My son is on a medication break. This would be his first in 3 years. I have to say it isn't going so well. He's been off meds a week today. I don't know how much longer I can stand it, really. it isn't so much that he's "bad" I just can't tolerate the constant movement and talking. It's almost non-stop, unless he's sleeping or chewing food.
I agree with the others...It's all a matter of what works best for you and your family. And if breaking on holidays or weekends works for you then I say go for it. It's a great time to let them get caught up on eating.
[QUOTE=Diane V] this is why some people do take med breaks and also why some dont. ...... This is a personal choice. What works for your child....[/QUOTE]
To build on Diane's comments.... when I first started taking medication, taking a weekend break was easy and seemless. I still take breaks, but over time the "withdrawal" effects have changed and become more pronounced (so sometimes, for change, I just half the dose). I'm sure these effects different for everyone of course, however; you should expect change in these effects over time. Just as bodies grow (or in my case, just age!) so too our minds are changing, so med effect may change as well--including med "holidays" and transitions. And since "how your mind is feeling" is such a personal thing, I can't help but think that be best way to determine "what works best for your child" is best determined, as Diane has with her daughter, by communicating openly with her as to what she thinks and how she feels.
We have a slight difference for the weekend break. My youngest is on 3 meds and the stimulant is given at 1/2 dose on the weekeds. The oldest also takes a half dose on weekend.
It just so happens that both kids are on a prescription for 2 pills a day (to make swallowing easier than the larger single pill) so it is easy to take a half dose on the weekend. This seems to help all the way around for us.
We did check with our doctor before doing this and he gave us our blessing.
We took our son off of metadate for a few days over Thanksgiving break and the results were astounding. His wonderful personality came back, he was eating like there was no tomorrow and the sparkle in his eye came back. Okay, so he was all over the place....but that was okay. Then came Monday, back to school. We gave him his 'pill' and he soon reverted back to the organized, neat-hand-writing, focused child. The one thing we did run into was the whole sleep thing again. It took him a couple of days to get back to fallling asleep at his regular time.
Hopefully someone can offer insight, advice, opinion or tell of their experience. THX!
this is why some people do take med breaks and also why some dont. They do so their kids can eat well and be "bouncing around", and the others dont if it's too difficult to adjust back. This is a personal choice. What works for your child. We ever did med breaks because my daughter is just not any good off meds, she didnt even like the way she acted. She also couldnt complete a single task. Others only use meds for school.