Re: Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean?

[Guest guest]

My son has been on the pill form of Ritalin and now takes it via a patch (Daytrana). I've never seen a change in his demeanor from it. He'll be a little bit quieter and more thoughtful it seems about what he should do, but I've never seen him be "mean" on it, either form. Sorry but I think your doc might be a nut!

"Over-optimism is waiting for you ship to come in when you haven't sent one out."

From: dunadd12 <dunadd12@...> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 5:38:49 PMSubject: ( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean?

Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.Thanks, in FL

[Guest guest]

We tried our dd on a dosage of Concerta for three days. It totally made her

manic. Not the result we were looking for. But mean, no. We took her off it

after her first day in school on it. She was climbing the walls. Concerta is in

the same family of stimulant as Ritalin.

Df in Oregon

>

> My son has been on the�pill form of Ritalin�and now takes it via a patch

(Daytrana).� I've never seen a change in his�demeanor from it.� He'll be a

little bit�quieter and more thoughtful it seems about what�he should do, but

I've never seen him be " mean " on it, either form.� Sorry�but I think your

doc might be a nut!

> �

>

>

> " Over-optimism is waiting for you ship to come in when you haven't sent one

out. "

>

>

>

>

> ________________________________

> From: dunadd12 <dunadd12@...>

>

> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 5:38:49 PM

> Subject: ( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean?

>

>

>

>

>

> Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us

that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them

nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to

be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional.

She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take

her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.

>

> If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What

about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior

is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

>

> Thanks,

> in FL

>

[Guest guest]

Hi

I think each child is very different , so you just have to give it a go and see which med may or may not work for your dd. We tried Ritillin first with our 6 yr old ds and he was very emotional and anxious and alos a bit of a zombie most of the time. So we took him off it straight away as thats what the psychiatrist said to do. Next we tried concerta which is the same thing which funnily enough worked better for him as as it was a slow release form of the med, but it made made him too anxious. So we took him off that too. Now we have him on strattera the low dose of 10mg and this seems to be helping him. He has been on it for about 6-7 weeks. Our psychiatrist said that strattera works well for anxious kids with adhd. We did try upping the dose to 18mg after a week of himbeing on it but he became very obsessed with flushing the toilet! He was also very very emotional so we stopped the 18mg and went

back to 10mg. His concertration is much better than it was and he can now sit and do homework and things he found difficult before. All of his teachers have remarked how well he has been doing lately! Hope this helps it's just what worked for us. Good luck in trying to find the med that will best suit your dd. In the early weeks we were told by the psych that they are like guinea pigs the first few months.

Estelle

From: dunadd12 <dunadd12@...>Subject: ( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean? Date: Sunday, 19 April, 2009, 11:38 PM

Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.Thanks, in FL

[Guest guest]

I cannot say how your child will react to ritalin. I didn't actually put my boy

on ritalin but he has been on Strattera, Adderall and Concerta. Strattera

didn't seem to do much for his attention, no change for that and he had gone to

the maximum dose. Concerta made him into a quivering, crying, out-of-his mind

kind of kid who could not control his emotions. Adderall has made the world of

difference in my boy. He has gone from not paying attention in school to

getting A's and B's. He is living up to how bright he can be. He is staying

awake in school, and he isn't even on the highest dose being 320# and 6'4 " .

This is only his 2yr in a regular school as he was in a special school for kids

with behavior / emotional problems. Basically the teachers didn't know how to

deal with him, and he was safer there. He learned coping skills that the

regular schools wouldn't teach him, and we got an IEP with certain mods that we

wouldn't have otherwise gotten. We have a later day, special bus, and our tor

is really good at making sure if we hit a " bump " and we need an emergency

conference she will call so we can add something to the IEP.

Tammy

>

> Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us

that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them

nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to

be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional.

She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take

her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.

>

> If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What

about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior

is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

>

> Thanks,

> in FL

>

[Guest guest]

Interesting that they said ritalin makes AS kids mean. It certainly did with my son. He is never mean and both days we gave him ritalin and he got in fist fights with the one boy he considers his friend.

From: dunadd12 <dunadd12 (DOT) com>Subject: ( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean? Date: Sunday, 19 April, 2009, 11:38 PM

Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.Thanks, in FL

[Guest guest]

I have the same issues with my daughter. We have

not tried anything yet. But Iam surprise they are not

treating the anxiety first. Our therapist seemed to think

high anxiety was driving my daughters ODD type behavior.

I have been concerned too about meds because kids that

are already disinhibited seem to be more aroused by many

medications.

I wish you luck and hope you find something that helps.

