Hi, When Anna was first put on Megace she was 14. They had just started using it on teens and it hadn't been approved to be used on children younger than that. That was back in 2002 though.
They did state that one of the reasons they hadn't used it too much was because it had been noticed that, although it worked well, people tended to lose the weight because they reverted back to their old eating habits. Another potential side effect was some minimal hair loss.
For Anna, it worked extremely well. Her appitite increased rapidly and within about a week, she was eating a full breakfast, a heated lunch from home, an afternoon snack consisting of a chicken finger basket w/gravy from Dairy Queen and or popcorn chicken w/double mash potatoes from KFC, and a Wendy's small Frostee on alternate days, then supper at around 7pm. After about two months or so we started tapering off the dose and eventually stopped it. She kept her appitite, although not quite taking in as much food. She went to a smaller breakfast and went to eating two glazed chicken lean cuisines after school with alternating days of the Wendy's Frostee. Her appetite didn't decrease until about 6 or 9 months later. She restarted the Megace off and on over the years and at a much smaller dose than the first time. When she felt she just needed a boost. And she was on it just before her transplant. It worked better than Periactin for her.
Rachel was on Merinol for the first time in Nov. We referred to it as her "pot in a pill". She was on the lowest dose possible. It worked so, so. She didn't feel there were any lingering appetite effects though. She would get hungry (the munchies) about an hour after she took the pill and that was about it. She did feel like the floor was moving once. But all she felt she needed was a boost to make her want to eat more to regain her lost weight faster. Again though, not sure if they will prescribe it for a 5 yr old. Rachel was on the smallest dose and she's 18, weighing at that time about 85lbs, 5 ft.tall.
Your daughter might benefit from Periactin. At her age, she just needs to get her appetite big enough to cram all those darn calories in her. You want to find the smallest thing with the largest amount of calories. This is where the Wendy's Frostee's come in handy. The small one is like 320 calories, a small strawberry is 390. We're talking 12oz cup.
I hope this helps.