Any newly medicated kids ?

I’ve been holding on to the meds the pediatrician gave me for my 8year old son it was undoubtedly one of the toughest decisions I had to make. I worried that he would be a zombie or the meds would change his personality. They just went on fall break this week but they had parent teachers conferences last week and talking to his teacher really did it for me. She said that he has a hard time staying in his seat and he will walk around the class and crawl under his desk while she is teaching and that he was working on the same math test for 3 days. I know he’s a smart kid but he struggles to stay engaged with typical learning practices. So I figured we would try it out while I could monitor him fully. He’s on 18 mg of concentra and so far he seems the same just more explanatory and increased appetite( which isn’t bad because he’s a little guy and he always struggled to finish his food now he asks for seconds) and dry mouth. It’s been about 3-4 days now and I’m not sure if I’ll keep him on it or not but we’re just trying it out for now it doesn’t seem to have an effect on him he seems the same really. He’s never been able to sit thru a movie without talking through it the whole time and he still does as well as the constant movement also so idk. Have any of you tried concentra before?

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I think you mean Concerta. No adhd medication causes a person to be like a zombie. Meds that do that are antidepressants, opioids,opioid, muscle relaxants, etc. No adhd medication will make you change your personality. If you see your child is not being himself (in a bad way) it means that he's having bad side effects to the medication or the dose is too high. Concerta is a stimulant that increases the dopamine in the brain to help have better focus and less impulsive behavior. One of the side causes a decrease of appetite, so I'm thinking that maybe he's eating better now because he's able to focus on the eating task. My oldest started taking adhd meds at 8 years old too. I honestly think that the responsible thing to do is to keep your child on medication if it's good for him and the doctor approved. He'll do so much better in school and life in general. Stopping adhd meds feels terrible. It makes dopamine levels drop abruptly and can make you depressed since the brain already knows how well it can actually

Do with a little bit of help. Also, if you choose not to give him meds, tell the doctor immediately instead of hogging adhd medication that people need since there's a shortage of adhd medication. (I have a bachelor's is psychology and I work with kids with adhd. My oldest, husband, brother and myself are audhd and have been taking adhd medication for years)

Nah the right meds don't make them a zombie. Youn wouldn't feel bad if he was a diabetic or you'd provide glades if he couldn't see. Same thing. Youn are only hurting him if you don't give it for way more reasons.

First and foremost thnx for your input and some great points were made but also I just need you to know that reading is fundamental. From some of these responses it seems as if the full context of which I wrote out was not completely understood. This was more so a discussion for support/ venting not exactly for advice or decision making for me. I didn’t ask what should I do I asked if anyone could relate to the situation.

I voiced my concerns as a parent who had to make a decision about giving medication to my baby boy, I know it seems easy for some parents but not all parents are willing to medicate their child so easily without weighing all other options. I also stated that the ONE prescription that the dr gave him I delayed on giving him so that I could monitor the effects as well as me being skeptical about giving it to him because it was scary but the conversation with his teacher gave me the confirmation I needed of the severity of the situation.

I said that it’s been a few days and we are trying the medication and seeing if it’s going to be a good fit for him. And honestly as I’m typing it’s 1252 am where I am and he’s tossing and turning crying that he can’t sleep and he typically sleeps well thru the night on a consistent scheduled bedtime routine so yet another side effect observed.

You need to take a medication for several weeks to see the effects if you drop it in less then a week then you're doing him a disservice Only exception would be a dangerous side effect

You seem to want the medication to fail. I hope a doctor intervenes or you own the failure if he grows up with many social issues if you pull that medication before it's even had a chance to show it's true abilities

Try melatonin for sleeping. It's natural

Also, like @Samantha said it takes a few weeks to actually see the side affects

@Nicky I sometimes use melatonin, but a friend of mine said there is research being done about it delaying puberty and/or early onset of puberty. I need to look more into this. Magnesium is a good choice for helping with sleep, too.