While I was looking up side effects of ADHD medication in children, I actually came across an article about tips to reduce the side effects of these medications.
http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/reduce-side-effects-adhd-medications
In this article I found some of the strategies to be interesting and wondered how well they worked if you already have your child on a schedule.
Some of these tips I felt would have been useful for the child that I had in my classroom that was on medication. One of the main concerns his mother expressed during conferences were his loss of appetite and how he was losing so much weight and she was worried about his growth. These tips say that the medication should be given right after breakfast, this avoids giving the medication on an empty stomach and they have eaten a substantial meal to start the day. It also said to have a big dinner when the medication is beginning to wear off and I wonder if a child is supposed to take the pill twice a day if they could also take that after dinner as well.
These tips seemed to be easy solutions to avoid some of the common side effects but I'm not sure if this is for all of the ADHD medications or just for some of them. I couldn't imagine all of the various medications to have the same side effects, but maybe similar.
Keeping track of their mood and how it changes seems to be a major concern when on the medication. I also noticed this in a particular child when changing his doses and taking him completely off of it. In this article it states to notify your doctor about this. If the mood changes are important to keep track of to let the doctor know, I wonder what the doctor could do to try to regulate the child's mood?
I will be looking further into that next post...
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteDid the child in your practicum class take his meds two times a day, or just the one time, do you know? Obviously, you didn't know this before when you were in the class, but do you know when he was taking it? This article is very interesting. I was actually thinking about a child who has ADHD and behavior issues which are said to be a result. However, as this article you provided suggests, some medication causes restlessness. I'm just saying, I'm not ADHD but I know I am really irritable if I do not get sleep the night before, not to mention if it's consistently a problem. Also, I just wanted to see if you knew or heard about the booster shot for ADD/ADHD they've recently mentioned on tv. Have you seen the advertisement? I just wonder how taking something like a booster would affect someone, like this child, and as a result, how the family can benefit or lose from those side affects. Is there more physical aggression with one medication over the other, or is it more contingent on the child?
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog because I am also very interested in children with ADD or ADHD and I have always wondered about the medication involved in treating this learning disability. There were two students in my class this year that started the year without any medication but were put on ADHD medication mid-year after several tests and recorded observations were documented. Both students were loud, restless, inattentive, and "silly" when they were not on medication and it was extremely rare for them to finish any assignments in class. However, once they got put on medication they were able to complete almost all of their assignments and their attention span improved so much it was almost unbelievable. The downside to their improved attention was their personalities changed too. They were withdrawn and seemed to be somewhat in a daze throughout the day. I have mixed emotions about medicating children although it is very obvious that the two students in my room without a doubt had ADHD. Have you ever experienced anything like this with the child in your room? Did he ever come into your class not on his medication? If so, was it immediately apparent something was different? I am very interested in getting your feedback!
-Megan :) :)