Anyone decide not to medicate for ADHD after trying the meds?

[Anonymous]

My DD, who is now 21, was diagnosed with combined type ADHD when she was around seven. She took Ritalin, I believe, for maybe a month and then decided she no longer wanted to take it. She refused to take it for the rest of ES and MS but asked for it during her junior year when she started having a hard time keeping up with the HS workload. She got back on it then and is still taking it in college. She did well in HS, got into a good college, and is doing well at school and at her part-time job (related to her major).

[Anonymous]

mine hated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 7.5 year old DD was diagnosed with ADHD-Combined. She was having a lot of conflict with peers at school and with all of us at home due to emotional dysregulation. She'd also have a hard time staying on task if she didn't like the activity and her working memory was nonexistent. She'd forget what she was supposed to be doing 10 seconds after I told her. It really started to weigh on her and she would say things like, "I'm the one who always causes problems" or "I'm terrible."

We did OT for a while and when that didn't seem to help, we started her on Ritalin. It was a bit of trial and error to find the right dose to even determine if it was doing anything for her. We saw a bit of improvement when we first started but questioned if the mediation was worth it if that's the most we could expect. Turns out, we had to increase the dosage and add a second dose in the afternoons. Complete game changer! Her personality still shines through but she's able to focus and regulate, which is allowing her to change the narrative in her own head about who she is and how she relates to others.

Sorry, DP who tried to reply above but it got messed up. Is your daughter only on Ritalin? We have a child who suffers from emotional dysregulation as part of his adhd, which is much better while on a stimulant. But since he can’t be on a stimulant all day, we’re suffering the rest of the time at home. Mornings and evenings are very challenging. If you don’t mind my asking, how many hours a day is your daughter medicated, and does it impact her appetite or sleep?

PP here. Yes, she’s only on generic Ritalin. She takes a dose at 6:45am and one at 1:45 pm. The mornings can be challenging but the medication kicks in by the time she’s on her way to school. The second dose gets her through the afternoon until dinner. Sometimes evening are tough but it’s usually not too bad. It suppresses her appetite a bit and she lays in bed for about 20-30 minutes longer than before (since she doesn’t get tired as early) but these side effects haven’t been nearly as bad as we thought they might be. It might seem like a long time to be medicated but she does so much better at school and after school (which helps for activities and occasional homework) on this dosage.

Sometimes on weekends we only give her one dose and she does ok. I know some people take med breaks on the weekends but we can’t. It’d be total disruption the whole weekend.