Removing All Doubt/Med Holidays | ADHD Information
Thanks, OlderMom. It was a very eye-opening experience.I just wanted to let you know my experience with stopping meds. We stopped Ritalin (ritalin based meds...) last year. The way your children behave when you first stop meds is not indicative of how they would be completely off meds. There is a rebound for about 3-4 weeks when your children are coming off the stimulants. My son was SUPER hyper, especially the first week without meds. Please don't think your children will always be like that if you give a med holiday (such as for the summer). If you and your child can get thru the first few weeks, you will then see how your children are off meds.
My child behaved like you described if we didn't give meds for a weekend, and I just knew that he wasn't that hyper before we started meds.
My son has been off for a year now and is much more calm than he was during those short lived med breaks.
I just wanted to add that it is very apparent when my stepson has not had his medication and very troubling to all around him, as well as to him. I think your case of your son saying that he was trying to control himself and not grab things from others is very indicative of why children need the help they need. He noticed that something wasn't right and he didn't like the reaction he got throughout the day....how can a child learn basic things day-to-day when they can't even stop themselves from grabbing things from others (pure impulsivity)? This just supports my theory that untreated ADHD can be killer for kids in the long run. Just my opinion and
Our DS, age 7, took half of his prescribed dose of Ritalin LA on Monday, and did not take his afternoon short-acting Ritalin.
If we ever had any doubt that this ADHD diagnosis is for real, or that the meds help, Monday erased them all.
I tried to explain how it was to my mother, but all I could keep saying was "He was, oh, my God, just so, oh, my God ...." And I kept thinking "He will not survive to adulthood without help!"
Just crashing through every object in a 6-foot radius, moving so FAST and making absolutely no progress on anything he was trying to do, flitting back and forth and up and down, grabbing things from others, stuffing food in his mouth, you name it. Couldn't stand in one place let alone sit down.
I was reduced to just yelling "STOP" over and over again, hoping to stall the process and catch a breath. There was no way to get ahead of him enough to offer guidance, give discipline, or even get through to him with a punishment.
I had actually sort of forgotten how it was pre-meds.
The worst part was he was so frustrated because he realized he was doing things he didn't want to be doing (grabbing things from others, etc.) and immediately apologized, and then immediately did it again! By the end of the day he was so mad because "everyone has been telling me to stop or slow down, or control myself all day and I can't!"
Needless to say, we're back on the regularly prescribed regimen and the last two days have been vastly improved. He even said school was his favorite thing yesterday.
What a rollercoaster.
Hey, don't be discouraged! Your son needs meds and so do people with diabetes, epilepsy, high blood pressure etc. It's great that he does so well on meds and has found a way to live a functional life. And you're a great mom for providing him with the aid that he needs :)My son's doctor now believes that med holidays are not in the best interest for the long term. He use to encourage them. He says that research is starting to point out that if you take small dosages continually that you might eventually out grow the need for medications later in life. He said that playing around with off and on dosages is proving to harder on the individual's system. I'm new at all of this and this is at least what I thought I understood him to say.
hawks,
I'm interested in why 3-4 weeks to get over the rebound? I know the actual medication is gone from the system pretty quickly. Do you think the adjustment was psychological/emotional, or does it seem more like a physical adjustment to pre-med levels?
Just curious.
One thing that I noticed is that the hyper behavior on med holidays is greater than pre-med days and this "hyper" behavior will last for a few days...then things tend to settle down somewhat4myson- I could not have said that any better. Thanks for your supportive perspective.if my son was not so thin I would not do med vacations...he needs the time off the meds to gain weight...when he is on a med vacation, we stay active and he is in my sight at all timesBPQW....I think that it is a matter of opinion. If your child is a danger to himself and others you can't predict what life for that individual will be. Sustaining a quality healthy and productive life is very much important for the well being of an individual (Educationally and mentally). I understand all too well the other diseases as both my parents suffer from lung and heart disease as well as diabetes. My son can not regulate his impulsive behaviors without some help. His father can not regulate his impulsive behaviors without some help. On a personal note my ex abused me physically and verbally when he wasn't on his medications. If my ex hadn't had the help of medication who knows where I would be today or for that matter where he would be today. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I do think medications can sustain the quality of life for someone who suffers from AD/HD behaviors or other mental related categories. Just food for thought.I forgot to say and sustain the life of an individual that is on the other end of the spectrum.
