[ErnBatavia]

Any idea of the dosage prescribed for these kids?

My parents' doc has my 85 year old mother (cognitive/dementia kind of probs) on what he calls a small dose...5mg, a.m. and noon.

His reasoning is to give her some "spark", because she'd otherwise be content to lay flat on her back and stare at the ceiling - or snooze off and on all day.

[paulat]

Any idea of the dosage prescribed for these kids?

My parents' doc has my 85 year old mother (cognitive/dementia kind of probs) on what he calls a small dose...5mg, a.m. and noon.

Wow...I am not a medical person at all...do we have some gerontologists out there who might be able to answer ErnBatavia's question?

[Phil Southern]

My wife was on Ritalin and formulation of amphetamines efore she passed away. They are very addictive, and progressive increased doses are needed (she started taking very small doses, then....). I have to think that the effects are the same on kids too. REALLY bad behaviour comes out in adults if they don't get their meds, once they are dependent. My wife had DT's and hallucinations after missing 2 doses (1 year on meds). My son's teachers are asking me to consider ADHD meds, but I can't find a good reason to start him on a lifelong fight with addiction. I do know others that have been helped by Ritalin too. I also have a relative that has a kid that takes the ADHD meds in the AM and sleeping pills in the PM basically for bad behaviour. He is 5 now. Some need meds, but they shouldn't be a replacement for parenting. Strattera, Concerta, and others are all various formulations of amphetamines.

[hinckley buzzard]

Ritalin is used, not uncommonly, with the elderly, to stimulate mental and physical energy. At the doses you mention it is well below the dose level used for ADHD in younger people, typically 20 mg twice a day. Many aged people, left to their own devices, become physically inactive. The lack of physical activity leads to muscle weakness and debilitation, exacerbates arthritis, as well as dementia and depression. The busiest room of a nursing home is often the physical therapy room. Keep moving, keep living. But you have to get up, get out of bed and go. That's where ritalin comes in. Stimulants have also been used in the rehab of para- and quadraplegia, for much the same reasons.