Pam

, " dunadd12 " <dunadd12@...> wrote:

>

> Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us

that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them

nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to

be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional.

She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take

her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.

>

> If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What

about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior

is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

>

> Thanks,

> in FL

>

[Guest guest]

From my experience if a stimulant medication makes any child "mean" it can be a sign of a comormid condition of childhood bipolar disorder. With one son he cannot take any stimulants because of this. Our other son who is extremely ADHD in addition to Aspergers, he had the same reaction on Straterra that you describe. He takes Vyvanse, a new stimulant medication & also takes Topamax as a mood stabilizer. Without Vyvanse he is very manic, giggly, & uncontrollable. Without the Topomax he is also manic but it is exhibited as aggressive & violent behavior typical of childhood bipolar. I also agree that the anxiety should be treated first, but often antidepressants are used & they make this son very manic - silly!Sent from my iPhoneBlessings, DonnaOn Apr 20, 2009, at 2:05 PM, "susanonderko" <susanonderko@...> wrote:

I have the same issues with my daughter. We have

not tried anything yet. But Iam surprise they are not

treating the anxiety first. Our therapist seemed to think

high anxiety was driving my daughters ODD type behavior.

I have been concerned too about meds because kids that

are already disinhibited seem to be more aroused by many

medications.

I wish you luck and hope you find something that helps.

Pam

, "dunadd12" <dunadd12@...> wrote:

>

> Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.

>

> If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

>

> Thanks,

> in FL

>

[Guest guest]

Hey , my daughter has been on Adderal XR for 4 yrs now, seems to work for her so far; up to 30mg at one point, now at 15mg. We did try strattera, concerta, which she had negative response to. Jillian

[Guest guest]

I can’t believe your psychiatrist would make such a

general statement! He should know (Better than MOST people) that drugs affect

different kids in different ways, and sometimes you have to go on a “Trial”

to see what kind of an outcome you’ll get. The other tough thing to

remember, is that unless there’s “REALLY BAD” reactions to

drugs, you have to give it a couple weeks to truly see what kind of results you’ll

get. You may also need to adjust the dose, to fine tune things.

I said NO to drugs for our son for a long time. I refused to say

yes to drugs for “ADHD” because I’ve never believed that to

be an accurate diagnosis. But finally, when his self esteem had been COMPLETELY

deflated, he was REALLY struggling, and his behavior had regressed to a point

where he could barely function through a day at school without hiding under his

desk, I thought – what have we got to lose?? I agreed ONLY to a trial,

and our DR wanted us to re-assess at 2wks for dosage, and then again at 4wks,

at which time if we weren’t happy, we could take him off the medication.

He’s been taking Concerta (a long acting, slow release

form of methylphenidate, same drug found in Ritalin – though Ritalin is

short acting) for over a year now, and what a difference for us. It did take

some patience with the drug for the first while, and I can honestly say the

best results didn’t come until almost 2mths after he started taking it,

and his body had time to adjust, etc. About a month after starting to take it,

he was invited to a birthday party for the first time. And that was in grade 2.

I CRIED when he came home with the invitation… he was so proud.

Does he still have struggles? Things he needs help with?

Absolutely. And we work with him on those things every day. But I strongly

believe, esp. after my last fiasco of NOT having medication for him for 3 days

(I have NEVER done that, and WILL NEVER let that happen again!), I know that we

wouldn’t be where we are, and he wouldn’t have been able to work as

hard as he has, without that medication to help him.

It certainly did not make him mean… rather the contrary in

our case. When we messed up with meds and he didn’t have them for three

days, he was cheeky, rude, etc. And after taking his first pill after those

three days, he walked CLEAR across the house to come find me doing my hair in

the bathroom, just to tell me he loved me (for the first time in 3 days)

That’s just OUR story… but you really must know that

each child reacts differently to different medications. Trials are always the

best way. Write EVERYTHING down. Find or make your own rating scale of behaviors,

and mark how things were on those things EVERY day for a two week period.

Better, worse, etc. Then you can take those to your DR and discuss adjusting

medications, or dosages, etc… we got lucky, and the first medication we

tried has been very successful, but lots of times that’s not the case

GOOD LUCK !!

=)

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of dunadd12

Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 8:09 PM

Subject: ( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean?

Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we

wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS

mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said

about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it

made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her

eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because

of the suicide warning on the box.

If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What

about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior

is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

Thanks,

in FL

[Guest guest]

Like others have said every kid is different and you have to find what works

for them, but here's my experience. My son is 13 so he is old enough to give me

an idea what effects he is having. He started with Concerta(time released

ritilan) small dose 18 mg. He thought this was the best thing that ever happend.