TillyT- It's sounds like you were in our house! There was much question by family and teachers whether my son really has ADHD. Well those questions were all answered when we did a med change that didn't go as smoothly as expected. You're post made me smile when you referred to trying to explain it to your mom. I know that feeling. My son was running laps around the kitchen table saying just one more lap, gotta do just one more! I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Med finally stabilize and life got back to our normal.
Our doctor has also said NO med holidays. Would you put a diabetic on a med holiday?
paeggs ,
I like the analogy you used. "Would you put a diabetic on a med holiday? "
This helps me to put a better perspective on the whole idea.
Tilly, ADHD meds are stimulants, class 1 drugs. If you took a person off the street who was used to taking amphetamines every day and made them stop after only one day of a half-dose, you would see a person in painful and frustrating withdrawls. Yes, the stimulants help children focus and, counter-intuitively, calm down, but nonetheless, they are "on" stimulants. (Please don't anyone call me an anti-meds troll because my son has taken them and will again, if needed. )
Also, Paeggs, I have to respond to the comparison of adhd meds and insulin. A diabetic must have their meds or die. My mother cannot regulate her blood sugar and will die without insulin. My son will not die without adhd meds; they are not necessary for the continued function of his body. Insulin is necessary, as is air for an asthmatic. High blood pressure can cause heart attack and stroke, epileptics (like my nephew) can cause car crashes (also like my nephew) or worse if they have a siezure. ADHD meds address very specific and detrimental deficiencies, but they do not sustain life.
joemom, I respect your decision and wish you and your son well.
4myson,
I agree that the meds do improve the quality of life for a lot of people suffering from various things, but they do not sustain life. ADHD meds are not necessary for the biological act of living. Comparing them to insulin or other such medications is like comparing apples and oranges. And I believe that this is not only my opinion, it is a medical fact. If there exists a situation where a person died from the lack of Adderall or whatever, I'd be extremely interested in reading about it. I feel strongly about this because once we accept the idea that ADHD meds are, in fact, a biological necessity to our children's lives, I feel that many people would lose the drive to continue searching for better resolutions and more information.
TillyT - just saw your question - I'm really not sure why it was 3 -4 weeks, but thats what happened in our case. Some of it was definitely physical, there were times he was litterally shaking in front of me (that sounds worse than it was, but he just couldn't stop moving). I had him go for a jog... But also some of it was probably him learning to control his impulses again. Please don't think I'm anti-med, because I am not. However, when we stopped my sons meds it was as if he never learned to control himself. He pretty much reverted to his behaviors of a 2nd grader (when he was in 4th). The school and I worked hard to have him relearn social graces (such as hands to himself and not crawling under desks).
The great thing about the med break for us was that prior to the med break my son was becoming more and more aggressive. I thought it was the ADHD (thats what his doc told me when I mentioned it). I thought the meds weren't working. I was wrong, it was actually a side effect of the med. While he was on the meds he had fights with other boys constantly. We stopped the stims the end of May, and by July he was no longer fighting at all. He was playing with lots of other kids at the beach completely appropriately. He hasn't had a fist fight since. I never would have known the aggression was a side effect if I hadn't given him a med holiday.
I also realized that alot of his hyperactivity had gone away. Thats when I decided to start school without meds and see what happened. Also during that summer he grew 2 inches and gained 14 pounds (a much needed weight gain). He looked so much healthier - that is why I wanted to see how school went. He's made it all the way thru 5th grade with decent grades and NO discipline problems. (Sure's he's been occasionally disciplined, but he had no major problems at all - huge progress for him).
I agree that short med breaks (a day or two) are probably not a good idea. But a long med break like the summer can lead to some interesting observations about how the child has progressed. I've noticed alot changes between the ages of 7 and 10.
hawks292138878.383125I doubt very much that my daughter will outgrow it, as the doctors have pretty much all agreed that she is a "classic textbook case." She remains a rather hyper, spirited child with the medications, although they take the edge off so that she can learn in school. She is also not in as much danger of seriously injuring herself when medicated. My daughter realizes this, and will even tell the doctors not to change her medications. I doubt very much that I could ever convince her to take a break from them. We have been through a couple of trial medication changes that have been horrible experiences. They even frightened her.
