Aperger's, ADHD and Metadate CD

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Hi,
My 8 yr old son, "D", was just prescribed Metadate CD 10mg once a day.
He took his first pill this morning.
I feel nervous about it because we never wanted to medicate our child, but after seeing his Pediatric Psychiatrist, and after Psychiatrist built a profile by contacting D's teacher, school counselor, and also another of his counselors, he said:

It looks like D has a form of ADHD, the innatentive type.
And, that he would benefit from taking Metadate CD, and that would help with the focus control and the ability for him to control blurting out innappropriate things in class.... it would give him impulsivity control.

Any parents have success stories with your children taking this drug ?
I would like to keep the discussion to parents who have given it to their children who are between the ages of 7 - 9 yrs of age.

Thanks ! !! !

menameslaura, we began giving our son Metadate at around age 9, after a year of doing Ritalin twice a day. He is now 13, and still taking Metadate, but at the highest possible dosage (60 mg).

Metadate has definitely worked successfully for my son.

What will most probably happen if you decide to continue giving your son Metadate through the years is that he will build up a resistance to the dosage, and it will have to be increased almost yearly. This year, my son's dosage wasn't working because he had grown a lot and gained about 25 pounds -- and we weren't paying attention to this fact, and started school WITHOUT increasing the dosage. It was a horrible beginning to the year, as he wasn't paying attention AT ALL. He just physically could not do it. Once we upped the dosage, one of his teacher's told us that he was definitely doing better in class. My son has the same type of ADD Inattentive as your son.

Just keep an eye out for side effects -- Many people have a loss of appetite when taking this type of medicine (my son did not). Also, some ADD meds increase heart rate, and if your son starts to complain of this, go back and talk with your doctor. These symptoms may subside after a couple of weeks, but you should keep an eye on it.

Yes! -- We have 3 success stories in our house. All three of our guys are dxd ADHD/ADD, 2 have asperger's, 1 ASD. They all started to turn things around when we began to give them Metadate. Our oldest guy is on Concerta now (36 mlg); our 2nd oldest is on 20 mlg of Metadate.

I could tell you a really great story about the 1st day our oldest took Metadate -- He actually thanked me because he was able to focus enough to get through a whole soccer practice. All his 'stimming' is gone. And now, two years later, the teachers say they never have to 're-direct' him to pay attention.

Our second oldest knows his morning pill helps him get his work done.

Our youngest calls Metadate his 'good boy' pill.

Good Luck!

If nothing else has worked, and the meds do, then I feel that it's acceptable. Just keep in mind that meds do have side effects, and especially watch out for long-term side effects. Stimulant use may be linked to the development of Bipolar disorder or Schizophrenia. If it's a short-term thing, and a low dose, then you probably shouldn't worry.

Also keep in mind that meds are not an answer, they are a tool. Some parents drug their kids just so that they don't have to deal with them.

For the rest of his life?

And what will happen when as an adult he decides to stop taking it? Will he become depressed and suicidal, or manic and violent? Or perhaps just listless and lethargic? Does anyone even know?

At what increased dosage will the side effects become debilitating?

Its all wonderful for Mom and Dad and the teachers, but what about the human being whose body and brain chemistry are being permanently altered without their full comprehension and consent?

'Good Boy Pill', indeed.

Willard makes a very good point -- does one have to take these meds for the rest of their life?

I'm not exactly sure what the answer to this question is myself.

What my HOPE is is this -- that my son eventually doesn't have to take the medication because he is able to increase his ability to pay attention due to a) maturity, and/or b)learned coping mechanisms. I'm sure that most parents who give their children ADD medications feel that they would prefer NOT to give meds. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says "Hey, I think I'll give my child some foreign substance that may increase his heart rate, make him NEVER want to eat, and could cause longterm damage . . . just to keep him quiet!" We ALL say that we never wanted to give our kids meds.

Let's look at the alternative.

