Starting Adderall XR...

Adderall is a stimulant, so in and out, works the first day. Some have negative reactions so look for obvious personality changes. I say obvious because I hope you won't look for every hiccup. If Adderall isn't right for your son the side effects really are obvious.

My kids never had any issues. I have no issues taking it myself.

The first ADHD medicine my son took was Adderall XR, he was in 3rd grade (he's in 5th grade now). He took a very low dosage and did great on it from the get go. He now take Vyvanse only because it is way, way cheaper with my insurance. Not all parents are as lucky as we were though. Some of these types of meds have a different affect on different kids.

We noticed a positive change within a day or two. My son also has dyslexia and within in weeks his reading improved dramatically too. Before the meds his grades were B's and C's, after the meds, they were A's and A+'s. He's now in the gifted program at school. We toiled with the decision of putting him on medication but decided it was what he needed to be the best he could be. We haven't regretted it. I struggle with ADD too and it's tough, I can only imagine how hard it is for kids in school all day.

Every now and them I ask my son if the medicine is making him feel funny/different or if he's having a hard time concentrating. At some point, we'll need to change the dosage as he gets bigger.

Good luck.

My oldest son took this for a few weeks last year, when he was 14. He suddenly became very, very chatty on it. We were used to car rides or dinners out in relative quiet with him...he wasn't withdrawn or anything, but never dominated a conversation. On Adderall, he couldn't stop chattering. It was like a truth serum LOL - I got his unfiltered opinions on everyone and everything, gossip from school, no subject was off limits (really, I didn't need to know which girls were know for giving a BJ to anyone who asked - NOT a subject we normally would have broached). He was louder and a bit obnoxious.

After a few weeks, he started intentionally "forgetting" to take his tablet and by the time school ended, said he hated it and refused to take it anymore. Coming off of it was rather unpleasant. He was kind of an abrasive, irritable, angry jerk for a week or two and then got back to his normal self. Tapering wasn't really an option because he was still on the lowest dose.

School-wise was a mixed bag...the spring semesters were actually the worst of the year academically, but that's typical for him anyway and I think in a way he was sabotaging his grades to bolster his argument for not using medication. In any case...there weren't any awful side effects for him, but he just didn't like it, didn't think it helped him, and it didn't make a huge, noticeable difference in his school performance or level of distracaibility or general inability to attend to the details of daily living.

It was worth a try for him but just not the right medication. Good luck with your son and I hope you get good results but if not, keep an open mind, keep track of his reactions, and be willing to try something else if this doesn't work. I found that a daily journal helped me to track his behavior while trying medications. Also, if you have high deductible insurance where you pay the full cost of prescriptions early in the year before your deductible is met, have your doc prescribe only a 10 day supply of any new med. If you haven't yet picked up the prescription you can have it changed now. That way if it doesn't work out, you're not throwing a way a month's worth of pills that you paid for, I learned that lesson after his Concerta trial didn't work well (headaches) and I was stuck with over $200 worth of pills. I gave them to a friend whose son was on the same medication so the pills weren't wasted (that's not exactly legal, btw) but the money certainly was.

With stimulants, you'll know on day one if it's a good match or not. You may still need to adjust the dosage up, but you should be "wow'd" by the changes. Our son's life was transformed by stimulants and he leads a very normal, full life now at 11 because of them.

Adderall wasn't the best match for our son. He went into rages as it wore off. Adderall has the nickname "Madderall," so it's a common side effect. If you see the anger or meltdowns start up, know that it's not going to get better over time (it became horrendous with our son) and call the psychiatrist right away.

It can take multiple tries to find the right stimulant for your child. Don't give up if Adderall isn't it. Also, keep in mind that if you don't like any side effect, you can call the doctor and try something else. Don't feel that you're stuck with side effects you find unacceptable. The med is out of their system by the end of the day and you can stop stimulants immediately.

Most likely, the only thing you'll see is a drop in appetite. That's by far the most common side effect with stimulants. You can counteract that, though, by serving bigger breakfasts, dinners and nighttime snacks, when the medication isn't working.

Good luck! This is a leap of faith worth making. I've seen firsthand how amazing stimulants can be in helping a child with ADHD thrive.

Has he been on any other meds? or is this the first? My son was on adderall xr for about 6 years. he did good on it. At least it had the desired outcome in that he was able to function in school and keep his focus. That part was great. We did find that he was not able to sleep at night. They had him on a dose of that in the morning. and then he would be wound up and still going strong at midnight. that part didn't work out for us. they adjusted his dosage some. tried to have us give him clonidine (a bloodpressure med) to get him to sleep at night. I said no about that one. As I am just not ok with giving a dose to get him up and a dose to bring him down. So we fiddled with the dosage of the adderall and the time frame he took it. Finally got it down good. But then came the time where it just didn't work anymore. he had grown a lot. But they switched him to vyvance in 7th grade. It was a miracle for us. he is a senior in high school and it works great.
down sides: made him constipated all the time. So be prepared that is a very common side effect. we gave sam lots of fresh fruits and juice to help with that but in the end we ended up giving him mineral oil several times a week.

he is not a great sleeper. he will still be pretty wide awake at midnight but we just let him handle it on his own now. he will graduate highschool in may. but you will want to make sure that your little guy has a good sleeping schedule.

my other son took ritilin. he was not able to do it as it made him super aggressive / angry all the time.

we didn't deal with that with our youngest son but watch for it.