New drug for ADHD

[mom60]

We are in the same state but he will be 5 hours from home so we won't be seeing him probably till Thanksgiving. Our insurance company will only refill 30 days worth at a time. I would be nervous with him having 90 days. Also if it is stolen it would be hard to replace.
I have to talk to my son about where he will keep his meds. As of now I think he is planning on taking a few different meds. He is taking a 30 day supply of the Vyvanse, the Daytrana patch and also some adderall xr in case he finds he doesn't like either of the other options.(I will keep the majority of the Adderall at home and send it if he needs it) I think of the 3 meds it is the only one that anyone is going to want from him. I think that is one of the advantages of the patch or Vyvanse. From talking with my son he is hoping to start off trying the patch. If he doesn't like that he will try the Vyvanse and if both those fail go back to just using the adderall. I just wish we had tried the different meds this summer so he would be going off with a clear idea what he is going to use.
I am also going to warn son that he should not let it become public knowledge that he takes this type of medication.

[cmbmom]

mom60, please let me know if the Daytrana patch works for your son. I wanted our daughter to give it more than a 4 hour try but I was not the one feeling jumpy. She has ADD and the only side effect she notices with Adderall XR is a slight appetite lose.

We also discussed not letting everyone know she has the meds. Good luck to your son.

[mkm56]

My son's physician would only give Rx for 30 days at a time. He did use the lockbox for his meds and it worked fine for him.

[mom60]

I asked my son today if the Dr gave him any instructions. He said the Dr said he should lock it up or at least not let people know that he had it. The Dr stressed the importance of not giving it to anyone.
What kind of lock box did you get?

[mkm56]

He just has a small metal lock box that has a key (he keeps it on his key chain) that is the size of what I would call a cash box. He kept his Rx meds in there, extra cash and his passport and credit card. Of course if someone knew it contained something they wanted, they could steal the whole box and work on it at their leisure. But I think that is unlikely in a dorm situation. He just kept the box in one of his dresser drawers.

The box is one of those "fire proof" ones--I believe he got it at either an office supply store or maybe Sam's.

[my-3-sons]

That sounds just like the type of lockbox I was considering. I think I'm going out today to pick one up.

We used to do the 30 day in person prescriptions, but last month the doc suggested we check with our insurance company to see if they would fill a 90 day mail order prescription, saying some companies will and some won't. I was very surprised when ours said yes. The copay amount is about 2/3 of what we paid for 3 separate prescrptions. We're still trying to figure out the timing of his med check visits. How do you guys do this when the kids are away?

[fourkidsmom]

We did the lock box last year and sent here with the 90 day supply. She's on all sorts of different meds, adderall being one but for a sleep disorder. She had no problems with it in the lock box (hers might be a combo one) and same thing, meds, credit card and now extra key for the car all go in it. she's also in a very rural area where the kids don't lock their doors or worry much about laptops being out.

[sunnyflorida]

For those of you with insurance benefits that cover a 90d supply, but you don't want to send 90 at a time away to school, just ask the pharmacy to send 90 in 3 containers. Explain to them that it is a scheduled drug, and your doctor has recommended that your student only have 30 on campus at a time. If it is a mailorder pharmacy like Express Scripts or Medco, etc, just call or fax or send a written note with the RX. Kids who need a portion of their meds at the clinic at high school ask all the time for their 30 or 90 day scripts to be split into 2-3 bottles so that each one has the appropriate label.

And in this day and age, there are NO doctors who receive payments for writing certain prescriptions, unless they are HMO doctors trying to change you to generics. Payments for prescriptions are not only unethical, they are for the most part now illegal. I sometime change patients from a cheaper generic to an expensive newer long acting med because there are potentially huge benefits, less side effects, and I do it because I know the patient will benefit. And many newer, expensive drugs do have 30d samples available, and websites with coupons to download for use with future purchases. For the kid who hates Adderal, and feels great-- or at least more normal-- on a newer expensive nongeneric med, his/her doc did them a favor. There is really no such thing as a kickback anymore. And 98% of practicing DOCS never were involved in that sort of thing anyway.

[my-3-sons]

sunny-Thanks for the tip on asking for 3 containers. Such an easy solution yet I probably never would have thought of it.

[mkm56]

My son actually used a physician on campus at his student health for all his Rx needs.