Does anyone else find that the longer your child is on a stimulant, the worse and more exagerated the symptoms are when unmedicated?
My 8 year old dd began adderall XR 3 years ago when in K. She was diagnosed with combined type but definitely struggles with the hyperactivity the most. When she began we saw no rebound at all for the first 6 months then we started noticing that in the morning before her meds kicked in and at night after they wore off her behavior was way worse than before starting meds. It seems like the longer she is on these meds the worse her unmedicated behavior becomes. I panic that her med will wear off while she is out somewhere around friends because she is like a different child and SOO hyper/silly/impulsive, not a good recipie for social success! LOL Sleepovers are next to impossible because of her morning antics. The adderall has helped so much overall but I feel like it has created this need for her to be medicated 24/7 that was not there before.
We took her off the adderall for 4 weeks each the past 2 summers. Both times we never really felt like she ever got back to her pre-adderall behavior. The first 2 weeks off the meds were awful and the 2nd two weeks just okay. The first summer the break really did help with the rebound when she began her meds again. The next summer it did not.
Does anyone else have experience with this? If you stop meds in the summer, how long does it take to see the "rebound" completely go away. I think I read someone here say it took her son 6 weeks. And how do you handle the unmedicated times during schoolyear and summer?
FYI: She recently switched to Daytrana b/c the adderall stopped working so well. It seems she developed a tolerance to it. We are hopeful to return to the adderall soon. It just seems the "best " drug for her.
Sorry for such a long post and thanks for all the great input and support!
Jo