So Jake has been on Intuniv for a bit now. There is a definite difference from Jake un-medicated and Jake with medication. With Intuniv they make 1 mg, 2 mg, 3 mg, and 4 mg tablets. 4 mg is the maximum dosage daily. The last time we went to the doctor he was hopping down the hallway, climbing in the room, etc so they recommended we bump from 3 to 4mg, the max dose. With all the other increases there would be a couple days of sleepy Jake. With this one...nothing. So I called the doctor and reported what I had seen. She suggested it was time we try something new. I agree.
The next step was stimulants. I had A LOT of reservations about this step. I have always said I didn't want for him to be on anything like Ritalin or Adderall. I don't know why, just because I have heard so many negative things about them. For some kids they work wonders. Stimulants are just a huge step. But we agreed. So I had to go get the prescription for Metadate CD, 20 mg and take it to the pharmacist. They are a controlled substance so they can't just call them in. $50 copay later, after the insurance saved us $247.99, we have a new bottle of pills.
So Monday evening I didn't give him his usual Intuniv. Tuesday morning at 8 am, I gave him the first dose. Now, some of you may wonder why on Earth would they give a child with Severe ADHD a stimulant?! Well, it has the reverse effect on these kids; it is a calming effect normally. It didn't take too long before I started to notice things were amiss. He was not calming down, in fact it seems to be wiring him. Oh yes, yes it was. It had a stimulant effect. He was shaking all over, his eyes were dilated, he was talking 90 miles an hour. His thoughts were disconnected and scattered with no pause between topic change. It was insane.
I call the doctor and they say, "No, it shouldn't do that to him. Don't give him anymore. It will wear off, don't worry. " So I watch and wait. He throws up, several times, I believe 5. There is no getting him to slow down. It scares me. I just keep watching him, looking at his eyes and taking his pulse. (It is fine, by the way.) So the doctor says, let's try Vyvanse. It is a different stimulant, a more purified form. Go get that prescription and take to the pharmacy. Go back in 15 minutes and they say, "Nope, you can't have it. We need prior authorization from the doctor. " Well no joke, I just got a different prescription filled. All the while, he is still not calming down. Still all shaky, talking fast, eyes dilated.
The nurse says she will call and get the authorization. Do not give him the Metadate on Wednesday, just give him the Intuniv until we get it figured out.
7 PM-Tuesday---we start trying to get him into bed because we figure it will be a rough night. He doesn't sleep. He can't. The medicine still has not worn off. Allen tries to get him to go to sleep. He won't. It wasn't like the normal no sleep. He just couldn't do it. So Allen finally comes to bed way way later, like midnight or so. Charley and I are in my bed because there was no point putting him in their room, Jake wasn't being quiet enough for him to sleep there. Well, Allen thinks Jake is sleeping. But really, not so much. So we keep telling him to try to sleep and checking on him every half hour, I think. I was up a lot last night. He was such a good boy though. He didn't do anything bad all night long. He just didn't sleep. He watched cartoons and looked at books. But no sleeping.
7:30 AM Wednesday...he's still awake. I call and leave a voice mail telling the nurse we do not want another stimulant. Just give us the Intuniv back!! She calls me when they open and seemed to think we should try the other one, it is more purified. I don't care; it is still a stimulant, purified or not. She tells me at some point the Intuniv may stop working all together. I tell her we will cross that bridge when we get there, but for now I don't want him on another stimulant that has the potential to do this to him.
So finally at about 10:10 this morning he fell asleep. He was up for over 26 hours. I woke him up to eat lunch and he went back to sleep right afterward. He is still sleeping. No more stimulants. If it works for your kid, more power to ya! But it did not work for him. He may not be perfect on the Intuniv but the 24 hours that he was on the Metadate were the most horrible thing ever. I had to sit there and watch him, just make sure that he didn't hurt himself or Charley and be able to do nothing, knowing full well that he was acting that way because of the pill *I* gave him. That sucked, a lot.
Here is the question this raised in me...If stimulants are supposed to calm children with ADHD and it didn't with Jake...it wired the poor kid for a full 24 hours with one pill....is their diagnosis right? How consistently does it calm these kids? If he is ADHD, shouldn't it have calmed him?? All I know is he will never take that pill again and I flushed the remaining 59 of them down the toilet. I didn't want them in the cabinet!
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