Vyvance and an angry 8 year old

[brandy16]

I am new to this site and I'm actually new to forums in general. I have an 8 year old who was diagnosed with ADD last fall. Through trial and error of different meds we found that 20mg Vyvance did wonders. His classroom work and grades were great and once we made it through the first few weeks of side effects everything had been fine. This has been up until about 2 months ago. We noticed a big spike in anger and control as well as just belligerence before meds and around 3-4:00 and after. The anger is what I'm most concerned about and the sudden onset of it. Has anyone else experienced this?? Any ideas would be appreciated.

[healthy11]

Brandy16,

Millermoms is not what I would call a "typical" online forum, for several reasons. We're all volunteers, and we have moderators. We don't accept any funding from anybody, so there's no "influence" from special interests. We generally speak from personal experiences, and while we may not always agree with one another, we try to be respectful of each person's opinions.

As far as your son, I'm wondering a couple of things. What kinds of activities was your son doing this summer? (ie, a camp or some kind of organized sports, for example?) Does he have siblings? Is it possible his anger is somehow related to interactions with a peer?

Do you feel his appetite has been affected by the medications? Could he be going through a growth spurt? I know that my son tends not to eat or drink as much when he's taking his stimulant medication, but he has mild hypoglycemia, and when his blood sugar levels drop from not eating, he gets moody and short on patience. Being dehydrated can have similar effects. Perhaps you could keep a "notebook" to log his diet and moods, to see if there's any correlation.

When does your son have his next scheduled doctor's visit? If it's not for awhile, I would definitely call and ask about the anger now, so your son is able to start off the school year on a good note.

[brandy16]

Yes all things I've worked on. He has been in the same summer program since he was 3. I try to stay very consistent with all things where he is concerned. He has some allergies to food dyes that cause behavioral issues so I monitor his foods greatly. I do think he is going through a growth spurt and I've noticed a decrease in his appetite at times. There are a couple of peers that are ribbing but no more than normal kids do but his reactions to it are severe. We have a scheduled doctor appt Wednesday so I'm hoping for some answers. Tanks for your input I believe talking to other moms helps as much or more than the doctors sometimes.

[jw]

Hi,

My son also has ADHD and tried a number of different meds. He is taking Vyvanse and was on Adderall XR for several years before that. He had some anger on Adderall after he had been taking it for several years without problems. We switched to Vyvanse and the anger went away, so we feel pretty sure it was med-related.

Looking at your situation, since you are seeing the anger before meds and while he is on meds (but maybe they are wearing off, so it is more of a rebound effect), it is not as clear whether the anger is related to his meds or not. So there are couple things you might want to think about. First, maybe the doseof Vyvanse is not right - it could be too low, and you need to go up a bit. Second, you could try to take a medication holiday on the weekend and see if the moodiness goes away. Vyvanse clears the system by the end of every day, so if you see the anger on the weekend without the medication, that makes it a little less likely that it is related to the Vyvanse. And third, there is also a possibility that what you are seeing is a comorbid condition that is revealed when the ADHD is treated. I think this is unlikely, because I think you would have seen some of the behavior before starting meds, but it is worth mentioning because a lot of ADHD kids (more than half) also have something else going on. My son has anxiety that became more obvious when his ADHD was treated (but it also doesn't go away when he is on a med holiday, so we know it is not med-related).

Sometimes I ask myself if the symptoms or behavior I am seeing is worse than how my son behaves when not on meds. It is important that we don't trade one set of symptoms for a different, worse set of symptoms. So if you feel like that is the case then it is always worth it to just try a different medication just in case the anger goes away. That's what we did with the Adderall and it worked out for us.

Good luck, and welcome to millermom!! jw

[majorv]

My son was on Vyvanse for about 3 months and he finally refused to take it. We never could find a good dosage that was effective...that allowed him to focus and pay attention in class without side effects. He started complaining that the med made him feel angry and not want to talk to anyone. He also said that when he got upset or felt stressed that his heart would start beating real fast. That concerned us enough that we dropped it and went back to what he was on before, Adderall XR.

[Mayleng]

I would give a different medication a try, since vyvanse and Adderall are in the same family (they do have a higher potential for anger issues). Try Metadate CD or Concerta or Ritalin LA, these are a different family of medication. While my son got angry on Adderall, Metadate CD has worked well for him for years.