I'm not sure if I can be of any help to you or not, but I was diagnosed with having add when I was in the third grade. I am now 20 years old and have been taking medication for it since I was first diagnosed (about twelve years now). I started off taking ritalin, since they hadnt come out with the newer medications yet, and then tried strattera and concerta as well. None of these medications seemed to be as effective as adderall. I took adderall for about six or seven years. For the past four years I have been taking the adderall xr (30 mg) pills, and have found them to have sufficient impact on my performance and abilities. Adderall is an extremely addictive and extremely powerful drug. If not monitored carefully, it can cause major disruptions to your sons life. In other words, I would not recommend increasing his dosage, if at all possible. I have found that ones tolerance to the drug can build quite rapidly and can result in harmful amounts if looked at too lightly. However, your son is still young and will have plenty of time to adjust to the medication and his own behaviors. Certain behaviors he expresses that may seem unusual to you or others may be normal in his mind and perception. I have experienced countless side effects from this medication, but have learned to manage them through the years. The biggest one being my dependence and addiction to the drug. I have spoken with many doctors on the subject who have all given the same response that that additive nature of the drug is a part of the treatment for this particular disorder, and is not intended to be taken away. I will say, however, that your sons rapid weight loss is a normal side effect, as you well know. What you may not know is that this loss of appetite has very little to do with self-esteem or being self-conscious (especially at his age). Chances are your son will become accustomed to his abnormal, or as some say, unnutritional eating habits as most do who take the medication. I can go for days without getting the slightest bit hungry, and got used to it at a very young age. As I grew older and learned more about my health and nutrition, I was able to better manage my meals, but I will never have an appetite like most people. Your son may be smaller than the rest of his classmates right now, but I can assure you that probably wont last for very long. I too was smaller than others at one point, but once I got accustomed to the drug I have never gone below my normal weight range. This is not a problem of self image or a conscious/unconscious eating disorder, instead your son will simply have an increasingly lower appetite than most. I hope that I could be of some help to you, and would be glad to answer any questions you have about the drug or the disorder considering my years of experience with it. I wish you and your son the best, but just remember that this is only as big of a problem as you make it. To your son, the only problems and/or deviations that exist are the ones that are made apparent to him by you and others around him. Try to stay away from that as much as possible and relate to any abnormal behaviors as best as you can.

I was diagnosed with add about 5 years ago and I take aderol. Aderol can have some really strange side effects to it. You should ask your son if he ever feels really gittery in his stomach like he is about to burst with energy or something during school, and if it ever makes him feel over anxious to the point of feeling a sick like he is going to vomit. If he says yes to any of these then he may be getting to much aderol. I had these same symptoms and it turned out that I was just being overdosed, so I cut it in half and now I am fine. Also because of it making me feel sick I would lose my appitite and not eat like anything because I felt too anxious and nervous. Loss of appitite is a very common side effect with aderol, but it sounds like with your son it is being carried out to the extreme. You should really talk to your docter about this they would know more about it. Hope I helped.

Lost and fallen

Can the Dr. Give your son something for his appetite, or at least some type of food supplement such as ensure or something like this, you might check at a health food store or herbal shop or naturopathic shop and see what they might have to say and you can always get a second opinion from another Dr.
Sincerely,
sandy