Well, I’m not taking Adderall (I’m on Ritalin) and I am not 9 years old (I’m 30 years old) and I notice that when I’m off my meds I’m “worse” too.

I attribute this to the stark difference between me medicated, and me au natural. Friends and family noticed. They said it was a DRASTIC difference. Which made me feel terrible, and apologize to everyone for my increasingly bad behavior over the last few years that I went undiagnosed and untreated for my ADHD.

So yeah, my opinion is that it’s not actually worse, it just seems like that because when your son is on the meds, he’s “normal” right? And you almost forget how bad it was without the medication. So when he’s not taking it, he’s only back to his untreated self and it seems worse.

I agree with Lissa. It’s relative. You have to decide what you and your child can live with. My son loved being free of meds while I watched him bounce off walls. Fun personality and happy,happy but hard to controll and would not stop talking.

Doctors today seem to think every day is better for a variety of reasons.

I have always felt that the key to deciding is disability.
If he was running around the house and playing I did not care.  But if there was an activity, a long car ride or some other activity that better behavior was required than we medicated, sometimes at a lower dose.

Listen to the doctor and do what you think is best. Moms know best and you have to live with the decision the doctors don’t.

We hated seeing a zombie but on a long car trip we would have gone crazy with out the meds.

Good luck
Augie
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I’m on Adderall XR (I’m 57) and take it 7 days a week.  I find that I am able to think/concentrate better and attend to what I am doing, at the present time.  It also makes me feel calmer, which I need, as I also am a very anxious person.  When I’ve tried being off of the med. on weekends, I’ve found that my irritability increases and my focus decreases.  I think that taking the med. every day helps one’s body adjust to the medication easier and it stays in one’s system better.  Hope that helps.

My son has been on Adderall or Ritilan since he was 9…now 14.  He doesn’t take his meds on the weekends or in the summer unless he is going somewhere where he wants to remain ‘calm’ and not be super excitable.  Yes, he is like a driven moter that doesnt shut off, but I don’t mind the bouncy, happy attitude UNLESS we are somewhere it isn’t appropriate…then we medicate. Now that he’s older, I don’t have to even tell him when the right times to take it are…he knows himself. So,of course your son is going to be over the top on the weekends when he doesn’t take meds….thats the whole reason he was put on them in the first place!  Try half a pill/capsule, which may be enough for weekends…but, don’t expect the meds from the school week to last throughout the weekend to…

My 11 yr old son is on BiPhentin. He takes it 7 days a week. His ADHD doesn’t take a vacation !  If you were on meds for diabeaties would you stop taking it on the weekend?  Why is ADHD any different?

Hi Stacy,
Many Dr’s and others will tell you that, he isn’t really worse when he is off the meds, it is just that you have gotten used to the better behavior and attention.Or that you are just seeing how much he “needs” the medication. We have found this to be untrue. I have found (and our Dr agrees) that his body gets used to being on the medication and becomes dependent on the medication. Therefore when he is off on the weekends his behavior and hyperactivity are much worse than they were before he ever took meds.  When we took him off for Christmas break, it took him about a week before he was back to his ” normal” off meds self. This is one of the things I hate the most about him being on the medication, I feel there is definitely an addiction factor. But the medication helps him so much at school that we continue to use it during the school week. We give him a break whenever he is not in school so that he will eat and gain weight, and sleep better. Also I think this dependency and rebound behavior is not true for every child.

I’m in agreement with the feedback you have received about the perception that he’s worse being a matter of perception - comparing on med behavior to off med.  And nowadays it is recommended that the medications be taken even on off days. If any comparison is to be done it would be comparing off-med to pre-med.

As a therapist and ADD coach, I also explain to people that while medication is great, behavioral intervention is important as well to help the person develop new habits and also to get a sense of self-efficacy so that they can give themselves at least partial credit for the changes they make, instead of “I’m bad, medication makes me good”.  And SOME people do manage to eventually do well off meds (which they may still take in more challenging situations).

I agree with BWoods. My daughter was diagnosed w/ ADHD-distractable type which means there was no hyperactive component to her behavior.  She has been on meds, when she goes off she now has a hyperactivity component to her behavior.  It is not severe but she is aware of it and now, at 16, she chooses most of the time to be on the meds over weekends and breaks.  We do have a lower dose option available for her for times she doesn’t have to be “on” which is nice.  Her brother is 13 and he loves his hyper non-medicated self but he gets tired of getting in trouble off his meds so he too has decided most of the time its better to be on then off. I think it is a maturity thing and they all develop a sense of when its right and not. Check into the lower dose option for weekends.

