Posted by med_empowered on April 24, 2006, at 6:20:17
In reply to ADD Meds and Tolerance:Where to draw the line..., posted by Festus on April 23, 2006, at 23:18:20
hey! The only guidelines I've seen are from the FDA, and they're kind pointless--the ideal is to max out at 40mgs/amphetamine (or ritalin equivalent, which would be about 60mgs) per day for ADHD, or about 60mgs amphetamine (or equivalent) for narcolepsy. Now..I know lots of people with ADHD and a few with narcolepsy, and I have to say: those guidelines are ridiculous, and I'm glad docs disregard them. Some people do well on very little, some people need more, and some people can do nicely w/ combo therapy--stims plus "awareness training" or other psychological interventions appropriate to ADHD and related issues.
It does sound like your doc is loading your kid up on Ritalin. I don't know you or your child, and I'm not a doc but...WOW. That's a whole, whole lot of Ritalin. If nothing else..maybe you could try a switch? Its not prescribed a whole lot, but there is Desoxyn (its RX meth)...the big benefit with Desoxyn is that its super-potent (even more potent that dexedrine, and much more potent than Ritalin), so you can use less. The benefit there is that after your child adjusts (assuming this works and is even an option), she might have fewer stimulant-related side effects, since desoxyn is pretty "efficient" in terms of dosing. Another option might be to just give her a break off the stims during the summer (or reduce the dose) and try some psychological treatment, maybe neurofeedback, meditation, a new diet...there are lots of add-on therapies you can try instead of bumping up the stims.
poster:med_empowered
thread:636366
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060423/msgs/636404.html