Like Ogram, I also have it. Looking back, I believe that my mother has always had it, but was never officially diagnosed. She has also always had the symptoms of Generalized Anxiety disorder, but has only recently begun treatment for it, as it has worsened with age. At 87, she has what they are calling "mild dementia," but I have to wonder if it is ADD that has worsened with age. I also have some anxiety symptoms, but not to the extent that my mother and daughter do. My husband's mother has also always taken medication for her "nerves." So it is more than likely genes rather than meds causing the anxiety. There are also other people on my husband's side of the family that I have to wonder about, although they have never been diagnosed to my knowledge.
Hawks, I am very happy to hear that this situation has worked out well for you, and that your son is doing well without the medication. That is great! I just do not feel that the risk would be in my daughter's best interest at this time.
Children do not outgrow Adhd but as they get older, when treated properly and with maturity, the behaviors tone down but that also depends on personal circumstances and the nature of the environment. Whether the child is medicated or not, by the onset of puberty the child who was normally bouncing off the walls who is strictly Adhd more times than not will settle down significantly. Children with Adhd are two to three years behind maturity wise and while children in general are changing and maturing as they go through different stages of development, the rate of emotional growth is slower for the Adhd child so they cant be compared to the non Adhd'er who is in the same age bracket. As children get older the challenges and demands in life become more difficult due to peer pressure and being expected to be more responsible so the intervention plan may have to be changed or reevaluated so what works at 8 or 9 may not work in the teen years.
Some children can come off medication at a certain point if they learn to compensate for their limitations and are able to deal with the struggles that are put upon them as a result of having Adhd and then there are some they can't. Its all very individual but either way its all good as long as they are experiencing quality of life and meeting their full potential.
I am an adult and I take adderall for my ADHD. I know I am better off either taking my meds regularly or not taking them at all for quite a while.
When I got on meds, it took a while to drop my automatic coping mechanisms. I had to unlearn the habits of triple checking everything. I had to learn that I could read a sentence and understand it the first time, and automatically rereading was unnecessary. I also had to learn to recognize WHEN my meds were going to be wearing off and put the "safety net" back on my behavior.
I know kids are somewhat different, but I imagine being on/off meds is similar for em.
BPQW: I am extremely suprised that someone has not responded to your claim that if you take a person off the street and remove them from their methamphetamine addiction that it is similar to a child coming off of their stimulants. No way no how. Physical addiction to meth is very different from tolerance from taking extended stimulant therapy. The doses that meth addicts are taking are no where near what is therapeutically prescribed to ADD/ADHD kids. They are not addicted to the drug and do not suffer withdrawls as a meth addict would. Stimulants are quickly removed from the body and the effects are very short term, some rebound effects occur in kids when they initially come off of a medication but it should not last for more than a day or two. Addiction is a whole different "disease"My
I am a firm believer in the physiological causes of ADD/ADHD and I believe that kids need chemical treatment for a chemical disorder and they need this treatment 24/7 just as a diabetic needs their insulin. They don't necessarily need this treatment in the same way, but without it, learning is difficult, reigning in impulsivity is difficult and life is difficult. Why make it harder? Apples to oranges and lemons to limes, but still all fruits. well said chuckles
BPQW - I find your lack of understanding about the comparison of our meds to something as essential as insulin a bit troubling.
It certainly CAN be a lifesaver. My parents nearly gave me up for foster care when I was a child (it was the 70s and we were unaware of the available treatments). Many times a child with ADHD can be so difficult to deal with that the quality of life is nearly nil.
If you don't like the comparison of insulin to our meds - then try something like meds for herpes. Except for some cases herpes is rarely fatal - but very dehibilitating. Meds for herpes keep outbreaks down and that makes quality of life for them much much better. Same with ADHD meds.
Why would anyone wish their child to have to suffer the equivalent of this by withholding meds? No meds means in many cases chaos and an agony of trying to deal with behavior that ranges from troubling to downright impossible to deal with .
Quality of life is almost as important as life itself. Where there are options to not take them can be a form of abuse in my opinion. Once a person is educated and understands all the ways to deal with ADHD then choices need to be made.
Where there are options to not take them can be a form of abuse in my opinion.
Glen, you can't be serious. It is abusive to not give your child a class one, addictive drug?! This thread is making me sound very anti-med, which I am not, but let's be honest. We're not talking about cold medicine or even antibiotics here. We're talking about meds that need to be monitored every month. That's not just so some Dr. can get rich off your office visits. And I wasn't trying to get into a med vs. non-med debate. I know there are other places for that. I was giving my opinion about why children have a hard time coming off the meds and responding to the comparison of adhd meds to biologically necessary meds like insulin. The fact is that you will not die without adhd meds, but a diabetic will die without insulin. You make it sound like, if a subjective measure of the quality of life could be made, and it is found lacking somehow, that person should just cash it in. That is a bit troubling to me.
