Yet Another Follow-Up on Daytrana

J has been on the Daytrana patch for about 3 years now… we put it on before he wakes up and take it off as soon as homework is done in the evening. We’ve gone up on the dosage and gone back down and generally speaking it’s been good.

Lately, however, we’ve noticed that there is a bell curve on the effectiveness of Daytrana during the day.

• 6:30 Patch goes on
• 7:15 Rise and Shine!
• 8:15 bus comes– pretty smooth ride to school
• 9:00 all hell breaks loose
• noon– zombie time to 2:30 ish
• 2:30 very productive time of day– good conversations, descent focus
• 4:00 home from school and homework– very smooth
• 5:00 patch off– play time (usually computer, editing)
• 7:00 my son comes back to life (hungry, funny kid!)
• 10:00 bedtime

Not sure if there is a moral to this story but, I talked to his teacher and this is an accurate portrait of his day… so, I’m going to talk to J’s doctor and see about switching meds at Christmas Break so that if it doesn’t go well, we can go back to the tried and true-ish when school starts back up.

By the way– we have recently figured out that Band Aid brand blue no hurt antiseptic wash works great on the red-sore icky spot the patch’s adhesive leaves behind… Just thought you’d want to know.

A Follow Up on Daytrana

Daytrana is a wonder-drug! We love it!! But– there are a few side effects that we are dealing with so I want to share the little tricks we’ve discovered to make the side effects less horrid.

REDNESS AT THE PATCH SITE

J is hypo-sensitive which basically means that he doesn’t feel pain– or pleasure– as acutely as most people. This isn’t all bad but has to be watched. Anyway, J’s skin gets really red and irritated with the Daytrana Patch.  We apply Bath and Body Works “Put it on Ice” which is a pain relieving cooling gel with Lidocaine immediately after pulling the patch off. It cools it and deadens the pain.  I assume that any post sun lidocaine lotion/gel would work we just had this at home already.  FYI– the first aid creme we tried first didn’t work. 

LOSS OF APPETITE

J is a skinny little guy. He eats white food and with Daytrana has been eating less of it.  Fortunately, Daytrana is out of his system within 3 hours of the patch removal. So, we take the patch off as soon as he gets home from school and have moved dinner to 7:30.  I am encouraging snacking all evening also.  We had been dealing with practically no eating at dinner and snacking starting close to bedtime so this works really well for us.

We ran an experiment along with J’s teachers and therapists– one week with Daytrana, the next week without.  On day two of no Daytrana, his teacher called and pleaded that we quit the experiment.  She saw so much difference in him!

Daytrana is a God Send.  J is doing so well in school and actually has two friends now– Moms are coordinating everything but the kids are doing so much better at interacting without too much prompting. So, we love Daytrana and feel that the side effects are manageable– well worth it.

ADD: The Patch

J is doing pretty well with the Daytrana patch. He’s been on it for a week now and I’m seeing some positive changes in him. It hasn’t been bump-free though…

Two days were big cry– I want to go home– days at school and his poor bottom is checkered with little red squares… I’ve finally figured out how to help him with the skin irritation– Band-aid Hurt Free Antiseptic Wash helps get it off and a little first aid cream helps with the soreness.

The crying wasn’t such an easy fix– we couldn’t figure out what the problem was. He told me that he wanted to go home and Mrs. K wouldn’t let him so he was sad. His teacher, who should be sainted; “St. Mrs. K” said that she couldn’t find anything that was different or that could have triggered it.  One of the possible side effects are mood swings so maybe that’s what it was.

He’s had two good days in a row… so, here’s to it being taken care of and smooth sailing from here on.