ADHD and medication Holiday?
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Anonymous
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Do you medicated for your child ADHD doing the summer?
Do you keep your child on ADHD meds during the summer months? Our 7th grader started his first year of medication this past school year, and we've seen great improvements in his behavior. Now that summer is here, we aren't sure if we should pause them or keep things consistent. Any advice? |
Anonymous
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We’ve found it is disruptive for child. Coming off of them then beginning again can be rough.
Her brain works better with chemistry and daily tasks including sleep are much better when we stick to the program. In the beginning we tried summers off and she really struggled. |
Anonymous
| Adding, if they need the meds, they need the meds. School or not. |
Anonymous
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Our prescribing psychiatrist said to keep kid on Concerta during summer.
The meds aren’t just for academics. |
Anonymous
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We don’t do a full stop over summer because there are other activities/travel that go better when he’s on meds.
I do skip some weekends (year round) and some summer days when there is. Nothing planned. It hasn’t bothered him to do that and he eats a lot more in those days. Since he is underweight, I like to have some days here and there that help with calorie intake. |
Anonymous
| Our daughter goes off during the summer, but she isn’t on a terribly consistent schedule during the school year either. This really depends on what symptoms you are trying to manage and is very kid dependent. |
Anonymous
| My DS largely goes off Vyvanse during the summer unless we have a specific need. He’s 14 and asks to go off. He’ll restart about a week before school starts. |
Anonymous
| We continue year round. Curbing impulsive behavior, staying focused, and my kid feeling in control of her body are important year round. |
Anonymous
I think this is a great example of the fact that different kids ADHD has different elements, so this will be very kid specific. My kid is not hyperactive and not impulsive, but has acute attention span issues. Some of these are issues year round, others are not so problematic during summer break. |
Anonymous
Hyperactive, and focus was able to control it himself a lot more in elementary school but we noticed how much they helping him now. |
Anonymous
| We went to Japan for a summer so it was all but unavoidable. DC did fine - we noticed he laughed and ate more. It was hard on the rest of the family, though. |
Anonymous
Is he seeing what you are seeing? Does he understand what the meds are for, and how they help him? What side effects is he noticing? How tolerable are they for him? +1 don't fall into the trap of thinking that ADHD meds are only for school. +1 each kid needs something different. Getting your DS to be aware and communicative with you is just as important as your final decision. |
Anonymous
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We medicate for camps and sports. He cannot focus enough to participate and make friends otherwise.
We do not medicate on days when our son has nothing on his schedule and a parent can be with him, i.e. family vacation, holidays, etc. It's hard, but he eats better and responds better to the meds when he goes back on them. It makes sense for him. |
Anonymous
He doesn't mine takings the meds, so he will keep taking them. |
Anonymous
Concerts works differently than a stimulant, so that may play a role. We don’t medicate on weekends, holidays, or summer. My kid is at 2% BMI so we need him to eat, plus he can get along when there are fewer demands on him overall. My BFF never takes a med holiday because she feels like it makes the med less effective. We use a stimulant, so it’s easier to try just skipping a day to see. There are pluses and minuses to both ways. |