theADHDdoc.com - Your guide to medications and complementary and alternative treatments for ADD & ADHD.

Your guide to medications and complementary and alternative treatments for ADD & ADHD.

How Can I Reduce Medication Side Effects?

Children who are being treated with stimulant medications will often experience loss of appetite and problems sleeping at night. Here are some solutions that we've found helpful in treating our patients.

Because of appetite suppression after taking medications:

1. Make sure that the child is being treated with the least amount of medication needed for their ADHD. I have often seen children who begin with a low dose of medication but because it does not magically turn them into the perfect child, dosage is increased. Sometimes an increase really is needed. Other times, what is needed is additional support at school, development/revision of an IEP or 504 Plan, adjusting parenting approach, or increasing the amount of protein eaten at breakfast and lunch. Check out my Strategies for Physicians section (Click Here), to learn a variety of strategies that physicians can use to make sure that dosage is correct.

2. Make sure the child eats protein at breakfast before you give them medication in the morning.

3. Arrange for the child to have an easily stored protein snack at school. This could be a pack of nuts, some peanut butter crackers, beef jerky, a protein bar. A number of my patients are too tired in the morning to eat much. Others don't have lunch until after noon. Few eat enough protein at breakfast (15-20 grams) to make it that long.

4. Periodically, check with your child's teacher to learn if they are actually eating lunch. If they aren't, it can cause increased irritability after school and sleeping problems at night.

Because kids often have difficulty falling asleep:

1. Make sure they eat USDA recommended amounts of protein at breakfast and at lunch. The body uses this protein first to make "brain awakening" neurotransmitters (like dopamine). However, the brain also stores some of the protein, so that it can begin making neurotransmitters that helps us fall asleep (serotonin/melatonin). If your child doesn't start eating protein until the afternoon or evening, then their sleep will be delayed. That translates to a bedtime of 10:30 P.M. instead of 7:30 P.M.

2. Limit the amount of food that your child eats after 5:00 P.M. It takes approximately 3 hours to digest foods and because one of the purposes of foods is to "wake us up", you are defeating yourself if you give your child a big dinner at 7 and then expect them to fall asleep by 8:30 P.M. Keep snacks to a minimum. If necessary, milk and cheese crackers are better than cookies and ice cream. Popcorn is not a vegetable (it's a starch) and is pretty hard to digest at the end of the day.

3. Exercise is important. A child who sits in school all day long, comes home to homework, t.v., and videos, is much more likely to be restless than the child who is physically active or involved in sports. Although some of my patients are not interested in sports, most anyone can do push-ups, sit-ups, jump on a trampoline, walk on a treadmill, use a stationary bike, or lift weights. If all else fails, try Laughter Yoga, which boils down to laughing aloud together. I was amazed to discover that a minute of laughing deeply can be quite relaxing. In my social skills classes, we'll usually do about 20 minutes of laughing exercises to help them get into a relaxed state. Deep breathing exercises (10 DEEEEEEP Breathes) can also help.

4. Nutritional supplements, like melatonin, can also be beneficial. When administered in the early evening (7:00 P.M.), melatonin can help a person fall asleep. This is because melatonin is produced from the serotonin that comes from the protein we eat during the day. If a child hasn't eaten enough protein, use of melatonin can help overcome that problem and bring on sleep. This supplement is available at our online store; however, you should consult with your child's physician before using this type of supplement.