I have to agree with Glen to some extent (as usual, because he has good points). My belief is that if you have the option to do for your children something that can drastically improve their quality of life in the long run and you choose not to do it, it is neglect of your childs basic needs. Every parent struggles with doing the right thing, but there are so many cases of where meds, given as prescribed by a physician, improve quality of life and every option should be tried. There have been cases where people have refused to give their child other treatments for various disorders and the parents have been accused of neglecting their children's needs....chemotherapy for cancer, blood transfusions, anti-depressants etc. I always think to myself, what would my stepson say when he was older if we didn't pursue treatment for his ADHD and I am confident that he would be angry at having lost out on a productive, safe, healthy, happy childhood. The benefits outweigh the risks.My husband, now in adulthood, was diagnosed just a year ago with ADD...oh the anger he had because for many years he just felt he was a waste of space, he was depressed, felt that he was just lazy and that if he worked harder some day he would "get it". He did horribly in school, did well on tests but could not complete daily work and went down the wrong path. My husband self-medicated with alcohol and drugs to calm the chatter in his head. He didn't realize the potential because he was living in a cloud his whole life. He says now with treatment, the cloud has lifted. He can focus, engage in conversations, study for school, finish making a pot of coffee. I feel sad wondering what he could have been if he had been treated sooner. Thankfully, he holds no anger and is very zen about the situation, just grateful that he can succeed and still has much more life left to live this way. I want that for my kids and will do anything to give them a productive, happy life.
ADHD does not result in death, you are correct, but some of the consequences of non-treatment do....self-medicating, low self-esteem, depression and the like....don't you want for your kids the most productive, highest quality of life they can have? What will they say to you when they are older? Will they be happy with the decision you made, knowing all the consequences? That is up to each parent to weigh.
You're right, it is absolutely up to each parent to weigh what is best for their child, and that is why, when my child is older and he asks why we did or didn't do XYZ, I will be able to answer with a clear conscience that we did what we felt was best for his health and well-being. And deciding or not to use meds doesn't mean that we will wash our hands of his adhd and ignore it. On the contrary, it will cause us to be even more diligent and responsible for his well-being and success, to redouble our efforts to make sure that he is successful and feels good about those successes.
Again, things like chemotherapy are for LIFE-THREATENING illnesses.
And again, I am not trying to debate the meds/no meds issue. I'm just trying to express my perspective that there are meds for life-threatening illnesses and their are meds that are not (albeit some may feel they improve the quality of life, they do not sustain it.) Comparing them clouds the issue and leads to a slippery slope.
Reisa,Thanks for sharing what I was going to say.
BPQB, I know you are doing what you feel is right for your child as we are doing what we feel is right for our children. I respect you for that.
I think the debate lies in the interpretation of "sustain life, with the help of drugs." You mentioned earlier that their are no proven cases of people who died because of the lack of taking these medicines. I don't have the proof, but I would have to say that in a world like ours there is probably something to argue your thoughts research wise.
I do know that I recently had a friend whose 26 year old sonhad ad/hd and was gifted. Which by the way I had as a student when he was 10. He was crying for help then. He committed suicide because he never could get a grasp on life. His mother mourns the decisions she made with him growing up. She wishes that she had done things differently with him as a child for his ad/hd .There were other issues too, but ad/hd was a major component. She can't go back and erase but she can get her message out to other parents. She isn't anti-med or pro-med. She just wants people to know that life is too precious and too short. She wants people to stop and think about their actions when it comes to the well being of their children. This case might not be documented in some book, but it is a cold hard fact.
Again, I'm not trying to say you are wrong, as I'm not saying I or anyone else is right on this subject. I shared very openly earlier in this post about my ex and son as well as in this post about a friend and past student. Not easy for me to do. I speak only from my heart and have no research to back my thoughts.
