Slower swimming with ADHD meds?

[Anonymous]

DS is on ADHD medication. I have noticed he's slower in the morning meets, when the meds are at their peak. Is this possible or is it just my imagination? Anyone else experience this? Not sure if it's worth trying to give medication later in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is on ADHD medication. I have noticed he's slower in the morning meets, when the meds are at their peak. Is this possible or is it just my imagination? Anyone else experience this? Not sure if it's worth trying to give medication later in the morning.

It’s really just guess and check with each child. We thought the same thing for my son because he was getting faster times Monday nights than Saturday mornings. We started giving him his meds at the end of A meets. I maybe helped… it isn’t like he dropped 3 seconds the day we did it. But he likes the way he felt better waiting to take his meds till after the meet.

[Anonymous]

Does he have to be on his meds during summer swim season?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses. I think without the medication during the week, he might start having some behavioral issues as he goes about his normal day. His ADHD is pretty significant. So I think we do need to keep him on the medicine, but maybe we will try giving it to him later in the morning. When his medicine is at its peak, which is right about the time he has morning practices and the A meets, he is calmer but also gets super quiet and almost hyper-focused. Will try it and see how it goes. Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

My son doesn’t swim but races with bikes. He absolutely needs ADHD meds in school and generally in day to day life but insists he can’t take it when he rides. He says it slows him down and he can’t think as fast as he needs to. I don’t know if it’s true or related to this, but I found your post interesting. And to be honest, I’ve never done any research since he’s not that serious with racing and it’s more a fun hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses. I think without the medication during the week, he might start having some behavioral issues as he goes about his normal day. His ADHD is pretty significant. So I think we do need to keep him on the medicine, but maybe we will try giving it to him later in the morning. When his medicine is at its peak, which is right about the time he has morning practices and the A meets, he is calmer but also gets super quiet and almost hyper-focused. Will try it and see how it goes. Thanks so much!

It can be different every year. I’m the poster from above. When my son was 10 he absolutely had to be on his medicine all summer 7 days a week. But he is 12 now and know how to regulate his body better. He went off of most of his medicine for the summer. It is a bad couple days when he goes off, but he is much more in control after day 5 of being off. He can’t take it during the week then not on the weekends like some kids do during school. For all of my friends with kids with adhd, it is an art more than a science. Try different meds or different levels. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Interesting. My son takes his ADHD meds and swims and plays tennis, but he is not a competitive swimmer. He says the meds help play tennis. He's 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My son takes his ADHD meds and swims and plays tennis, but he is not a competitive swimmer. He says the meds help play tennis. He's 9.

Biking mom again. My DS has said his meds help him in other sports and takes them on days he has games or tournaments. But something about riding where he has to anticipate every movement for every second with split second thinking. I don’t race or have ADHD so I don’t understand. I like how the other person said this is more of an art to figure out for each kid. It’s so true.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have experience with ADHD but I have lots of experience with swimming. It might just be that your kid swims faster in the evenings. I was faster at night. Whenever I swam in meets with a morning prelims/evening finals format my goal was just to get into the final knowing I would drop time at night. The difference was significant for me. Before I figured out what I needed to do to swim well enough in the morning, I would be in the consolation finals and swim a time that would’ve been top 3 or 4 in the final heat… very frustrating.

My own child does not have ADHD but they were significantly faster at the evening B meet than the morning A meet this week. I could tell during warmups that he looked tired. Maybe it’s just how some of us are wired. Swimming uses every muscle and everything needs to be firing in order to swim fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have experience with ADHD but I have lots of experience with swimming. It might just be that your kid swims faster in the evenings. I was faster at night. Whenever I swam in meets with a morning prelims/evening finals format my goal was just to get into the final knowing I would drop time at night. The difference was significant for me. Before I figured out what I needed to do to swim well enough in the morning, I would be in the consolation finals and swim a time that would’ve been top 3 or 4 in the final heat… very frustrating.

My own child does not have ADHD but they were significantly faster at the evening B meet than the morning A meet this week. I could tell during warmups that he looked tired. Maybe it’s just how some of us are wired. Swimming uses every muscle and everything needs to be firing in order to swim fast.

That could very well be it too. Normally, my kid is a morning person who has boundless energy the moment his eyes open, but jumping in cold-ish water that early is another thing entirely. Could be a combo of things. We'll try giving the medication later in the morning and see if it helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have experience with ADHD but I have lots of experience with swimming. It might just be that your kid swims faster in the evenings. I was faster at night. Whenever I swam in meets with a morning prelims/evening finals format my goal was just to get into the final knowing I would drop time at night. The difference was significant for me. Before I figured out what I needed to do to swim well enough in the morning, I would be in the consolation finals and swim a time that would’ve been top 3 or 4 in the final heat… very frustrating.

My own child does not have ADHD but they were significantly faster at the evening B meet than the morning A meet this week. I could tell during warmups that he looked tired. Maybe it’s just how some of us are wired. Swimming uses every muscle and everything needs to be firing in order to swim fast.

That could very well be it too. Normally, my kid is a morning person who has boundless energy the moment his eyes open, but jumping in cold-ish water that early is another thing entirely. Could be a combo of things. We'll try giving the medication later in the morning and see if it helps.

Yeah my kid is generally a morning person too but I do think jumping in cold water is different from just about anything else. I know I am less flexible in the morning, especially in cold water, and that is a big part of swimming. If he's still young it might be hard for him to just mentally push through less than optimal conditions. Hopefully we are done with the cold water days now that we will have consistently warm temps this week. But definitely worth playing with the timing of the meds, even if it does nothing other than make him feel better.