u/Decent_Scene9437

After some disappointing stimulant trials for my son who has adhd and primary anxiety, we’re changing it up and trying an SSRI, liquid fluoxetine. I’m hopeful but nervous. We really need a break and something good to finally happen for him/us after struggling for so long.

If your child is/was on fluoxetine/prozac or another ssri, please share your experiences. Anything to except the first few days? I’m hoping we can avoid any major side effects.

Feeling pretty defeated/frustrated/exhausted and could use some advice or commiseration.

My 7YO has anxiety and ADHD, with the biggest issues being emotional dysregulation, rejection sensitivity, huge meltdowns over simple requests or being told no, and constantly provoking or hurting his brother. On the anxiety front, he always needs to be with me, wakes up every night and needs me to come sleep with him then wakes up super early, scared of being alone even for a minute, various phobias.

We tried Quillivant XR with no benefit, and during the trial he started noticeably pulling his eyelashes and developed a counting ritual that has mostly stopped after we discontinued it, but the lash pulling has persisted weeks after so I think it likely triggered a compulsion that was already there.

We then tried short-acting dextroamphetamine (dexedrine) to see if he’d have the same side effects with amphetamines. At 2.5 mg, nothing happened. At 5 mg, he became very restless and uncomfortable, was running rapidly and crashing into the couch, hit himself in the chest, asked me to hit him, and kept saying he felt so weird and couldn’t relax. He was completely fine a few hours later, but it was awful to watch, like he was crawling out of his own skin. I don’t want to give it to him again after seeing that.

The next plan was Dyanavel, if we saw positive signals from the short acting Dex, but now I’m uneasy about trying another amphetamine. I’ll see if his doctor agrees but just feeling really uneasy about these meds.

Guanfacine XR isn’t an option because he won’t swallow pills, and honestly, the side-effect stories about guanfacine scare me too.

Has anyone decided stimulants weren’t a good fit rather than continuing to trial different ones? Did your child do better with a non-stimulant or anxiety medication like an SSRI?

Just feeling super defeated by this process. He’s struggling so much and our life at home as a family is pretty unbearable because of his behaviors, which I know he can’t control. Don’t know where to go from here.

When you meet with your child’s doctor to go over medication trials and discuss side effects, switching meds, etc. — do you bring your kid with you always? I think it would be a lot easier to talk candidly if he’s not there, but I don’t know if it’s a requirement or typical that the child is in the appointment? They’re 7 years old for context.

Seven year-old has ADHD and anxiety and before bed is usually extremely wound up wants to do a million things and ask a million questions and bouncing all over the place. It’s really hard to get him settled. Last week I started giving him a small dose of melatonin and it’s been great at getting him to fall asleep! However we still have the issue where he is most nights waking up in the middle of the night coming to get me to sleep in his room and then he’s also waking up too early every morning so he’s not getting enough sleep overall. But honestly the biggest problem is that I’m exhausted and have constantly interrupted sleep and I’m very sleep deprived, which makes me a worse parent and a grouchy human 🤪.

I was reading a bit about magnesium, but I don’t know too much about it and if it’s recommended to take on top of melatonin, and if it will make any difference. I’ll ask at his next doctors appointment, but I always appreciate hearing anecdotes of what actually worked for other people‘s kids. If you have any advice or experience with getting your kid to not wake up in the middle of the night, please share!!

Wove to hear them!!

My 7yo has ADHD and GAD. His issues are almost entirely at home — emotional dysregulation, explosive reactions to disappointment, rejection sensitivity, hitting his brother, high anxiety. He functions fine on the outside at school but is highly anxious there and will hold in his feelings all day. No attention or focus issues academically.

We started Quillivant XR 11 days ago, titrating from 10mg to 15mg to now 20mg where we’ve been for 5 days. I’m not seeing obvious positive change. There are good moments, but there were good moments before. He’s still having meltdowns over not being able to do something he wants, still annoying and hitting his brother constantly/impulsively, still argumentative about small requests. The evenings are still our worst time — which makes sense since the medication has clearly worn off by then — but that’s also when we most need help.

A few specific questions:

On the stimulant: If 20mg was going to make a meaningful difference to his emotional regulation and impulsivity, would I be seeing something clearer by now? What’s actually going to change between now and our follow-up in 10 days that would justify staying on this dose?

On medication sequence: For kids whose ADHD presents primarily as emotional dysregulation and anxiety rather than focus issues — did you try stimulants first or go straight to guanfacine, clonidine, or an SSRI? His anxiety is significant and primary — separation anxiety, specific phobias etc. I’m wondering if we’re treating the wrong thing first. But the idea was to start with treating the adhd since stimulants act quickly vs other options.

On melatonin: We’re thinking of trying a low dose for the hyperactive pre-bed window. For those who use it — what time do you give it relative to when you want them asleep, and do you give it during the hyper period or closer to actual bedtime?