If you have a child who, when they can pay attention, are bright, happy, and can succeed, you tend to want that to continue. If you do NOT provide meds, said child cannot pay attention, remember assignments, cannot bring home the correct books for homework purposes, cannot listen to other kid's conversations and therefore can't socialize, on and on and on and on. It's a downward spiral in almost ALL areas of his life. As a parent, you basically die for your child when things go badly for them. It's a natural thing to want to try and make things better for them.

I kind of get a kick out of the various people who jump all over parents for giving their children ADD meds. What would be the suggestion for taking care of a child who is having such a rough time at school, at play, and at home? Just let them continue to have a rough time? Coping mechanisms are hard to teach to a young child . . . you need a certain level of maturity in order for these learned techniques to work. I'm guessing that those who are against ADD meds would just watch their children continue to have difficult times.

Seriously, if there are alternatives out there for something OTHER than ADD meds to give to children, I would like to hear about them, as we will probably have to look into this eventually. ADD meds cannot work forever -- we are already on the highest dosage of Metadate, and as he matures, gains weight, grows taller, Metadate won't be an option. We could try other meds, but we already have, and he had adverse side effects [which is why we pulled him off of them]. So, alternatives to ADD meds, bring them on!

After doing some more research on the long-lasting effects of stimulants on children --

it occurred to me -- ADD medications are usually used for the OPPOSITE reason with children on the spectrum, or at least they are in our situation.

In the regular population, stimulants are used for kids diagnosed with ADHD because, for some reason, the stimulant has the REVERSE effect on kids with ADHD, as it calms them down, enabling them to have more successful interactions at school, with friends, and at home.

In our situation, and probably with others on the spectrum, stimulant use has the same effect as those OUTSIDE of the ADHD population, in that the stimulants WAKE UP my child. It's akin to Ritalin being used for narcoleptics -- it keeps my son awake and alert during class. Otherwise, he is just off in a land all his own, not able to even notice a teacher or what they are saying. I've often wondered if he has some characteristics of narcolepsy, in that he just can't notice anything, it's as if he's somewhat asleep.

We never wanted to start meds for "D", but, he's having a really hard time at school with saying things that are inappropriate, ending up in the school counselor's office several times this year, getting bullied at recess, and generally feeling bad about himself.

It hurts me so bad to see him suffer, and THAT is why we decided to give the medication a try.
I think any parent who has already explored all options, in example, our case, with private counseling since Kindergarten, school counseling, spectrum social groups, and finally, pediatric psychiatry....... that when you have done the best you could, and it's not working..... you have to try medication.

God knows, I would never ever want to cause irreversable mental damage to our son because we chose to give medications..... BUT, what the hell am I supposed to do ! !!
Just let him continue to suffer ????
Well, I just won't allow that.

Do you take a coke when things go badly for you so you can be merry and bright and enthusiastic? Why not, why to be sad right now when you can be happy?

Let me concentrate on one thing, majority of you are deciding to go with medications because of the school. From what I know schooling system in US is a failing one. In general, there is a huge question what all these years in school result in since most that one need (professional training) is just a couple of years of collage. Yes, before that they need writing and reading, some general things (Palin didn't even know about Africa so one can get far) but for all others one can consult wikipedia. In the future is would be even less necessary. Most of the paying professions are highly structured, and if you want to keep up you need to learn constantly. Freedom during childhood to daydream is necessary.

ANd like I said before it is an ultimate hypocrisy to keep a child on mood/mind altering medication if you havent tried it yourself.

Well, I have tried it myself.... I have been on anti-depressants before for anxiety.
and, they did help.

Also, by the way, Wikepedia isn't a very reliable source for true and accurate information.

Great, I honestly realy love to hear that parents take some drugs before their children. This can certanly help them understand.

For the wiki comment, let me say that i read scientific articles for living and have access to them and i do find wiki very accurate in the areas that i investigate. of course i do not know for all areas. in a ny case if you know better source of info i would like to know. thanks.