My daughter was diaginosed with adhd at age 5, and currenlty uses adderallxr. She uses it Everyday. I tried the weekends/special occasions without meds…didnt work. I went to a class given by CHADD to better understand ADHD and the impact it had on my daughter, our family, and life for a child who has ADHD. What I learned is that although my daughter will have ADHD for the rest of her life, it is a disorder that is manageable with medications and behavior management. So, I learned and taught her that like grandma and the rest of the world, medications are sometimes necessary in order to have a full life, a life with quality. Is it easy? No way. She’s a teen now and wants to know why is she DIFFERENT?! But, when she meets other teens who are also using medications to make the disorders/disabilities manageable, these peers speak words of wisdom to her that I could never think of. And more often than not, she is taking her medicine so that she can “show up” at 100%. It’s difficult, but when they get it, Whew!!

Hi All,
I am a special education teacher and a mother to a 9 year old son with ADHD. He has been on medication since kindergarten. It was a tough descision but it was the right one for him. My doctor explained to us that giving the weekends off may make it harder on him, he said it would be like resetting the clock every Monday for him and he may get some of the intial side effects like a stomache pains or a headaches. We have kept my son on his medicine on weekends and summers and to me it just seemed like a safety issue to have him off it when he was riding his bike, at the beach or a friends house. He has missed a pill here or there but now he says he wants it if we give him a choice. Except on Thanksgiving when he wants to eat with the rest of us. What I am doing now is not upping his dose and trying to use more behavioral techniques to teach him some self monitoring skills. Wish me luck middle school is right around the corner!

I have a ten year old son and I take him off his medication on the weekends. I definitely see a difference from when he is on the medication, but he is not worse. He has been on Vyvanse for several years. We had tried Adderall with no success and significant weight loss. Vyvanse has been the only medication that has improved his attention without a lot of side effects. My son also sees a therapist that teaches him behavior modification, so that he can learn to control his attention and impulsiveness without relying on solely on medication. I think it is important for all parents to realize the medication is not a cure all. Make adjustments to diet and find a good pediatrician and an excellent therapist. That is what has made an extreme difference for us.

At first I had my 10 year old only take his concerta when he went to school.  The weekends starting getting stressful for me and I noticed that my son would eat a TON of sweets when not taking his medication.

So, a few months ago he started taking it every day and things are working out just fine.

I agree with several parents!  However, I find myself leaning more towards staying on meds 7 days a week.  We tried weekends off but my son, 10 yrs old, was off the walls.  I am worried about the comments concerning the side effects of his growth being stunted.  I know there aren’t “proven” research based facts but it still concerns me.  Anyone heard anything or have any advice.  His dad and I are both over 6 foot tall and he is in line to very tall.  I would hate to think because I choose medication he didn’t reach his full potential.  Hopefully this makes sense.

I think the key here is that each child is different and that you have to find the right balance for your child.  And keep in mind that the balance may have to be adjusted as your child grows and matures.  I have a 14 year-old daughter who was diagnosed at 8.  We are continually reevaluating what works for her.  We talk about the pros and cons of when to take her meds and how much to take.  She plays a big role in the decisions so that eventually, she will make the most healthy decisions for herself.  Finding the right balance of medication, counseling, exercise and nutrition is much more of an art than a science.  Good luck to all!

Do you have an exit strategy for your child? This is a problem. When will it end?

It can lead to the child growing up and trying to fill that “med void” with unhealthy choices. This happened to me, I don’t think my parents or Doctor’s at the time thought about this. Of course, all the “experts” at the time were wrong, in that they thought children would “grow out of add”. That does not happen for an extimated 70 percent of us.

i was on adderall 7 days out of the week. why would you take him off of it for the weekend.? i am stopping taking it because of the side effects. if he has no side effects than he should be on it for all seven. if the problem is that you want to cut back for some reason, i would talk to his doctor and ask him the best way to cut back. i had my adderall cut in half and then cut again and now on tuesday it will be my last day. i am going to see if eating better and sleeping better works and if it does not work, i am going on a non narcotic medication. adderall is like speed. however, i hear it works different for children. if it was my child, i would not have him on that. i put my child on ritalin when he was a child.

My son takes Adderall too.  I think he is much worse when he is off his meds.  I hate it, but I give him a break because he is Sooo skinny and he eats much more when he isn’t on it.  It tends to give him a headache when he starts taking it again, but it’s sort of a no win situation.  Eating is important, not getting in trouble at school is important, focus is important, how to you even it out?

My daughters have been taking Ritalin full-time for about 5 years after being diagnosed about 3 years previous to this and we wouldn’t have survived without it.  They are on it permanently and when they don’t take it their behaviour means that they just get into trouble which doesn’t make anyone feel good.  They are monitored by the doctor to make sure they are healthy and their weight and height is monitored also.  As they are now in the middle of their teens there is some peer pressure to come off medication.  I do not see this as an option at least whilst they are in education but I would like them to have some counselling and therapy to help understand ADHD and perhaps strategies to help living with ADHD and wonder if the above Therapist or someone can help me to locate a psychologist/therapist preferably in the Dorset area?