Re: OCD and ADHD - ANNE - long

[Guest guest]

Hi Anne,

I am Vicki, I have a 9 year old son with ADHD and OCD. We found out

about the ADHD first, so we started treating that 2 years ago with

meds.... we added in Clomipramine a few months ago when we finally

realized he had OCD as well. is on Concerta 54 and

Clomipramine 50 mg 2 x a day. We cannot go without the Concerta as he

is not able to concentrate at all without it. I have noticed that

since he has been on the Clomipramine, the ADHD meds seem to not work

as well... so we have a " booster " on hand should we need it.

Basically it is a very tiny dose of ritalin. So, if he gets home and

cannot concentrate on the homework at all, we give him the booster

dose and he makes it a couple more hours!

We tried switching to Focalin and to be honest I HATED IT... it made

my son extremely depressed, he even spoke of suicide! we switched

back to Concerta and he is much, much better! But, as you know, each

med works differently with each child. So... you may want to go for

that full week on the focalin... or if you think it is not the right

adhd med... ask the doc for a different adhd med! My daughter is

severe ADD... so between the two kids, we have been on many ADHD

meds... and concerta has absolutely been the best of all of them we

have tried for my kids.

It is really tough dealing with both issues at the same time. But, I

find when both are moderately controlled, does so much

better... if either one is left uncontrolled, it overtakes his life

and makes it very difficult for him.

Good luck with your decision...please let me know how it goes.

Take care,

Vicki

Elk Grove, CA

>

> Hi all,

>

> I have some questions about treating ADHD and OCD at the same time.

> DD is doing pretty well this year - but her ADHD causes homework to

> be pretty difficult. This is getting much worse as she gets older

> (she is 9 now). Her attention at school is a problem as well - the

> teachers say they can handle it behaviorally - but DD is telling us

> that she's having a really difficult time focusing. As many of you

> may remember - her main OCD fear has been throwing up. We weaned

her

> off Prozac over the summer - but after the flare up - put her back

on

> this fall. The prozac really helps the anxiety and worrying. The

> prozac makes her very restless (hence, worsens the ADHD) and also

> really increases her appetite. Since the prozac works so well on

the

> anxiety - we're all (DH, the psychiatrist and I) hesitant to change

> this but we want to help the ADHD and lessen the side effects of the

> prozac. The psychiatrist suggested that we try focalin - she said

it

> tends to decrease the appetite and help attn issues. I know that

> ADHD meds also tend to increase anxiety. We gave DD focalin last

Sat

> and she worried more than usual. We tried it again today (she has a

> big project due this week and has been struggling). It seems to

help

> her attention. She did come to us saying that she has been having

> some " bad thought " OCD lately. She's worried that she will hurt her

> guinea pig (even though she knows she never would) or throw an

eraser

> at the teacher. She has told me about these thoughts before going

on

> focalin - but I definitely see the increased anxiety on focalin

> today. She is pretty good at rationalizing these " bad thoughts " out

> (surprising when dealing w/OCD!) - we talk to her about how everyone

> has " bad thoughts " and you just don't act on them. However, I'm

> concerned that this could get worse. DH thinks we should give the

> focalin about a week or so to see if it can really help her. Any

> thoughts? Things that helped your children with OCD and ADHD

> together? It seems like it's very difficult to treat both. Sorry

> this is so long - thanks for reading and any words of advice that

you

> can offer.

>

> Anne

>