Actually, chemotherapy is used for the management of several non- life threatening illness to control symptoms that cause pain and suffering. In smaller doses they are used to treat autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.Forgot to tell you that we don't do med breaks. my son's neuropsy says, for him, med breaks are out of the question. I would not want to put my son through that. He's fine with meds, but w/out them he is a talking running machine. lol
food for thought - children that don't do meds are more likely to break the law (I don't remember what the exact static is, but I do remember reading it some where. and the article said that more children in juvenile detention centers have adhd then not.)
BQ or whatever else, I take issue with you. Untreated disorders can lead to suicide. They can sustain life. I totally disagree with you. Whether a disorder causes a person to become so despondant they take their life or lack of insulin takes your life, it's still a life. So I would disagree with your take on things. ADHD meds are addictive if you abuse them. My daughter did. She wasn't exactly taking them as prescribed. A typical drug addict off the street is taking a bunch and crushing them in a pillcrushers and snorting them with cocaine. It's a ridiculous comparison.Kids change drastically between the ages of 6 and 9 and older. If you never do an extended med break (like during summers) how will you ever know if your child is one of the 30% who eventually outgrows the ADHD? And how would you know if the OCD or anxiety is heightened by the meds? (It did for my son).
My son seems to have outgrown the hyper and imulsive behavior, but the bad part is that if I didn't gut out the first 4-6 weeks of rebound I never would have known how great he can do without them. Thats the only reason I post my experiences, that maybe someone sees what happened and it may help them. Just food for thought.
hawks292138882.7321875How old is she and what sort of doctor does she see? What do you suspect she has besides ADHD? My daughter is now 9, and the above incident happend when she was about 6. She sees our MD for her medications, but he works under the advice of a child pschologist who is in a city about 2 hours away who sees her quarterly. She has Generalized Anxiety Disorder along with the ADHD, and some possible OCD traits. She has also been evaluated by a by a team of doctors from the Child Specialty Clinic at the University of Iowa Medical Center, and a local pediatrician. All seem to be in agreement with the diagnosis.When my son is not on his medication, his ADHD can be so over the top (hyperactivity and lack of impulse control) that what I'm always thinking is "he'll never survive to adulthood this way."His coordination is gone, plus he's moving 80 miles an hour and not thinking about consequences. I just know he'd throw himself off a bridge someday just to try it.
I have seen some studies saying that kids with ADHD who use medication treatment are less likely to be in car accidents than kids with ADHD and no medication treatment. Ditto for substance abuse.
So actually the driving force for using medication for us is that it IS a survival issue. Big time.
i could not agree more, tillyt!! I just don't think my son would survive to adulthood either. adhd kids have a higher pain tolerance. He has had 7 sets of tubes in his ears. Tonsils and adenoids removed. he never ran fever or pulled at his ears. We would know when he had puss and blood coming out of his ears. We had to medicate the adhd to have him sit still enough to let the doctor's look in his ears. that is the only reason we started meds he was almost 3. Man, when he was on the meds i could not believe the difference! Man, I didn't want to torture MYSELF any more. He's been on meds ever since and has hearing loss because of the severity of the infections and surgeries. If that's not a good reason to medicate, i don't know what is.
BPQW wrote:If there exists a situation where a person died from the lack of Adderall or whatever, I'd be extremely interested in reading about it. I feel strongly about this because once we accept the idea that ADHD meds are, in fact, a biological necessity to our children's lives
Your entitled to your opinion but Adhd medication was a necessity to my son's life. I feel strongly that he might have died had I not put him on medication as his impulsive behavior caused him to dart out into the street into busy traffic, try to jump from buildings, get in my car and try to drive it, throw rocks at cars passing by, try to dive from my deck which was 20 feet high into my pool and this was at age 7. Yes, I was a stay at home Mom and watched him constantly but I didnt have enough eyes and legs as he was faster than a speeding bullet. Adhd medication did save his life in combination with other interventions and while you have your own perspective, you don't walk in the shoes of others.
Today my son is a young adult and while he still has his struggles, he is living and thriving instead of existing or dying from street drugs and all other types of risky behaviors. A parent knows their child best and what type of treatment has the promise of bringing their child quality of life. No, children don't die due to lack of Adhd medication but they could get severely injured or die due to the impulsivity and inattentive behavior that is indicative of Adhd when Adhd is gone untreated.
