Treating ADD With Medication
As always, consult with your medical doctor before placing your child on any medication. It’s your job to ask questions and become educated on prescribed medication. Below is a list of the most commonly prescribed medications. New medications are prescribed regularly and may not be a part of
this list. Stimulant medications are commonly prescribed for ADD/ADHD children.Short-acting stimulants:
These stimulants are most commonly prescribed in “divided doses,” given 2-3 times daily. They normally last 3-5 hours. Dexedrine, Dextrostat, Methylin, Focalin and Ritalin are all short-acting stimulants.
Intermediate-acting stimulants:
These stimulants are normally taken once or twice per day and last four to eight hours. Adderall, Metadate ER, Ritalin SR, Methylin ER and Dexedrine Spansule are all intermediate-acting stimulants.
Long-acting stimulants:
Concerta, Ritalin LA, Adderall XR and Metadate CD are all long-acting stimulants. They are normally prescribed to be taken once daily and last 8-12 hours.
The stimulants mentioned above work by increasing the chemical activity in the brain responsible for inhibiting the undesired behavior of the ADD/ADHD child while increasing attention. These chemicals in the brain are known as neurotransmitters. Two neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine, are known to have tremendous influence on our ability to focus and stay on task while decreasing our desire to become excessively active. Many children respond to stimulants within the first thirty minutes. These stimulants are given orally to children. Most school districts do not allow, as a policy, for ADD/ADHD students to carry these prescribed medications with them in class. It’s important that the school nurse or school administrator is aware of the prescription medication that your child is taking while at school.
I heard that ADD/ADHD medication has bad side effects. Is that true?
Your doctor will provide you with information regarding the side effects of ADD/ADHD medication. It’s important to note that any item that we ingest, including water, can have adverse side effects. You doctor should monitor the side effects of the prescribed medication that you child is place on. This means that your doctor will want to hear from you if the side effects are occurring outside the range of normalcy for most children. Some of the common side effects for these stimulants include insomnia (sleeplessness), decreased appetite, headaches, anxiety and stomachaches. These side effects, if they are present, usually decrease during the first few weeks for most children. Again, let your doctor know if your child appears to be too sleepy, anxious or unable to sleep (insomnia) for long periods of time. Your doctor may ask your child’s teachers to fill out a teacher rating scale to help determine the effects of the prescribed medication during the child’s school day.
It’s important to note that stimulants have been prescribed to help children to cope with ADD/ADHD type behaviors since the late 1930’s. Out of the millions of children treated with stimulant medications, no known research studies have found that children taking these prescribed medications have had permanent damaging effects. Likewise, the same appears true for the positive side effects. There is no known research that shows the long-term positive side effects for using stimulants alone changes or alters the child’s outcome in adulthood.
Will my child have a greater chance of using drugs later in life because I allow medication to be used now?
Drug abuse research does not support the notion that children who use prescribed medications have a greater chance of abusing drugs later on in life. In fact, most research done in this area has shown just the opposite; especially for males.
