My 14yo ds was on this for a while, about 4 months. He was diagnosed with ADHD over the summer by our ped. Started Concerta reluctantly (ds was balky to try meds or even be dxed). It was not good for him--stomach problems, no appetite, very flat behavior. He then started Vyvanse. Eventually went up to 70 mg. At first all seemed well. His grades were good starting high school (an important goal for both of us). His teachers liked him (he hadsome problems in middle school with a few teachers, but was well-liked by better ones). Social issues seemed to be getting better as well. He was really, really interested in doing better no matter what it took, and he would talk candidly with some people about the ADHD.

Almost overnight, he decided that it didn't help him anymore and was causing him to have stomach aches. His grade was slipping in English. He says the teacher yells a lot and is "mean." She did, however, tell me that he was a very respectful and hard working student and seemed genuinely interested in him. His grades were slipping mainly because he never seemed to hear all the directions about an assignment, or he'd not do all of it and turn in incomplete work. He swears this wasn't on purpose, but out of extreme confusion. He also got a lot of lower grades based on his sloppy handwriting, even when he was trying hard and it was obvious to me that he was, but was also frustrated.

To sum things up, he said he was going to talk to her, but never did. We eventually talked to the guidance counselor and got a 504 in place. I don't think he has been able to use it yet. I don't kow if he has to tell them of his accomodations or what.

But all of this and perhaps something else unnamed (socially, I suspect), caused him to rebel against taking meds. He won't admit he has ADHD now. He just says he has "little trouble remembering things, like anyobody does." And he works very slowly.

The ped didn't think the Vyvanse was the cause of the tummy problems. After a gastroenterologist appt., he was dxed with IBS and given a med for that which works very well. But ds says it was the Vyvanse because he got a lot better after he quit taking it, plus he got more of an appetite again. It depressed him to not want to eat like a farmhand! He used to just take such joy in eating large amounts of food! (and he is not fat--in fact, he began losing on both meds).

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