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My wife and I are as thrilled as can be!!!!! 46 days after he was taken off Strattera, our eight year old foster son threatened his teacher and then broke down sobbing as they evacuated the classroom. We were having few behavior problems at home, and we are convinced that his bio mom's influence was the cause.
DSS made us put him back on the medication (we had leftover pills) for nine days, in which we saw no change in his behavior at home. We had a serious talk about DSS taking him away from us and putting him in a juvenile home if he were expelled. His bio mom denied everything, but told him that he had to behave in school.
Today, the doctor refused to put him back on Strattera. She explained that since the Strattera had completely worn off in 72 hours, an incident 46 days later must have been a behavior problem, not a mental or physical one. Since he has behaved in the nine days since then, she believes that the problem is PROBABLY solved.
He'll be re-evaluated in four weeks.
Best regards, Vince
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Vince that is great to hear! So many times children are medicated for the best interest of the parent--not the child. I had one FD that was on the meds for her anger outbursts. Her anger outbursts were due to the abuse that she was enduring at the time--we need to help the children through the issues not put the issues to sleep. Don't get me wrong, there are some children that truely need it (I have one now that is on Strattera) but we need to be sure that it's in the best interest of the child. Keep doing what you are doing....:)
Take Care...
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Vince
We just had our adopted 15 yr. old daughter taken off all her meds (she was taking 5). She was doped up and tired all the time and was still having anger outburst and fighting with her peers. We realized the meds where not helping and we needed to start over. Surprisingly, when the meds got out of her systems we had a completely different child. T. had been taking Concerta and I have actually found information thru reading and taking with other parents that says Concerta can actually cause aggressive behavior in some children. Her aggression did get much worse after she had been on Concerta but it's difficult to tell if that is what caused it.
T. is in residential care because the aggression became so bad. We just moved her from the hospital to a different facility. I have been told the psychiatrist there wants the kids on as little meds as possible. She has been there 4 days and hasn't hit any one yet. That's a new record for her when going into a new situation. The only med she is on at the moment is Strattera which was started Oct. 17.
I was told that kids who can't tolerate Concerta usually do good on Adderall and vise versa. My bosses 21 yr. old son started taking Strattera this summer and says it's the best thing that happened to him in a long time. The other meds he's taken for ADHD made him jumpy.
Good luck with your son.
Robin
Our foster son made Honor Roll on his report card. His teacher says he is behaving in school. No Strattera.
However, our neighbor's son is on three types of medication. I have tried helping him out, with no success. Some chldren do need medication, so I wouldn't apply my experience to everyone.
We have a 13 year old foster son who came to live with us a little over 1 year ago. At the time he was in special ed and could barely communicate. The first question his teachers asked when we met with them was whether or not meds were being considered. Having never dealt with ADD, we said that it was out of the question. We dealt with his problems for almost a year and finally his case worker sent him to the pychiatrist and Strattera was prescribed.
It has its good and bad points. M is now on honor roll and is being taken out of special ed and worked into regular classes. Homework is no longer an issue, it is done every day in his after school program. Our problem is that his personality is suffering. He's moody and aggressive and the all the time happy boy that we used to have is gone. His caseworker has left DSS and he is now with a therapeutic worker who wants to medicate him for anxiety and ocd. I can't imagine what he'll be like then.