[worried_mom]

My son took Amitriptyline for about 4 months after accident. Then put on Lorazepam for one week to sedate him prior to a bunch of tests. He had adverse reactions: MORE hyped up, couldn't sleep, next to impossible to talk to. So...they wanted to put him on Prozac, but I declined that. We tried Celexa to calm his anxiety and mellow him out. From day 2 he had reactions: diarrhea, nausea, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep.

On-call Dr took him off cold turkey! On day 3 of no meds, he was "tweaked out". He had been looking stoned/drunk, now he looks tweaked/amped up. Can't sleep much at all except about every 6 or 7 days he gets a decent amount of sleep due to sheer exhaustion.

Doc is out of town til April 1. I've tried melatonin 10mg. Not much help. I've done 50mg Benadryl. It knocks him out, but he wakes up with a sore throat.

I recall the doctor saying he might want to try a stimulant next i.e. Adderal, Ritalin.

Anyone else try ADHD meds? Results?

[Mark in Idaho]

Sounds like his doctor is using him like a guinea pig. It sounds like he should try to get clear of the meds and find a different doctor.

What test is planned for him?

[worried_mom]

The tests he had were a neck/spine MRI and an echocardiogram. Those were a couple weeks ago and came back negative, of course.

I am taking him to a different dr this week. He's the only other guy in town who deals with concussions/PCS. Maybe he'll have some more insight before we start trying other drugs.

[worried_mom]

Added note, he was NOT ADD/ADHD before getting hurt, but it's debatable now.

[EsthersDoll]

I know drugs work for some people for some things... but I personally believe that the brain needs as little pharmaceutical drugs as possible in order to really heal correctly. I didn't start feeling myself until after I had detoxed from all the nasty drugs they had me on - after the lumbar puncture I had to have of course...

Give the brain time and it will heal as best it can on its own.