Ifferjenn Independent

Roughly a month ago, Ethan went to visit his pediatrician, and we had him diagnosed with ADHD. To start, we got a prescription for 10 mg of extended release Adderall, and an appointment to come back in a month to check his weight.

Well.

Being an amphetamine, Adderall can suppress hunger, hence it made a great diet drug. Unfortunately, it also means that it did the same to Ethan, who really does not need to be losing weight. Which is what he did, losing 4 pounds in a month. It’s also apparently lasting longer in him than it usually lasts in kids. For him, it wears off around bedtime, though he’s also been waking up during the night, which he’s rarely done since he started sleeping through the night. But, it’s also definitely helping him at school.

Apparently, Ethan takes after his mom a lot. As a comparison, I’m on 5 mg of Lexapro regularly. Whenever I tell a doctor that, they always look at me and say, “Really?! And that helps?!” Well, yes, it does. But I’m apparently really sensitive to medications. So is Ethan, as we’re finding out. But we don’t want to abandon the Adderall altogether, so we’re going to switch him over to 5 mg as well. We’re also going to switch to traditional release, as opposed to the extended release kind. For average kids, it’ll wear off around lunch time, so hopefully his will take him through the end of the school day.