Appreciate any experience from parents who’ve been through similar struggles!

We’re at the cottage right now and just started meds (not sure yet if they’re doing anything) but regardless, the constant-stimulation thing is in full force and my husband and I are so exhausted.

He genuinely cannot self-entertain. We’ve tried drawing, iPad shows, movies, reading — he’ll do any of it for a few minutes but only if someone is right there with him, and what he actually wants is someone doing an active, fun thing alongside him. Downtime just doesn’t seem to exist for him. It’s always a struggle at home, although sometimes I get lucky if he’s really into a tv series or working on a Lego set… but it gets amplified on vacation, which is honestly the main reason I dread travelling instead of enjoying it. He loves novelty and all the shiny new stuff, which I totally get because I’m similar…but I also love a bit of quiet solo time!

Did this get better for anyone with meds once they kicked in properly? Or did it improve with age regardless? And if anyone has a helpful hack or activity I might not have thought of that’s actually kept their kid occupied solo for even 20-30 minutes without an adult being actively involved, I am desperate to hear it. 🙏

We just started my 7yo on Quillivant XR (methylphenidate) 10mg yesterday. His main issues are extreme emotional dysregulation, low frustration tolerance, explosive reactions to disappointment, separation anxiety, and GAD — not so much the classic inattention picture.

Day 1 was a calm home day and he seemed mostly fine and pleasant and I was feeling hopeful—but it was a day with very little demands and no major moments of frustration, so not a typical busy day or school day.

Day 2 was more demanding — swimming lessons, playing with a friend, being at grandparents’ house — and he looked pretty much like his baseline self. Yelling about needing a snack, melting down when things didn’t go his way immediately, separation anxiety through the roof.

Here’s my confusion: I’ve read that methylphenidate is immediate-acting, meaning it doesn’t need to build up like non-stims. So if that’s true, two days should be enough to see whether this dose is working, I think? And I’m not seeing anything great today.

But 10mg is below the standard 20mg starting dose (we wanted to start low because of his anxiety and emotional regulation issues) so maybe I’m just not at a therapeutic dose yet?

TLDR: For parents whose kids are on stimulants — did you notice a difference right away on the right dose, or did it take time? And if your child’s primary issues are emotional regulation rather than attention, was the improvement obvious or more subtle? Trying to figure out if I should be pushing to increase the dose sooner rather than waiting.

I just realized these were two separate subreddits! I think I’ve been posting in both without realizing. The descriptions seem to suggest they’re both for the same purpose. Does anyone know if there’s an intention behind having two separate subreddits or if it’s better to post specific types of convos in one vs the other? 🤔

We’re just starting my 7yo on a stimulant and my biggest concern is what happens when it wears off. His after-school and evening hours are honestly our hardest time of day — he comes home completely dysregulated, melts down over everything, can’t handle any disappointment, and it lasts until bedtime. At school he holds it together because his anxiety takes over.

So I’m nervous that treating the school hours is almost beside the point for us, since that’s not really where we’re struggling. Did your kids need a small afternoon booster dose on top of their stimulant?
Also curious whether anyone found that the after-school crash actually improved once their kid had been on the stimulant for a while, even after it wore off — I’ve seen a few people mention that a calmer school day meant their kid came home with more in the tank. Did that actually play out for anyone?

My son will be taking medication for the first time and we’re starting with Quillivant since he doesn’t swallow pills yet. To help my own nerves, I’d really appreciate if anyone can share positive stories of your kids taking this medication. I know every kid reacts totally different but it’s still helpful to hear success stories. Thank you!

My 7yo has ADHD plus diagnosed generalized anxiety. He has extreme emotional dysregulation, especially after school (where he masks all day and is very well behaved and anxious all day)… comes home and basically falls apart, needs endless stimulation and things to do or else melts down, explosive meltdowns over small things not going his way, or not being able to do what he wants (screaming, crying, throwing things, hitting, goes from zero to 100 and it’s intense). Separation anxiety is major too, he won’t be alone in a room, needs me nearby at all times including to fall asleep, wakes me up most nights to come to his room.

Our pediatrician wants to start with Biphentin (methylphenidate) since that’s typically her first stimulant for ADHD, but she mentioned it only lasts 6-8 hours, sometimes less. That timing seems like a problem to me, since school is when he’s masking hardest, and the medication would be wearing off right as the after-school crash starts, which is already our worst window of the day leading into bedtime. She also mentioned that it’s reasonable to try an SSRI first before a stimulant but that obviously takes a lot longer to trial and know if it’s working. And things are pretty unsustainable right now.

For those whose kids have both ADHD and generalized anxiety (i.e. more than ADHD-driven worry), what did you end up treating first? Did you start with a stimulant, a non-stimulant like guanfacine, or an SSRI? And if timing/crash was an issue for you too, how did you handle it?

Appreciate any experience you can share, and hopefully some positive stories to give me hope! thank you!