[shy_bear]

I had posted awhile ago about how we are concerned our daughter is not eating enough b/c of her ADHD meds. It is not an option to not give them to her during the school week, but my hubby was talking with a coworker of his who said they only give their son his ADD meds during the school week. Our daughter takes Metadate CD. She goes to the doc next week and I am going to discuss this with him, but has anybody heard of doing this or do you do this with your child?

[jbee]

not a child, but dh did take his adderall or ritalin on an as needed basis.
one of my daycare boys was on his add meds through the week only because he did have trouble sleeping with it.

[greenrobin]

My concern with our son was that his ADHD caused so much trouble for him in general, not just weekends. Our doc advised not to do the on again off again thing because he's very sensitive to med changes and some drugs take a therapeutic level in the blood to work.

My advice is to talk to your doc and see what her/his opinion is.

[sheababy]

Talk to your doc first. But my friend's son who has ADHD takes him off on the weekends with no issues.

[momraine]

We did take my son off on weekends, and school holidays. The exception would be if he would be spending the whole day with other people, or with dh without me. (I have more patience than dh, LOL) We did it so he would gain weight. However, becuase he knew the difference, last year (9th grade) he asked to go off permanantaly. We told him we would give it a try but if his grades slipped we would put him back on. He has done very well, a few rough patches, but he recovered and he feels better without the meds. This was not the case a few years ago when he said he felt better with them. But as he grew we increased the dosage and I think he just became better at managing.

[lucyjoy]

I'm not familiar with the med you mentioned but many of the ADD meds are out of your system in 4 hours so skipping on the weekends is no big deal. I would not do it without a doc's consent, though as that can come back to haunt you later.

[shy_bear]

From what I understand Metadate CD is a very old med. I guess it was one of the orginal ADD/ADHD meds. We started her on this one b/c she can't swallow a pill. So I open up the capsules and pour it over applesauce and she swallows that. We have kept her on it b/c other than the lack of appetite she has done great on it! I am going to def. talk to the doc. Thanks!

[dadfor2]

i think people do that but it all depends on the medication that the child is taking. Ritalin for instance is a very short acting drug. So no harm done when you stop the med.

I actually agree with the doctor though, this on again off again, I personally wouldnt do it.

I feel that a child who has 'untreated' ADHD has trouble controlling themselves and feels different then the rest of the kids.

ADHD kids, who start medication, have stated they can focus better, feel more 'normal' and generally start to feel better about themselves. I believe thats why the medication is given in the first place, if it didnt work, then the child sholdnt be on it in the first place.

I guess i just never understand if a child is doing better on the meds, why take him off of them on the weekends if it makes them feel hyper and out of control.

I know alot of parents do this, and maybe the doctor tells them too, but it never really makes sence to me.


basically what i am trying to say, that to me, if a child is truly ADHD/ADD and needs the meds to focus more and have some control of their bodies, then what happens at home, that the child can actually focus and stay in control of their bodies on weekends only.

Personally, if he did, i question if the dx is actually correct.

so IMHO, if the medication actually helps him during the week to focus more and not be so 'out of control', then let him have some nice weekends to, where he can sit at the table for dinner with the rest of the family, where he can focus on doing a project longer then 2 minutes.

But it truly is a parents choice, and every parent has to do what they feel is good for their child, so thats just my opinon.

but again, depending on the meds, some parents take their child off on the weekends and vacations. Its not that uncommon.

[momraine]

Our doctor told us to do it because our son was not eating on it. He had no appetite at all and so was not growing. Also he said there are cumulative effects of the medication that can cause damage long term and the taking him off of it slowed that. Also for my son, he would begin to develope a tolerance for each dose so it would stop working, the taking him off on weekends and in summer slowed it. We did not require anything he had to really concentrate on for the weekends. He could sit through a dinner or something, but not 6 hours of school. The doctor said it was also good for him to practice controlling himself without the meds. For him it worked, he gained weight and he did learn to handle himself without it. I think that is why he was able to go off of it in high school. He has to work a lot harder to control himself now, but he is now able to function off of medication and prefers it that way. I don't think he would have learned that control if he had not had weekends and summers off of medication. It drove us crazy at times and a few times we would medicate for like a longer day of church or some specific event in the summer. But, our doctor was in complete agreement with everything we did. I would not have tried it without her consent.

[dadfor2]

sorry, forgot about the eating stuff. IF she is not eating, thats a major problem, i would look at maybe looking into a different ADHD med if that is the case.

Meds are so hard, as they effect children so differently. good luck with all this, but she does need to eat.

[waited2long]

Don't some ADHD meds cause tics and other side effects (including the lack of appetite)? I seem to recall hearing someplace that the side effects are another reason many docs say to only medicate for school.

[karla-k]

Our DD is on Adderall XR. We sometimes skip a Saturday b/c we forget to give it to her until it is too late in the morning.

The psychologist suggested not skipping long periods like summer because getting the dosage right again can take a few weeks and you could potentially spend the first critical weeks of a new school year figuring out the correct dosage.

We are trying to figure out her dosage right now...the 10 mg is not getting her through the school day, but a 5 mg "booster" at lunch is keeping her awake until 1 am!!! She is only 9, she needs her sleep and so does her mama

Karla

[BZmom7]

Karla-K....We also have a fs who's 7 and on the Adderall XR...he takes 10 mg. at 6:30am and 5mg. at 12:30pm (to help him get through the school day). We found out even before the dr. gave him the extra 5mg. that he was staying up half the night...so she put him on Clonidine .1mg. He takes it at 7pm....and by 8:30 (his bedtime) he's relaxed enough to help him fall asleep. It doesn't KNOCK him out...but helps his mind "slow down" some so he can relax and fall asleep.

I DID try the "not giving him the meds on weekends" ONCE...it was TERRIBLE!!! for both him and everyone around him that weekend..lol. So we no longer skip pills. I've even put alarms on my cell phone to remind me when it's time to give him his meds on the weekends.

As to the "not gaining weight". He IS a picky eater...but he's always been that..even before the meds. The dr. closely watches to make sure he's either gainning or staying the same. If he starts to loose weight, then the dr. says they'll have to think about adjusting his dosages. He's a tiny lil guy, but i'm not so sure it's all because of the meds.

[momraine]

I think every kid is different, our son had more add symptoms and less of the H stuff so it was less of a big deal. So it worked for us, of course as I said when he had a whole day with dad (a little less patient than I was) he would take the pill. We were able to take him off of it for summer (except for boy scout camp and vbs) also because he was very stable on his dose. He did not need a second one and he was able to settle down for the end of the day. If you are concerned with the weight talk to the doctors, they will help you make the decisions. For us taking him off was the right one, but it might not be for everyone. Don't feel guilty about doing what is right for your child and your family.

[marythemom]

We have had similar issues with not eating. For the Summer we put our 13 year old daughter on a reduced dose of her Concerta and she gained about 20lbs! Her ADHD is severe (particularly the H) so we couldn't tolerate her being off it completely, but the reduced dose worked well (she did do some school work in the mornings during the Summer so that was another good reason not to go off completely).