I have thought about doing a med holiday with my daughter this summer, so that she could gain weight. However, I decided against it. She is so impulsive, I am afraid she would seriously injure herself without the medication. Prior to her starting the medication, she was so wild, running back and forth through the house, up and down the stairs. She would not stop, no matter how many times I told her to, or how many time-outs she received. Finally, one day, she fell headfirst down a flight of 24 stairs. I had been trying for several years to get her diagnosed, but the professionals kept telling me that she was too young to diagnose. Finally, after the stairs incident, I told our MD, either you medicate her, or put me on something to control my nerves so that I can deal with her! I left with an Adderall prescription for her.
Our MD really does not believe in medication holidays. Looking back to this experience, there is no way that I would put her-or myself-through this experience again.
[QUOTE=hawks2921]Kids change drastically between the ages of 6 and 9 and older. If you never do an extended med break (like during summers) how will you ever know if your child is one of the 30% who eventually outgrows the ADHD? And how would you know if the OCD or anxiety is heightened by the meds? (It did for my son).
My son seems to have outgrown the hyper and imulsive behavior, but the bad part is that if I didn't gut out the first 4-6 weeks of rebound I never would have known how great he can do without them. Thats the only reason I post my experiences, that maybe someone sees what happened and it may help them. Just food for thought.
[/QUOTE]
that is really some thing to think about. But my son's neuropsy says my son's adhd is "true form". so that means he will NOT out grow his adhd. and even if the dr didn't tell me that, I know it in my heart. I have it and both sets of grand fathers have it. I don't know if i believe a child will out grow adhd or not, but you are so lucky that it has worked for you! You are VERY lucky to see that.
Don't get me started on illnesses
. I have chronic pancreatitis. Yes, that's right. I have had it for 8 years. Not life threatening in the beginning (is now, though), but painful. In order to moderate the pain, I have to take enzymes. PANCREATIC ENZYMES. They are not to stay alive, but helps with my quality of life. You cannot possible compare a child that is adhd and on medications to a drug addict off the street. that is just about the most nutty thing I have ever read on here. We are not talking about dope heads. We are talking about children like mine, that could not slow down enough to talk or tell me he was sick. 
Med breaks are good for some, bad for others. 
We all agree with that. but don't you dare compare my adhd son to a dope head on the street. REALLY, you don't mean that. Tell me it was a BAD analogy. Other wise i have one thing to say to you, the children that are un medicated are over 50% more likely to be drug addicts.
I'd rather give my son medications that are moderated by is doctor then have him self medicating at age 15. Sorry, you just hit a nerve. I don't mean to sound so harsh, but that is a bad analogy. Thanks everyone for all the openness and varied opinions. My son was diagnoised last year, he's now 8. I was encouraged by my doctor to have med holidays but have experienced rebound on weekend breaks. I now feel that over the holidays I will keep him on meds and am happy with my decision, as he will be happy, mix well and have fun, like an 8 year old should.Way to be, Ogram!
Obviously, this parent "BPQW" has no idea what an ADHD person experiences without any treatment. It has been stated in this forum countless times how young and old have been "blessed" with a remedy to this condition.
BPQW.....please re-think your position. If you know your child has difficulties that are "more than usual" for someone their age-
Trust me...I was given a different diagnosis when I was in elementary school. "If he would only pay attention, and not attempt to entertain the class"...."When he decides to apply himself, he will excel...he is such a bright young man...."
Guess what?...there was no ADHD in the sixties! Nobody knew what was the difference. I later got tranquilizers forced on me (by psychiatrists that meant well)
Six months at a time- behind locked doors...trying to find a remedy to this hyperactive, impulsive individual. Only to be released in a "zombie" state and to return when medications were tapered down and discontinued.
My father witnessed all this- he was an MD (Ophthalmologist) He and my Mom died a little over a year ago, and never saw me find any help for my type of lifestyle. They saw me in & out of the VA Hospital. Yes, even the Air Force played the medicine game on me - same outcome. Six months of trying everything, then settling on Thorazine overdosage 1200 Mg per day. That's correct- Six 200 Mg tablets before bedtime. This puts most folks in a comatose state....asleep 24/7 .
Now I am taking this "class 1 narcotic". My wife and stepsons no longer have to worry about me flying off the handle..quitting a job at the wink of an eye, trading vehicles every year.... the list goes on and on.
Please listen to all of the folks answering your posts here. I sincerely hope you wish your child a better future. If the medication doesn't help- then by all means, keep them away from your child. But please give your child a bright tomorrow.
I am just so thankful that I stumbled across this "ADHD" topic, and researched it. Otherwise, I would still be "bouncing off the walls".