He said he felt more in control of things in school. I noticed more energy, more

a part of the family in the evening instead of shutting himself in his room and

decreased OCD, but he was having increased sleep problems. They added clonodine

0.1 mg to take care of sleep which worked. Over a couple of months I started to

notice increased anxiousness, hyperfocosing, and irrational thoughts. He did not

get mean, but would say mean things I know he did not mean. They added Risperdal

25 mg a couple of weeks ago and as of now he seems calmer, way less irrational,

and he has not asked me if it is ok to only check the faucets once before bed

all week(his OCD)

I cringed everytime a new pill was added as I didn't want him taking all these

medications, but they work. So sometimes it may not even be finding the right

medicine, but the right mix. Good luck.

>

> Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us

that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them

nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to

be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional.

She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take

her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.

>

> If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What

about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior

is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

>

> Thanks,

> in FL

>

[Guest guest]

I sort of LOL when I read this because I am picturing a psych sitting there with a supply of drugs in a box on the table and trying to sell one to you. The psych has the degree (one would hope) and should be recommending the right med for your child's situation. It shouldn't be a "Well, what do you want?" kind of deal. Also, with a build up of, "This one makes them mean" - who in their right mind would pick that one? Can you imagine, "Oh, makes them mean? Then I'll take two bottles....don't want to run out..." Why would one even offer such a choice? Personally, I would get a psych or doctor who knows meds and kids with AS/HFA and can recommend the best choice for your particular situation. Sometimes meds like ritalin can make anxiety worse in kids with AS/HFA. That is probably the intended message. But the psych should be keeping close contact with you to monitor the situation when starting a med and ensuring that things are going ok.

Roxanna

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." ~ Mark Twain

( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean?

Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.Thanks, in FL

No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.0/2066 - Release Date: 04/18/09 09:55:00

[Guest guest]

My son (13)is on Ritalin and it doesn't work for him. It doesn't make him mean,

he just can't focus that good. And like the others have said every kid is

different. MY son is also on Risperdal 15mg at night to help him sleep and .5mg

in the morning. He also takes Zoloft 125mg in the morning for depression. My

therapist as suggested Omega 369 or Fatty acids to help slow his thoughts down.

We just start that about a week ago at night to help him sleep I will let you

know. My son has taken concerta, Strattera, the patch one ?, and adderal. The

adderal made my son very mean and do bad things. This was before we knew he had

AS. Hope I helped.

> >

> > Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us

that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them

nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to

be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional.

She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take

her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.

> >

> > If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD?

What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible

behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > in FL

> >

>

[Guest guest]

The psychiatrist for my son prescribes what he beleives is best for my son's conditions. Now we go back every 2 weeks until things are right....and if they are not ...he makes adjustments. My son has never been on ritalin....he is on Adderal XR (extended release). He is doing well on it. He was on concerta and did well on it too but didn't eat. Also, we started on a low dosage and worked our way up. He is also on a small dose of prozac.

jan

Janice Rushen

"I will try to be open to all avenues of wisdom and hope"

From: Roxanna <madideas@...>Subject: Re: ( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean? Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 9:39 AM

I sort of LOL when I read this because I am picturing a psych sitting there with a supply of drugs in a box on the table and trying to sell one to you. The psych has the degree (one would hope) and should be recommending the right med for your child's situation. It shouldn't be a "Well, what do you want?" kind of deal. Also, with a build up of, "This one makes them mean" - who in their right mind would pick that one? Can you imagine, "Oh, makes them mean? Then I'll take two bottles....don' t want to run out..." Why would one even offer such a choice? Personally, I would get a psych or doctor who knows meds and kids with AS/HFA and can recommend the best choice for your particular situation. Sometimes meds like ritalin can make anxiety worse in kids with AS/HFA. That is probably the intended message. But the psych should be keeping close contact with you to

monitor the situation when starting a med and ensuring that things are going ok.

Roxanna

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." ~ Mark Twain

( ) Does Ritalin Make Aspies Mean?

Our dd's psychiatrist asked which drug we wanted to try first and he told us that Ritalin tends to make people with AS mean, Strattera tends to make them nicer, and I can't remember what he said about the other. Have you found this to be true? We gave her Strattera and it made her irrational and hyper-emotional. She had a scary, crazed look in her eyes, too. Her pediatrician told me to take her off of it immediately because of the suicide warning on the box.If we go with Ritalin, will it make her mean? Will it help with the ODD? What about the anxiety and negativity? Right now the defiance and horrible behavior is of primary concern. It's hard to get through a day.Thanks, in FL

No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.0/2066 - Release Date: 04/18/09 09:55:00