving the proper services for his APD so how is it that we know accomodations won’t work. Also, the Dr. noted that the school had all along said he had ADD, however, if you carefully read the reports and meeting notes, the school never said that, my mother did. She diagnosed him with ADD after beleiving that his older brother had it.

I am just very skeptical. I read all day yesterday and will continue.

K.

http://www.ritalindeath.com/

I’ll let you know about Concerta soon. My 14 yr old is starting it this school year. He took ritilan, dexadrin and cylert about 5 years ago. They all had terrible side effects for him and didn’t help his school work at all. The ritalin did seem to help some, but he started losing weight on it. The other two made him very withdrawn, he was in a terrible mood when he was coming off them.
So I took him off everything. When he went for a sports physical this year we saw a new Dr. the old one retired, he ask why he had quit taking med’s. I explained it all, he says there new drugs won’t do that. He went into this big explanation with my son about how they could help. He said the medication was to be used just like a tool, he said if I said hang this picture, would you use a hammer or your head, of course son said a hammer, he said the medication is the same thing, a tool. So we’re going to try it, but if I see any side effects or it doesn’t make a difference we’re stopping it. The Dr. also gave me this explanation…..he said have you ever had days where you have so much to do and you just run around not really knowing what to do first. He said that is how your son feels everyday. Made sense,so we’re giving it a try. I’ll let you know

Thanks, I look forward to hearing how the medication works for you.

I guess that is part of my problem. My brother said he doesn’t feel that way. All his problems go right back to not being able to hear the teacher. I think this problem could start to be addressed with a sound field or fm system and some classroom accomodations. Also, my brother does not want to take the medications, and I don’t think forcing him to take one is going to help matters.

Also, Concerta makes me nervous becuase although it is time release it is still the exact same chemical as ritalin, methylphenidate. Also, there are no real long term studies on this medicine. Lots of people have told me that there are long term studies on Ritalin and although they are the same in many ways they are different. I want to see what the effects are from someone who has taken the drug for 10 or 15 years.

Thanks,
K.